I am really struggling in algebra, and I'm afraid I'll be grounded if I fail. Any suggestions?

Ask for help.

This is where you ask for help from your teachers/counselors/parents. I was in a similar bind in HS. Turned out there were free tutors.

I understand some people have a hard time admitting that they need help. But most people respect you when you ask for help.

Ask the teacher for a list of grades and your current class grade average. You may be doing better than you think or possibly have assignments completed but lost and not turned in.

Tutors, study groups – whatever it takes.

Like everyone else posted…ask for help. And, if you are afraid of being grounded, talk to your parents. Let them know you are having a really hard time with it.

Have you checked out Khan Academy yet?

If you’re hesitant to ask a real person for help, there’s a lot online purple math is a good one. In the lessons index you can find aid with specific topics that are hanging you up.

You could use Wolfram Alpha. It will show you the full procedure of solution as well as the solution itself. That way you can see how to solve something and check if your solutions are correct.

Get off of Fluther and study your arse off?

addendum: just make sure you enter “solve” into the search line before the equation

I agree with the answers above and would like to add:

If you pass by the skin of your teeth or you fail, spend your summer getting ahead as best you can. If you can afford tutoring, get some.

There are two math programs that I think would greatly help you understand and get ahead in high school math:
Life of Fred
Math-U-See

Both curriculum are designed for you to teach yourself math. MathUSee includes a DVD.

I’ll help you!

No for real, send me some PMs if you’re having trouble finding help from other sources.

Math is my favorite/strongest subject! I can help, too.

Yeah, message me if you need any help…

I can’t add anything to the suggestions above. I just think it’s a shame that you were moved ahead just because you were doing well. There’s nothing wrong with letting someone go ahead and do well. You could have finished pre-algebra and gone on to algebra 1 in an orderly fashion, with the whole preparatory course behind you. Now instead of tasting success you are worried about failure. I’m wondering if you were consulted on this decision.

It doesn’t take much to get behind in math, and then the amount you have to catch up seems to increase daily. Seriously, I’m a math education major, and I do algebra for fun, lol! If you need any help, let me know, or take up one of the other offers on here…

I second Khan Academy. Also Brightstorm is a good site too.

what you do on this side = what you do on this side

a + 2 = 5…so…
a + 2 – 2 = 5 – 2 (see? I subtracted 2 on both sides of the equal sign) ...so…
a = 3.

—

Throw in some FOIL method, lather, rinse, and repeat.

Talk to your parents, your teacher and your guidance counselor for some help, immediately. Ask them if you can be set up with a math tutor.

@everephebe I checked out the Khan Academy link and think it may be the future of classrooms around the world. I have never seen learning systems that can compare. I even learned about fractional reserve banking while I was checking out their index.

Great Answer!

@Ron_C you’re probably right, it’s already in a few classrooms. Here is the founder, Salman Khan, talking about making Khan Academy. It’s good stuff.

x=-[b± √(b²-4ac)]÷2a

@everephebe thanks but I already saw the video on T.E.D. I don’t know where the time went but I spent the last hour and a half watching the videos and listening to Sal Khan. Excellent, thank you.

I concur that getting help is a good idea, but I think worry about the course is enough without the fear of punishment (being grounded) by your parents.

@dxs I was just teaching the quadratic equation to my kids today. We did so many problems that everyone has a slight head ache lol.

The only thing I can add is always show your work and check your work, and if you get a problem wrong, go back and correct your mistake. You can learn a lot from reworking problems when you know what the correct answer is.

And if you can afford $150 for a year long subscription I can’t say enough good things about Professor Edward Burger and Thinkwell Algebra

Sal Khan is amazing. I’ve been talking him up when relevant for two years now. Glad to see he’s catching on more and more. I agree with @Ron_C about him being the future of classrooms. I told my daughter’s math teacher about him and she presented it to the faculty. They are looking for ways to incorporate his principles into their curriculum.

aah! its x= [-b± √(b²-4ac)]÷2a not x= -[b± √(b²-4ac)]÷2a!

Ask for a tutor. Or stay after school and ask your teacher for help and stay after for that. My school allows Help Nights for every teacher if a student is sturggling. Just talk to your teacher. Im pretty sure he/she will listen up and help.

I know many have already said this, but I want to say it again. Khan Academy is seriously awesome! I think it works for all student levels. Sal speaks slow enough so that “mathematically-challenged” students can understand, and his videos (sped up to 1.5x) are perfect for students who want to review the material.

The greatest thing about it (to me) is that you don’t have to listen to hours of video to get what you want. All you have to do is pick the topic in Algebra (for example, quadratic formula) and in about 10 minutes, you will have learned it.