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hye i'm new here and i need some help.as usual i have dyscalculia and in 3 months i will be facing my national exam.the problem is..well of course mathematics and in my case additional mathematics also =.= i don't have problems with other subjects only these two.when my friend asked me ' what's your ambition ?' i did not answer her.

i don't know.i'm a science stream student and my teachers and family did like..what to say..proposing to me to be a doctor and i say "we'll see".they don't know about my dyscalculia..well more of don't want to know or care about it.even if i said so many times i have dyscalculia and i can't solve nor understand mathematics they would ask me to do more exercises.i take 10 subjects for this national exam.i only target 8 A's and 2..i don't know C for math and add math.

last night i googled for how to prepare yourself for medic school and all that because i think doctor is like my dream career with me being science student and i don't see anything that can suit me. googling and yahooing (?) i bumped into one of the thread that says " you HAVE to do math in order to become a doctor" and words like "2 courses of math" i was like what ?! i thought you only need to operate and play with human bodies not play with freaking numbers.

i'm not an american or british.i live in a country that have really horrible education system.if you get 20A+ for all subjects then you're smart.if you get 5A's out of 9 or 10 subjects you're in the middle.if you get 0 A's then you...whatever.it's like you don't have your own choice.like me i got a not bad result for my second national exam in 2010 and zupp ! the school threw me in science class without asking me what i wanted.conclusion it is horrible.then i said okay,why don't we search for another career where math is not needed :) and stupidly i googled for vet.the result still the same,of course math is important..everywhere !

i tried to think of another job where math is not needed as usual but i can't.i didn't know.i didn't find anything.
for me my parents is my first priority and i know they really want me to be a doctor and believe me as a daughter of course i want to fulfill their dreams.seeing them smiling and happy is my everyday sweets.but this is my life we talking right now.in fact deep down..what i really want is far more better and i don't need math at all.

voice acting.yes.i wanted to voice acting since i don't know..5 years maybe ? i would always look myself in front of the mirror and talk and talk and talk and act cute then giggling like an idiot.i did this until i was 13.this hapened because one day my teacher told my monitor to jot down everyone's ambition.i told him i wanted to be voice actor and he was like "what is that ? choose another ambition please.doctor,lawyer or engineer" i told him doctor.

last night,20 hour before i write this thread or forum or anything that i realized..i did have an ambition but for career ? i don't know if voice acting is considered as a job in my country.aiyooh ! what to do ? i don't want to be around math ever ! call me lazy whatever i still don't want math to be near me ever again.
math made me suffer in my primary,middle and high school.
my homeroom teacher ( is that what you call in US ? ) told me that i have really great potential in history,geography and literature in my native language and in english consider i got A+ for these subjects.she said "why don't you apply for the ivies ?
what is that ?
yeah sad i know.i only recognized 'it' as Harvard.have no idea about the other 7 ( is that right ? )
she said "because of the ed system here sucks maybe you can go to US and pursue in literature or arts but i really like the idea of you being the student of ancient eight" what the heck is she talking about ? i googled and HAHAHA ! please...the ivies and no ! i don't think i have what they want. ? are you kidding ? only mathematicians and physicians went there ? right ? but i like the literature idea instead of biochemistry,physics or mathematics.then i decided i will do literature even if i am a science stream student :D
my question is ( what ?! your story are too long ! ) :

-i want to know about education in US.about the universities.
-do i need to just suck up and accept math as part of my life (corny) meaning medic school ?
or....
rob a bank and run far far away....
or
you guys can give me advice :)

thank you so much for reading..well if there are people reading this instead of me :)


p/s:sorry for my bad english :) and the long story.

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8/3/12
Hi amirah,
I'm glad that you've found our forum. Welcome. No, I don't think that you are lazy at all. You just like to 'get back' something somewhere near what you've 'invested'. And with math, for dyscalculics, this isn't what happens. We work and work, study and study, and the result?... part of it we remember and the rest,... well, maybe we'll remember that too,... someday,... but not when we need it to pass a test. Yes, vets have to do math just like doctors. Lots of us have mulled this over here, too. Here in the US, we can't even get through the classes for being a psychologist, because that needs the normal 6 credits plus more.

I've gone into a BA in Spanish, and maybe later a Masters in Education, Linguistics, Spanish, or Social Worker. For me, those are the options. Congratulations on your good grades in 'all that is not math'. There are many, many foreign-born students at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). But it's more an 'engineering' college. Not everyone, of course. Hope you enjoy the forum. - jus'

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thank you for your reply and thank you for not calling me lazy :}
that is why i hate math.i dare to say i work harder than my friends yet i still got E or D.i forget everything when it comes to formula and numbers.that is why i give up math.i will never ever give a glance on math.oh and good luck for your Masters (education ? are you on your way to become a teacher ?)
:)

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8/3/12
Yes, probably a teacher. I have an AAS Paralegal degree, and I'm fluent in Spanish. You'd think that should be a winning combination, especially in Texas. Trouble is that, with or without the paralegal degree, I make too many mistakes to be a paralegal. Can't remember clients names. Can't remember who was suing whom. Can't multitask. On research and writing legal briefs, I got all A's in college, so apparently I would be good at that if I could ever get that far in a job. But they want to start you out doing the little, crumby, multitasking job, and then let you work your way up to the nice, prestigious researching jobs. Well, I can never 'work my way up'. It seems like being a teacher will be something that gets respect and a salary for knowing your content area, having the credentials, and caring about the students. Getting my credentials and a job as a teacher will seem like a 'big success' for me.

amirah, were you actually diagnosed with Mathematics Disorder, or do you just know that you are dyscalculic from your symptoms? Have you had 'accommodations' in your math classes? - jus'

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i discovered about dyscalculia early this year when i read a book online and one of the characters talking about how she cannot solve a simple mathematic problem and i said "hey me too :D" so i googled as usual and tadaa ! i learn and read and i took..i don't know i think it was an online test and the result is i am dyscalculic.but i never done a professional diagnosed or went to a doctor because i don't think they even know what dyscalculia is.i learned to accept my lack of mathematic skill.

when i took math test i always cried myself on my desk alone (hehe so pathetic) because i don't know what to do.i left my paper blank without any calculation.for 2 hours and a half i cried and asked myself "what is wrong with you ? you can't even solve a simple one." i didn't sleep because i keep doing exercises and practise in my math work book to make sure the work stick in my brain for tomorrow test.the result ? i always get under 10 over 100.

saddest thing is..i need to face this problem by myself.none of them understand about my problem.not even my family.the teachers..they just think i'm lazy or always try to skip doing math work.they wanted to say i'm stupid but they can't because they knew my performance in other subjects.i mean what kind of 17 year old student don't know how to factorize numbers and got 10 for math in every math test for almost 5 years.my bestfriend..when she teach me she would look at my work and would correct me if i'm wrong.it would take me almost 25 minutes for every 1 question.i don't have enough time to solve all the question.oh and my hand will start to get sweat and my heart will beat faster when i saw my math teacher ( and no she or he is NOT good looking at all ! ) and when the teachers told me to show my calculation in front of class,i wish there was an earthquake or fire so that i don't need to do the work :P

so yeah i never done any diagnosed or diagnosis or professional test but i do hate math with passion.math make me look stupid and my result to be ugly as hell !

sorry but what do you mean accomodations in math classes ? i don't understand .

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8/4/12
Yes,amirah, I was talking about accommodations in math class, but there's a lot more to it than that. Now that I know more about you, I can tell you some things that might help you. When we talk about 'accommodations' in the US, we are using that word in a little different way than what's usual. Once a person gets tested by a psychologist and is given the diagnosis of 'Mathematics Dsiorder', that person is given paperwork, documentation, that can be filed in the school or college's office. Colleges have an office for Disability Services where they keep that documentation. When a student registers for a class, the Disability Services office sends the teacher a letter, telling him/her that 'this student' must receive 'accommodations'. Then it lists what your particular accommodations are. For example, extra time in taking tests and doing in-class assignments, a note taker, seating close to the blackboard, and the right to tape record the teacher's lecture. These would be the type of thing that the psychologist who tests you will write in the Report that accompanies your test scores.

Although others with a Learning Disability might not want the 'label' of having a disability, almost every one of us dyscalculics were happy when we got our diagnosis, because we knew that finally we had proof of what had always been 'wrong' with us.

And there's one more reason to get tested. Often there will be a way to get to substitute a class in Logic for the College Algebra requirement when you have a diagnosis. I did this, and now I'll soon get to graduate with a college degree. Does this start to clear some things up for you? I hope so. - jus'

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huhh..as i said before,my country..how to describe ? ah no dyscalculia consciousness :) so i don't think we have accomodations here.in fact if i told them about my problem they would straight away send me to special ed class.that is the reality here.but accomodation in math class sounds really good :) ahh..US edsystem is great ! i hope i can go there and continue my study.i guess i just need to bear with math 3 months more and finally i'll be free ! thank you :) at least i know that i'm not alone even if you and others that have dyscalculia are thousand miles far away from me. and congratulations to you ! :D

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8/4/12
Oh, yes, the problem being that your country won't have these accommodations, and perhaps wouldn't even respect the diagnosis of a psychologist. But tell me, do you know if there is IQ testing in your country? Most countries do have that, even if they aren't considerate about people's LD's. And, does a psycholgist administer the IQ testing? Whatever the answer is to these questions, I agree that just knowing that 'somewhere' there are people who understand the problem is reassuring to a person in your situation. Yes, if there is no recognition of dyscalculia in your country and in your educational system, then 'sure'! why not plan to come here (or somewhere closer) to finish your education. And, I think that there are even better countries than the US as regards dyscalculics getting into some professions. For example, there is a dyscalculic psychologist in Canada. It turns out that Canada doesn't have such high math requirements for that profession as the US. Put up with the math for those last 3 months,... with the hope that you can kiss it goodbye after that. :-) - jus'

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i think there is psychologist but i have to pay them and no.i don't have money.the fees for 1 session is too high.i'm a student so there's no way i can go there.for IQ testing i need to pay almost 200.huhh..so depressing but yeah one day i'm sure i will go to US or Canada.don't worry i can go to Canada by cycling from US :D
thank you :)

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:) hello Amirah, I just want to welcome you, I missed you earlier!
I'm glad 'jus was here to discuss with you!

I'm in the U.S. too and was tested because of the recommendation of my university's Disabled Student Services department. In the U.S most if not all states have some version of what's called Vocational Rehabilitation which is an agency designed to get people ready for work. The people helped by this agency generally have no or very little employment background because they're students and/or they have barriers to employment because of economics or disability. So part of getting employed may mean helping people enrolled in colleges and universities, which was how it happened with me - and I had almost no employment history either - just a recent Summer counseling-type job at that time.

So I was diagnosed with math learning disability and then the Vocational Rehab agency helped pay for some of school and books and also helped purchase interview items - clothes, supplies. My diagnosis also allowed me the accommodations 'jus has mentioned.

Yes, please do remember you're not alone and time will pass - we're here for you!

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hye ! :) like i said US is great ! i just wanted to tell you that yesterday i had a session with my school counselor because i took a test with doctors and my anxiety was veeeryyy high ! they asked me if i had problems with family or friends and i told them about dyscalculia.as usual they was like 'huh ?' thankfully they promise they will help me with my problem and will talk with my math teacher :)

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amirah, good luck for you in the discussion with your math teacher - I think it's great that you were able to tell them about dyscalculia!

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8/15/12
Yes, good that you could tell them about it. Back when I needed to be tested, I had to first bring a 'doctor's prescription' to the government agency that would pay for the testing. I was in a similar situation to yours, since,... which comes first, the chicken or the egg? How could I get a medical doctor to give me a prescription to get tested for dyscalculia when the medical doctors had never heard of it? Well, I gave a short lecture on dyscalculia to the office manager and then to the MD, at a charity clinic. They listened with interest and the MD gave me the prescription that I needed! - jus'

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huhh..i just don't want to deal with math in Uni.is that a big thing to ask ? ={ oh and i don't think my math teacher want to do anything with my 'so call math disease'.she said 'work hard'.just that.

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8/23/12
You made me smile, amirah, with calling it your 'so called math disease'. Too bad we can't keep the math police away with a sign that says, "Warning. Math disease. Highly contagious." - jus'

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hehe i'm glad i found this forum.oh and if there any changes with my school life i will tell you here.right now i just need to focus my upcoming national exam :)

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8/24/12
Same here, amirah. I'm in three classes this semester and it's crucial that I pass all three. National exam for you, again? Will you get 'asked' what you want to do this time? - jus'

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luckily this exam will..hopefully be my last.and if it is then i can start my search on foundations or education loan from government and all that to study abroad.but most of them..no i think all of them search for students who will continue studies in sciences like physics,chemistry or engineering =.= i never heard students in my country getting foundations for courses like history or literature or courses that have nothing to do with math and science.heh so picky am i :P but i can't do anything.i think my name should be 'miserable' instead of amirah :)

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8/25/12
'getting foundations' is a new concept to me. Please elaborate? That's a funny emoticon you used. =.= Is it a 'wince'? Does 'amirah' have a meaning? I hope you'll get the education loan from your government. It's too hard to study and work. Part time might be all right, but most jobs don't want to bother accommodating a class schedule. - jus'

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hehe 'amirah' in arab means queen,princess and general.huhh..if i am a true queen in my country i will banish math from school ! my mom really loved the idea of me being jasmine from Disney :D i don't know what =.= means.maybe a wince like you said :) or boring.foundations is just the same as getting loan from the government but instead they are billionaires,millionaires,rich businessman,different ambassadors from different countries or any companies and i think if the students do great in their studies they don't need to pay the money at all !! my sister she work part time while study because our family didn't have enough money.it was really hard and sometimes she just didn't have the time to complete her assignment and ended up with me being her typist :P sad but true.now she's a producer :)

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8/27/12
Oh. I 'get it' now. Yes, we get scholarships from foundations here, too. I thought that you might be talking about getting done what we here call our 'core curriculum', or that we sometimes refer to as our 'foundation courses'.

About your sister,... something similar happened to me. In the college library, I befriended a young man who was a recent immigrant from Africa. His English language skills were dismal and his typing was even worse. Whenever I was there, I was 'fair game' for him to get me to help him with his English assignments. He would tell me his 'story' and I would type it into the computer for him. All the while, his typing was improving, but was still painfully slow. Well, now, a few years later, he can speak English and type, and is about to graduate with a degree in nursing. So now, he's about to get rich with a good job. And here I am, with my language skills and typing skills, still wondering if I will get hired when I graduate with a degree in Spanish. - jus'

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hey ! don't say that.you should be proud that once upon a time..you can type and speak English better than him :) hmm spanish ? my second sister she took mandarin,korean,english and i think spanish too and she did translate a book :) why don't you become a translator for telenovelas or dramas from there ? and don't worry at least you already have a degree in your hand.me ? i see nada ;).i don't even know if universities will accept me.huhh..right now..things starting to become really hard for me.with my math teacher and all...i hope you live your life ! :D

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8/28/12
So sweet of you to think of jobs for me. No, I don't have that degree yet. Hope I can pass these last three classes, Fall semester. I did some court interpretation. Paid good, very stressful. I speak a little Korean, too,... like your sister. She translated a book? wow. I'd like to translate a book. But telenovelas? I can't stand them. Terrible waste of time and good minds. haha Don't make me run away screaming. Spanish doesn't seem to be very popular in the other side of the world from the Americas. Over here, everybody says that they want to learn it. See you again soon. - jus'

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she just translate kids books like csi and all that i dont remember.court interpretation ? you mean in court ? like in real court ? you translate what in court ?

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9/1/12
In court, I interpreted (this is what you call it when you are talking out loud, rather than writing things down, which is 'translation') whatever the judge or the lawyer wanted to tell the Spanish-speaking person who was 'on the stand'. Also, I interpreted whatever the Spanish-speaking person who was 'on the stand' said out loud to the court room. If there is ever a document written in either English or Spanish that needs to be translated, then I could be asked to do a 'sight translation'. This means that, with my eyes, I would read the document that's written, for example, in Spanish, but what would come out of my mouth would be the same thing, only in English. This would be called a 'translation', due to the written element. I was never asked to do this in the job that I had, but I had to pass a test proving that I'm able to do this in order to get the job. - jus;

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wow awesome but it must be hard when..the spanish person or the what ? lawyer right ? speaks so fast ! :D has that ever happened to you ? they speaks too fast that you have problem translating it ?

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9/2/12
Hi again amirah. The most difficult thing about it is when the person on the stand tells a story that is too long for me to remember all of it. When this happens, I have to ask the person to stop talking for a minute. I interpret what was said, and then the person can continue the story. When they talk fast, no, this doesn't cause a problem for me, as long as they are speaking clearly. - jus'

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wow ! it is still amazing.once i saw muammar gadaffi's translator.i think she or he is just so fast translating what muammar said because believe me he talk REALLY fast.oh I just want to tell you I have math test tomorrow which i guess it is right now when you read this :P.and additional math test the next tomorrow :D wish me...luck ! i really need it :
at least let me pass.

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9/3/12
Yes, amirah. I hope that you do well on your math test. Back to 'translating' and 'interpreting',... when there is a written element, going from one language to another, this is called 'translating'. But when one person is talking and the other person is also talking, going from one language to another, this is called 'interpreting', not 'translating'. Some people are good at one but not at the other. In other words, what gadaffi had was an 'interpreter', not a 'translator',... unless she was madly typing everything that he said into another language? :-) - jus'

Here's a link and an excerpt:
http://en.wikiped...rpretation
"In interpreting, the interpreter will take in a complex concept from one language, choose the most appropriate vocabulary in the target language to faithfully render the message in a linguistically, emotionally, tonally, and culturally equivalent message. Translation is the transference of meaning from text to text (written or recorded), with the translator having time and access to resources (dictionaries, glossaries, etc.) to produce an accurate document or verbal artifact."

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hehe sorry i just keep confusing about interpreting and translating.oh yeah about my math test..it didn't go that well...but i manage to answer 4 question out of 20 :) what an achievement :P

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9/6/12
Oh, no. What will that mean for you? - jus'

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hmm i just need to work hard i guess.i need to get at least credit for math for the upcoming national exam.this week was my trial and my math teacher..wheww...her face was just..scary you know.she didn't smile at me and when i said good morning she would just 'hmm'..believe me its humiliating when your teachers act colder towards you in front of other students.before my counselor told her about my dyscalculia,she was okay but now...i'm afraid that meeting my counselor and telling her about my dyscalculia wasn't a great idea at all...

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9/8/12
Because you haven't been professionally tested for dyscalculia, the counselor, at best, could only have told the math teacher that there is the 'posibility' that you are dyscalculic. If things work there anything like things work here, your math teacher is being graded on how good of a teacher she is based on how well her students do on that national exam. The cold looks she is giving you would be similar to how a prisoner would look at his lawyer after being told that that lawyer has never won a case in his life. Sheer horror. And she would probably do almost anything right now to get you out of her class and disconnect your scores from her 'class average'. If you had the diagnosis, and if your country would acknowledge the results, then the teacher could teach you without fear of what it would do to her reputation if you don't learn the material. Right now, she's not just your teacher, she's also a prisoner of the educational system that grades her. - jus'

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yeah..you're right.i can't blame her 100 percent.oh most of my friend got their math test result back today and the highest mark in my school is my friend..90 something i think.me ? well you just remove 0 from 90 :}
i'm stress ! i am madd furious because she just shut me out !
whatever.if the teacher don't want to have anything to do with me then just wait.i wilI ask for help to my add math teacher and will prove to her that i can too ! just you wait...

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9/10/21
Hi amirah,
I've missed something. What is your 'add math teacher'? I hope that she can help you. What did you get 'shut out' of by your regular math teacher? I've already forgotten what grade you are in. You are in High School? Amirah, there are so many online courses nowadays by the time you graduate High School, very likely there will be a way for you to get a US college BA degree without leaving your country. And, if this happens, you'll likely get to substitute the math credits with Logic for the US BA degree. This will only work for a Liberal Arts degree, though. Just try to learn as much math as you can for now, and graduate from HS there in your country. Does your country also have something similar to our GED? A way for people to get a HS diploma through classes and a test? - jus'

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oh additional mathematics is one of 10 subject i take in school.harder than math of course but luckily the teacher understand me.i'm 17 meaning in US i'm in 11th grade right ? here we call it ' form'.hello i am in form 5 meaning this is my last year in high school.about my modern maths teacher..just forget about her.
about online courses..here its a bit different.online courses is like..unacceptable here plus the fees :|
after i finish and get my national exam results back,i have 4 ways or corner maybe ?
1.work until the end of my life
2.fundamental science(i google translate it to english :P )
3.matriculation(i don't see the future me here,can't fail math or you''ll be kick out)
4.diploma(not high school diploma,take this before going for degree)
5.pre-university(study by going to regular high school then straight to degree)
6.just straight to university for degree(if you are genius like i said before..12 A's and above)
i can only see myself in pre-university because there..
I can choose what I want ! no mathematics \(^o^)/
most student that own a regular result,not the bomb one usually they choose diploma,mainly because they don't want to go to school anymore.pre-university you have to wear school uniform so for those 'dummas' they think its not cool.
and about GED..GED means General Educational Development ? if yes then i dont think so..can you explain what GED is ?
and if you want to know about pre-university here we can take 1 until 5 subject only and general education as the must-take subjet.
IF...i go to pre-university then i want to take literature in english,geography and history.hehe see ? no math :D

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3/21/13
Hi amirah,
I don't think that I saw this last post of yours back in September 2012. I'm just now seeing it for the first time. This probably happened because you wrote it three days after my post to you, and also because sometimes, when we get 'spam' on our forum, that causes us not to see the little blue dot indicating that there's a new post for us to read. The spamers cause 'all' of the Threads to have little blue dots, causing us to give up on looking at all the Threads with blue dots. ...or maybe I just didn't search carefully enough.

Yes, GED means General Educational Development. It's a set of tests that a person takes which gives them a certificate showing that they have completed the equivalent of a High School education. In years past, some jobs descriptions would distinguish between a HS diploma and having a GED. But now, it's come to be accepted as an equivalent to a HS diploma. - jus'

http://www.tea.st...nu_id2=945

Here are how the questions are divided up. http://www.tamuk....s/GED.html