When people say a student is “good at math,” they often mean fast, confident, or immediately correct. The student who finishes first. The one whose hand is always up. The one who rarely seems unsure.
But after more than 25 years of teaching and tutoring all ages, I’ve learned that those surface traits tell us very little about mathematical understanding.
Being good at math is not about speed.
Speed is a skill, and for some students it comes naturally. For others, it develops later, or not at all—and that does not limit their ability to think mathematically. In fact, some of the deepest thinkers I’ve worked with were slow, careful, and deliberate. They took time to read a problem closely, to test an idea, to reconsider their approach.
They didn’t rush. They reasoned.
Being good at math is also not about always being right.
Students who are always correct often stay within what feels safe. They rely on familiar procedures, avoid risks, and hesitate to explore new strategies that might lead to mistakes. While accuracy matters, growth comes from being willing to try something that might not work the first time.
Mathematics is full of false starts, revisions, and moments of confusion. Those moments are not evidence of weakness—they are evidence that real thinking is happening.
Being good at math means being willing to be uncomfortable.
It means sitting with uncertainty long enough for patterns to emerge. It means puzzling through a problem, testing an idea, and adjusting when something doesn’t make sense. It means becoming familiar with numbers, relationships, and logic through repeated exposure and reflection.
This kind of thinking takes time. It requires patience, persistence, and support.
In the classroom, I want students to understand that struggle is not failure. Struggle is often the work. The goal is not instant correctness, but the ability to say, “I don’t see it yet—but I can figure it out.”
As a teacher, a tutor, and a parent, I’ve seen how powerful this mindset can be. When students stop measuring themselves by speed or perfection, they begin to take ownership of their thinking. They ask better questions. They explain their reasoning more clearly. They become more confident—not because math suddenly feels easy, but because it feels possible.
That belief shapes how I teach and how I design math resources. I prioritize clarity over cleverness, space to show thinking, and problems that reward reasoning rather than rushing. I want materials that support students in developing familiarity and confidence over time, not quick tricks that disappear under pressure.
Every child can be good at math. Not by being the fastest or the first—but by being willing to think, explore, and persist.