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Study skills
What to Do When You’re Stuck
Being stuck is normal, and it tells you something useful. What matters is what you do in the next two minutes.
In short
Read it again, slowly
Say it out loud. A surprising number of stuck questions are misread questions.
Write down what you know
Put the numbers and their units on the page. Getting started often unsticks the rest.
Draw it
A bar model, a sketch, a number line. Maths you can see is easier to think about.
Try a smaller version
Swap the awkward numbers for easy ones, solve that, then put the real numbers back.
Name the topic
Once you know whether it is ratio or area or algebra, you know which method to reach for.
Move on and come back
Do the next question. Returning with fresh eyes works more often than staring does.