Top tips from this week

Numerical and mathematical skills are essential to success at university. Familiarise yourself with some really useful skills (such as using fractions and percentages) and bring maths back into your thinking, especially if you haven’t done it for a while.

Data can provide evidence to support and argument. Reading and interpreting graph-ical data can help solve a problem.

Not all problems involving maths are presented as just mathematical questions. Maths is often hidden in word problems and extracting the maths is part of the solution, not just the maths itself.

Units are essential in solving problems. You will often need to change units from one scheme, or scale, to another (such as from millimetres to kilometres). Being aware of the importance of units and how to deal with them is an important skills as part of your practical maths toolkit.

Although it may not be obvious, maths plays an important role in many degree pro-grammes, and if this is not one of your strengths, don’t worry. Support will always be available at university.