Bad at Math, Good at English?

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I'm really good at maths and I'm neurotypical.

I am also bad at math and good at English. I am in grade 11 and took math last semester. Grade 12 math is not required here, so I don't have to take any math again. Yeah! Finances and graphs were probably the easiest units for me in grade 11 math, scales and volume/surface area were the hardest.

As far as English goes, I am much better. There is no such things as AP English at my school, but we do a bunch of English-related classes we can take. Next year, I am taking English 12 (whic is required), Writing and Literature (which is different from English 12).

Interestingly, social studies has always been on the tough side for me. It's partly because a lot of my teachers taught in a boring way. It's wasn't until this year when I took a socials alternative class that I really enjoyed it.

This is a stereotype due to occurrences of savantism where some people on the spectrum are exceptional at math. I've met many people on the spectrum who suck at math...and I am one of them. Halfway through high school, I had to switch from university level math to community college level math because I found it way too confusing.

I was going off personal experience with people I had met in real life, not off a generalized stereotype.

I used to feel bad in mathematics relative to my other subjects, although I still received As. The problem was my teacher didn't go into the amount of detail required to notice the patterns involved. Now I'm progressing quite nicely. I'm also good at English and languages in general, mostly my troubles in both subjects lie within memorization. Once I find a pattern to remember words or rules, I do well. The problem is looking for the patterns.

I think unless you are certain you have a learning disorder in an area, the problem isn't inherent it is motivation or the way the subject is presented. Too many people think they aren't capable when actually they are. To some it might come easier, but much of the intuition in mathematics can be developed, and eventually you can be equivalent to people who have a higher degree of natural ability in both your intuition and dedication. So if one truly wishes to learn mathematics; one shouldn't give up to silly ideas like not having enough natural ability.

I'm utterly average at math, but grammar and spelling came naturally to me. Understanding literature, with its symbolism and metaphors, was also easy for me. From what I've read, I think perhaps my understanding of abstract ideas is a little better than the average person on the spectrum. I actually find math rather dull: Either you're right or wrong, and that's it. No debate. (Although I understand that higher math can be experimental/hypothetical, and thus exempt from this.) I'd rather stare at a Bosch painting and try to figure out what message he intended to convey.

Ditto. I think you find a lot of people at those polar opposites and that it's not just an Asperger's thing. I've known a number of accountants and finance department people who seem to struggle a lot with articulating themselves, especially in writing. (When I get emails from them, it's almost like they are speaking a different dialect). And, I think some of my math teachers in school were just barely functionally literate.

I was always very scared of maths and I still get nervous when I have to work something out on the fly. English was my best subject at school and the one I got the best grades for. My English A-level has been very helpful, because it pretty much overshadows how mediocre I was at everything else.

I was always horrible at math (when compared to my other subjects), but excelled in english.

Where I live, one typically takes Algebra 1 in 8th grade (middle or junior high), then Algebra 2 in the 9th grade. I had to take a 'special' Algebra 1.5, if you will, in the 9th grade, then Algebra 2 in the 10th grade. I took geometry in the 11th grade, and that was the last class math class I took in high school.

When I tested into my community college, I scored in the 97th percentile in english, and the 34th percentile in math. I had to take a non-credit math course to get me up to the most basic college level course.

Thankfully, my college math teacher (same one for both of my classes) was AWESOME. She wrote out every tiny little step of each problem on the board, and while she would write she would verbalize the steps. I seem to require both verbal and visual instruction at the same time, and math finally clicked with me when it was delivered in that manner. I received the highest grade in both of those math classes.

I so wish I'd had just one good math teacher like this, at any point in school!

It took me 3 years to grasp the basics of algebra. Towards the end of year 9 I suddenly understood what I was actually doing. ^^

Well, English was good in primary school, but my rudimentary grammar skills meant I had to take extra lessons in year 7 and 8. I was always good at spelling and vocabulary though. I often thing my vocabulary is very limited, while in fact I use words simply different to other people. I have never had Latin or ancient Greek, which is why I won't understand most Latin expressions. They generally confuse me. The words are too abstract for me because I don't know their actual meaning.

Something got me thinking though... I did this "What sex is your brain" test that someone posted on here and I scored best in the exercises that required abstract thinking. My main problem in maths always has been that I didn't know what I was doing. I could learn how to calculate certain "problems", but I couldn't think freely. My mum said she felt like that in Maths as well.

One of the best things in Maths, I thought, was probability. I loved it, even though I could only perform well at the basics.


I seem to be good at poem interpretations, even though I don't care about most poetry. It's pretty sad. ^^ I am not too good at text analysis.


I loved dictations in school because I never had to learn for them. XD

Then we had to write essays and I got Cs and Ds. XD

I was very bad at maths save for trigonometry. I still have great difficulties doing simple calculations you need for everyday chores like when you buy some things at the grocery store or when there's something about finances and you have to calculate percentages. I can't remember basic math theorems and formulas.
Anyway, in school I was exceptionally good in English (and other languages). Even interpretations, discussions, comments, essays,....I loved doing those things. It was like you give me the assignment of interpreting a movie scene or a poem or a text passage from a book and I'd look at it and begin to wrtie immediately and not stop until I finished. It was as if my thoughts directly translated into my writing. When I finished my texts, then I'd had finished, this was all I had to say, everything I thought about. That is to say I was incredibly fast at doings such tasks. Say, you had 3 hours to do X written assignment/exam, then I was finished completing it after 30-40 minutes.

Now, I'm hopefully going into the humanities(I'm already there) and then academia...and write and read all day long. I know,...dreams.

I was always better in the language arts. I actually had a learning disability in math. I have dyscalculia, I was at a grade 3 level of math when I was in grade 7. The only course I failed in high school was grade 10 math. I was always good in English class, maybe because I have a passion for reading. I made honour roll for English in high school. I passed the government literacy test with flying colours. Numbers just confuse me for some reason.

I would like to make one observation: any poll here might be skewed towards the non-math types because we're in a writing medium.

That being said, I'm one of the folks wired towards words, and my son is, too. However: I have always felt that I have an intuitive sense of math, if I could only get the arithmetic part to work and the sequencing to make sense, and I've always been sad that I wasn't able to figure this out. Kind of like Schmendrick the Magician and Magic.

I enrolled DS in a study about discalcula for that reason.

I think you'd find many more aspie's are better with words than math. Math took a conscious effort into focusing on a instructor said/answering problems and giving written feedback on how you solved the problem. I would have done much better in a environment through self learning but this isn't how the school system works.

I was thrown into special ed with "bad kids" and given lower grade work (instead of pushed forward). All in all I've had a high vocabulary since I was young, but math was always something I couldn't learn because social issues/lack of speaking up, etc. Plus it was never a special interest of mine, and now that I'm older I'd like to learn but I have bits and pieces of many math subjects, and I'm unsure where I need to begin.

I'm really good at maths and I teach myself A Level. Got 90%, 92%, 97% and 98% so far in the modules. Two more left. I'm sort of good at English. I also do it at A Level but I have a problem with essays where I just write everything down with no structure.

I don't know whether I have Asperger's or not but I think I have.