The confidence gap in chemistry
In Chemistry, maths anxiety shows up in subtle but familiar ways. One common pattern is the student who hesitates the moment numerical reasoning is required, often because they were taught to recall procedures rather than understand the principles behind them.
Another challenge stems from what many educators describe as a context gap. A student may succeed in A-level Maths (or equivalent) yet still feel unsure when asked to extract and combine information from a lab script. Without a familiar formula to fall back on, tasks such as preparing a five-fold dilution in a 250 ml volumetric flask can feel unexpectedly complex. In these moments, uncertainty, and not ability, becomes the main barrier to progress.
As Chemistry Associate Professor, Dr Roy Lowry, noted, both competence and confidence shape how students approach numerical tasks. When students feel unsure, they may hesitate - not because they lack ability, but because they haven’t yet had enough practice to feel secure in applying mathematical ideas in unfamiliar contexts.
Making maths meaningful in chemistry
Across Chemistry departments, educators are finding that confidence grows when numerical work feels connected to real scientific thinking. Rather than treating maths as a separate hurdle, they embed it within the authentic problems students encounter in their discipline.
This principle underpins the design of our Quantitative Skills Smart Worksheets for Chemistry, co-developed with academics to reflect the specific calculation, decisions, and reasoning students must use in real contexts. These resources, including Moles of Molarity and the Solutions and Dilutions series, give students structured opportunities to practise, think, and check their understanding in a low-stakes environment.
Dr Lowry continues, "Only this week, I asked my second-year students to calculate the theoretical distance between two ions in a solution, which most of them did correctly. However, previous exposure to simpler calculations meant that they questioned the theoretical answers obtained for concentrated solutions – at which point we could discuss where theory breaks down.”
His approach illustrates how numeracy becomes easier and more meaningful when linked to physical intuition. When students struggle, for example, to convert between mL and L, he encourages them to visualise a cubic centimetre (1 ml) and then a cube with 10 cm sides (1 L). By grounding the idea in something concrete, students can reason through whether their answer makes sense, reinforcing both competence and confidence.
Safe practice builds confidence
Building confidence in quantitative skills requires more than exposure to content; it requires space to try, reflect and try again. When students practise without fear of judgement, their understanding deepens and their confidence begins to grow. This is the value of a genuinely low-stakes environment, it turns practice into exploration rather than performance.
Our Quantitative Skills Smart Worksheets support this by offering interactive, repeatable practice with immediate, structured feedback. Students can work through calculations at their own pace, check their reasoning, and learn from errors in real time, much like the learning cycle that underpins long-term conceptual understanding.
Since their launch in 2024, the Quantitative Skills resources have seen more than 6,000 attempts by 3,000 learners, generating approximately 181,000 answers. Each attempt represents a moment of practice that helps students build both competence and trust in their own work.
Collaboration, context and confidence
Addressing maths anxiety in chemistry isn’t about simplifying the content; it’s about making learning feel meaningful. That is why each Quantitative Skills resource is created in close collaboration with academics who understand the nuances of numeracy in their discipline. Their insight ensures the support isn’t generic; it reflects the real challenges students encounter in their lectures, labs, and assessments.
Working alongside educators like Dr Lowry means the resources carry the same principle that guides their teaching: confidence grows when students can see how maths fits into the story of their science, not as something separate from it.
As more departments embed contextualised numeracy into their teaching, the message becomes clear: when students are supported to make sense of the numbers, they begin to trust themselves, and that confidence transforms how they learn.
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