Every student is different, so are their learning styles. What works for your classmates may not always be the best approach for you. Determining your personal learning style is essential to doing well in class.
Some students are going to benefit more from taking a practical, analytical approach to their studies. Others can benefit from a more artistic and visual approach. Creative students tend to struggle more than their analytical counterparts. This is especially true in mathematics based classes. An artistic student may, for example, need more help with finance homework.
Assess Your Strengths
Can you pick up a book, read it, and learn the lesson without further explanation? Or maybe you benefit more from being shown how to work a problem. Analytical learners tend to have an easier time learning from books and written descriptions than artistic learners.
Artistic learners often benefit from taking an approach that allows them to view the problem as a puzzle, rather than a math problem. Try breaking problems down into smaller sections, then solving those individually before putting them all back together.
Which Hand is Dominant?
This may seem like a pointless thing to ask, but which hand do you use to write? Most people are right-handed. Right-handed people tend to use the left hemisphere of their brain more than the right. This is because your hands do cross hemispheres.
Left-handed people have historically been considered more creative, but weaker analytically. The reason for this is because the right side of the brain tends to be responsible for creative thinking, while the left side is more analytical.
Take this bit of information with a grain of salt, however. While it is true that hands cross hemispheres and the different hemispheres are responsible for different approaches, this does not guarantee one strength or the other.
A test that you can do to determine which hemisphere you tend to rely more heavily upon, regardless of your dominant hand, can easily be performed. Put your hands together, then interlock your fingers and thumbs. Do not think about it; just do it. Now, look at your hands. If your right thumb is on top, then you rely more on your right hemisphere. This would mean you are more analytical. If your left thumb is on top, the reverse is true.
Learn How to Learn
It may sound like a tautology, but it is not. The best way to improve your grades is not always to study harder, but to study smarter. You need to determine what works for you, rather than relying on the same cookie-cutter solutions most teachers use. That is not to disparage teachers, but simply to point out that one size does not fit all.
You cannot blame teachers for relying on a single teaching strategy. They often have 30 or more students per class and physically cannot cater to each student individually. That is where you must take responsibility for yourself.
Ask your teacher if you can stay late and work together to find a strategy that works for you. If that is not an option, there are services online and in-person that specialize in determining how to teach students, not what to teach them.
Consider a Tutor
If you are the type of student that has trouble learning from books, you may consider taking a more hands-on approach to your education. Online tutors are an excellent resource for students that need help with finance homework and any other subject you are studying.
Other students may benefit more from an in-person approach to tutoring. While online tutoring is easier to schedule and can be cheaper, nothing can replace one on one assistance.
Conclusion
If you are struggling in class, it may just be that you are an artistic student, rather than analytical. Consider hiring a tutor or working with your teachers to determine the best learning strategy for you and to get help with your finance homework and any other subject you may be struggling with.