Colleges across the country are grappling with the same problem as academic setbacks from the pandemic follow students to campus. At many universities, engineering and biology majors are struggling to grasp fractions and exponents. More students are being placed into pre-college math, starting a semester or more behind for their majors, even if they get credit for the lower-level classes.
Colleges largely blame the disruptions of the pandemic, which had an outsize impact on math. Reading scores on the national test known as NAEP plummeted, but math scores fell further, by margins not seen in decades of testing. Other studies find that recovery has been slow.
I think so, to an academic (not necessarily a professional) level, because how could one reach a conceptual understanding without?
It’s like the professors that allow open book tests. If you’ve practiced solving before, it’ll be quick and easy to recall deep knowledge. If you haven’t practiced solving and don’t really understand the concepts, you won’t perform well enough in time.