Every year students buy huge study guides and take numerous practice tests in preparation for the ACT or SAT, hoping to get as close to a perfect score as possible. Edina High School senior Anand Mittal accomplished the impressive task of earning a perfect score on the math section of the ACT and SAT, and completed Calculus III as an eleventh grader through the University of Minnesota Talented Youth Math Program. In July, at seventeen years old, Mittal published his own book of study tips: Conquer Mathematics: Tips for Any Student to Succeed in Math.

Mittal first realized his affinity for teaching math during the summer after his sophomore year when he was a math tutor at Hope Academy.  “[Hope Academy] was an inner city tutoring service for the ACT and a lot of people had really high jumps in their scores,” Mittal said. Inspired by the overwhelmingly positive results he saw saw at Hope Academy, Mittal wanted to make these techniques more accessible to others. The potential to make a great impact on a much broader audience prompted him to write the book.

Conquer Mathematics is organized by four main sections: “The Mindset,” “Practice is Key,” “Tips for During the Test,” and “The Recap.” Mittal emphasizes the fact that anyone can be good at math, and describes how to implement different strategies specifically geared towards performing well on the ACT or SAT.  “Genetics aren’t super important in terms of math skill, you can learn how to be good at math,” Mittal said. EHS math teacher Noah Franske helped make edits and give suggestions, and wrote an endorsement for the back cover.  Franske told Zephyrus, “for a lot of students, picking up a big study book is really daunting but this is just simple strategies that anyone can use.” This book of strategies are helpful to any student, whether they are in Calculus or Algebra. “He did a really good job; it’s really easy for anyone to use. Whether you have done no studying or a ton of studying it still is going to help you,” Franske said.

The book was published through Advantage Books, an environmentally friendly publishing company that utilizes digital print technology. Mittal’s cousin had published a book through this company and recommended it to him. Getting the book published was not all that easy. “I actually wrote it in the summer and then the publishing company had a ton of stuff they wanted me to go through, mostly formatting stuff,” Mittal said. Making a second round of edits to meet the publishing company’s requirements was one of the biggest challenges he faced throughout the writing and editing process.

It is easy to access a copy of Mittal’s book. There are currently two copies in the high school library for students to check out, and it is available for purchase online at Barnesandnoble.com or Amazon.com.