How to catch up to graduate level math (as a high-functioning impostor)

[u/laptopgardens]

I thought I just had math anxiety or impostor syndrome, but I am genuinely behind my peers. I have an undergraduate degree in math, am beginning a graduate degree in math next semester, and have presented at multiple math conferences. I am part of multiple math meetups, and so on and so forth..but I always felt off.

I always felt like the people around me were way smarter than me, and I finally figured out why.

I decided to prepare for my next semester of grad school by reviewing math topics I learned as an undergraduate, but it was so difficult that I ended up decreasing the difficulty of the topic being studied until I reached high school level math. I am studying from an Art of Problem Solving book right now and it's kicking my butt.

I'm scared that I even got this far while being so bad at math. I think it's possible because my problem solving skills are poor but I have an above average memory, which can compensate sometimes.

Is it possible for me to catch up before the semester starts? I have 16 weeks (including this one) and plan to read 13 books, but this AoPS book is taking me so long to get through...

What would be the best way to spend this time preparing for the next semester, knowing how behind I am?

Here's my current study routine:

6 math pomodoros per day

2 formal logic pomodoros per day

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I've only done this for two days, but I feel like I'm progressing too slowly.

[u/Diligent-Local6906]

13 books in 16 weeks, on top of an AoPS book that's already fighting you, is the wrong plan regardless of how strong you are. That's a comprehensive-review strategy, and what you actually need is a gap-targeted one.

Get the syllabi or reading lists for your actual grad courses next semester. Most departments will share these if you email the professors now and say you want to prepare. Then work backward from what those specific courses assume you already know, not from a general "relearn math" starting point. You'll probably find the real gap list is much shorter than 13 books.

AoPS is built for competition problem solving, not for grad course prerequisites. It's a fine book but it's very likely not what's actually going to show up in your coursework, which is probably part of why it feels like it's fighting you.

Also worth naming directly: you've presented at math conferences and you're heading into a graduate program. That's not what "genuinely behind" looks like from the outside. Two days of a new routine isn't enough data to conclude you're progressing too slowly either.