The ratio of boys to girls is 5 to 7 if there are 6 more girls than boys in the math class how many students total are in the class?

Let's denote the number of boys as 5x and the number of girls as 7x, where x is a positive integer. Since there are 6 more girls than boys, we have the equation 7x = 5x + 6. Solving for x, we get x = 3. Therefore, the total number of students in the class is 5x + 7x = 12x = 12 * 3 = 36 students.