11 Plus Exams Forum

I have been teaching my daughter at home, she has never been to school. She is 8y 10m now and would be in year 4 if she attended school. I would just like to know if she at the right level for her age in maths.

On a recent test I set she got 10/10 in 8 mins. These are the questions.

1) (0.86 x 0.09) +(11.03+1.5-0.003)
2) How long is it from 08.34am to 6.49pm ?
3) half of 346 add quarter of 1564
4) 234 divided by 10
5) Find the area and perimeter of a rectange of sides 4cm and 30mm
6) If 7m cost £12, how many centimetres can be bought for £96?
7) 32.67/100
20% of £4.50 add 75% of 440p
9) (2/9)+(3/8)
10) change 0.625 into a fraction in its lowest terms.

Did you change your mind on EHS?


Not sure about the maths questions - I am not a teacher, but they look like the sort of things my parents used to try on me when I was is junior school (or bored on a car journey) The syllabus then was more like this ... except of course it would have been £.s.d

I have never paid much attention to the kids maths but does strike me that it is rather less of this type of thing these days and while useful, is not covering the type of stuff other kids will be doing.....

....help - really need a maths teacher to comment

No idea, but why not just look at some SAT papers if you're wondering.

Absolutely on track for the new draft curriculum. This is more advanced arithmetic than most primary children would be doing in year 4. Are you covering problem solving and maths puzzles to check reasoning skills are just as sharp?

moved wrote:Absolutely on track for the new draft curriculum.

Good to hear! definitely sounds like more arithmetic than there has been

Hello all,

Yes, did change mind about EHS, my daughter said the test was too easy, too informal (kids talking during test and some questions not visible so extra sheets printed!). I will probably send her there in year 7.

Thanks to all who took the time to comment on my request for info'. I don't do problem solving yet because in maths it is vital that the basics are totally covered so kids are at complete ease, then they can move to problems requiring secondary level thinking (I have a maths degree). This is THE single biggest reason why maths in many state primary schools is a struggle for pupils. I am also keen to avoid teaching 'to the test' as it does not foster good habits and limits thinking, I'd prefer to cover all bases and give a rounded mathematical education rather than the narrow requirements of the 11+

Errr - as a maths teacher I would say maths is ALL about problem solving!

Please look at http://www.nrich.maths.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.ncetm.org.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (free to register) these wesbite hold a wealth of fantastic resources.

The Primary 'blocks' are all online - there is no need to teach to the KS2 test but you are leaving out a HUGE area of mathematics - one that is becoming increasingly important.

Most able children really enjoy puzzles and games. I found that my brightest mathematicians got bored very quickly with endless arithmetic; they enjoyed the play that puzzles involved and still had plenty of arithmetic to boot.

Problem solving does not preclude arithmetic. Mathematical intuition and the joy of finding solutions are far more of what makes a mathematician than endless sums.

Fun activities such as how many different ways can you find to add all the numbers to 100.

How many £1 coins can you fit in a phone box?

What I'm not sure of is why you asked how she was doing if you are so convinced that you are doing the right thing. Many people on here have higher maths qualifications as well as educational ones.

I'm sure there are lots of ways to skin a cat. There are three questions there which are on their way to being worded problems. Some children might find at this point that they would struggle to solve a "problem", others may not. You'll only know when you try.

Your daughter's arithmetic sounds good, fast and accurate. We were probably doing stuff like that at the age of 8 years 10 months. My year 4 child is not. It did not affect my problem solving capabilities one little bit. I think that my DD's arithmetic capabilities (like her spelling) might be stunted, relative to mine!

So long as you think your daughter will be able to solve the problems you'll be fine.

You could take a look at some documents on-line called "pitch and expectations". These will help you to see the types of questions that are asked which approximate to different NC levels.

She has a good grasp of the basic arithmetic, as you say, so she should be able to skip all the rather easy problems which they solve with tiddlywinks and numicon in years 1 to 3. She can skip out the frustrating stage where she knows that she has to multiply 7 by 8 to get the answer but can't do so without a lot of laborious adding or sneaking a look at a 7 x timestable.

Thanks again for the useful comments. I think those of you who suggested more problem solving have very good points.