11 Plus Exams Forum

Bodmas is not a part of KS2 Maths. So when answering questions in eleven plus Maths exams should Bodmas be ignored or applied? DG

Apply it, I would say. And teach it.

The GL papers run left to right , so don't take Bodmas into accout

yoyo123 wrote:The GL papers run left to right , so don't take Bodmas into accout

I am going to have to read all the gl maths practice papers now. Are you saying yo yo that they do not have any questions which touch upon this, or that children who know bodmas should ignore it and get the question wrong to get it right? I don't really follow the left-right thing.

Example:

7 - 2 x 3

Incorrect 15, correct 1.

Does this occur in gl assessment or not? And isn't this taught correctly in year 4 5 or 6 these days?

I think GL word them so it doesn't matter whether the child knows Bodmas or not.

We taught BIDMAS/BODMAS because these questions have come up in the past in CSSE Maths papers for Essex. It's always wise to check on your regional board.

I posted just a few days ago "What's the answer to this one" I think it was, directly under this thread as I write (!).
The question below was from a CSSE 2007 or 2008 paper.

18 - (9-5) x 3 = ?

My son wrote 42 which I thought should have been correct without brackets to clarify but the answer was 6 - so I would say you have to use BODMAS.

There was a similar question in one of the more recent papers where the student had to put 3 numbers in a sequence out of the numbers 1,7,4,5 9:

a + b x c = 33

With no number 3 my son read that and with time pressure didn't see a possible answer so moved on - nor did I first time and then realised what you had to do - applying BODMAS you can easily work out the answer but my son says he has never been told about this.

So there you go...hope that helps...

I was told to teach them to work left to right in VR papers (if GL) but to apply BODMAS in maths papers. I think there was a thread about this on a forum a couple of years ago, but unfortunately I can't find it at the moment.

Minesatea wrote:I was told to teach them to work left to right in VR papers but to apply BODMAS in maths papers. I think there was a thread about this on the essex forum a couple of years ago.

This would make sense for us with CSSE - the VR may well be "BODMAS-free", being GL if that is their policy (is it the same for their Maths papers?), but the Maths paper being written by a maths teacher probably wouldn't be. There are bound to be some questions which a just-year-6 child may not have come across, but it would seem a bit off to expect a question in the maths paper to be done the wrong way, if you see what I mean. The "are we meant to apply BODMAS" question in VR is actually a "number sentence" rather than actual Maths, so to speak?

Given that our VR is multiple choice, I am hoping that any answer which DS2 works out for that type of question in the VR paper is in the list - if not, that the answer working it out the other way is.

But preferably not both.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =3&t=15371

found it!