11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi All,

I'm looking for any recommendations on excercise books for a DD who will be going into year 8 in September, looking for material that will help her speed up her answering math's questions.

Also what is good reading material for a 8yr old.

Many thanks in advance.

For Maths Y8 you can look through here http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects ... /book8.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Does she have specific areas she needs help with or just general speed? If she coming to end of Year 7 you could start with the diagnostic tests for year 7 here http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects ... /book7.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Once you know the areas that are slowing her down you could then move on to those specific units.

For the diagnostic test you need a password. You can contact them and they can send it to you or you can pm me.

MEP stands for Mathematics Enhancement Programme. It is adaptation of a Hungarian math program. It is part of an initiative to improve math education and it is available to download for free.

What makes MEP special are the interesting puzzle-like problems.

sherry_d wrote:For Maths Y8 you can look through here http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects ... /book8.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Does she have specific areas she needs help with or just general speed? If she coming to end of Year 7 you could start with the diagnostic tests for year 7 here http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects ... /book7.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Once you know the areas that are slowing her down you could then move on to those specific units.

For the diagnostic test you need a password. You can contact them and they can send it to you or you can pm me.

MEP stands for Mathematics Enhancement Programme. It is adaptation of a Hungarian math program. It is part of an initiative to improve math education and it is available to download for free.

What makes MEP special are the interesting puzzle-like problems.

Hi Sherry_d

Many thanks for the information I will look over at some point today, DD has already had her end of year test's, she slumped somewhat in answering all the questions in her maths papers in the given time, she new the answers but said she needed more time!

Thanks

Erm - one slight issue with MEP - it is a very old scheme and does not match the Maths curriculum in school.

I'd look at http://www.kangaroomaths.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; in Kenny's pouch for all sorts of materials at various levels.

Ask the teachers at school too - they probably know best.

Essex dad, does your DD have problems finishing tests in any other subject or is it only maths? I ask because it is quite possible for a bright child to have a slightly slow processing speed but this would probably show in more than one subject. If your DD takes more time for homework, getting through work in lessons or doesn't finish tests then you could ask the school to test her processing speed which could mean her having extra time in exams. This could mean she gets to show what she can do properly and for GCSE it could make the difference in grades. A qualified person does the assessments and the school applies for the time to the boards.

A lot of schools use "mymaths" for at home and the maths teacher or head of maths will give you some advice if you ask. My DD is not great at maths so we used some of the maths help books (there are loads in bookshops and look in charity shops - this is the time for people to get rid and there is often only one or two pages done!) it is good to do the work from the year below to see if there are gaps.

I am sure more mathsy types will know about the best books to try, I felt we just muddled through really but having an ever changing number of maths teachers at DDs school was not helpful and I felt she slipped through the net because of this and struggled.

mum23* wrote:Essex dad, does your DD have problems finishing tests in any other subject or is it only maths? I ask because it is quite possible for a bright child to have a slightly slow processing speed but this would probably show in more than one subject. If your DD takes more time for homework, getting through work in lessons or doesn't finish tests then you could ask the school to test her processing speed which could mean her having extra time in exams. This could mean she gets to show what she can do properly and for GCSE it could make the difference in grades. A qualified person does the assessments and the school applies for the time to the boards.

A lot of schools use "mymaths" for at home and the maths teacher or head of maths will give you some advice if you ask. My DD is not great at maths so we used some of the maths help books (there are loads in bookshops and look in charity shops - this is the time for people to get rid and there is often only one or two pages done!) it is good to do the work from the year below to see if there are gaps.

I am sure more mathsy types will know about the best books to try, I felt we just muddled through really but having an ever changing number of maths teachers at DDs school was not helpful and I felt she slipped through the net because of this and struggled.

Hi, DD does not have any problems in finishing the other test's, I looked at the paper and it was alot of questions to answer in the time period given, so I suppose overall she did her best but just need to speed DD up.

Thanks to all.

It might just be that most or even all of her classmates did the same and didn't finish that test. Do a bit over the summer if you want and go over any areas of difficulty. It's good that she is usually able to finish on time. The maths dept should be able to tell you if your DD is on track.

Is she up to speed with her times tables and mental calculation.

One common reason for pupils running out of time is that they use valuable seconds (minutes?) working out simple calculations. fast recall of tables means that they have more time to spend on the trickier concepts. We see it time and time again in Y5 and 6. A good knowledge of tables also means that they recognnise groups of numbers eg 9, 2, 18 ; 6, 4, 48 etc which helps them enormously

try

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/g ... eteor.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Gh ... /gbcd.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

for a start

Very useful information indeed. Thank you!!!

Do you think tution is important for seconadary school. My DD attend yr 7 and she is been placed to lowest level in Maths. I am worried (as usual). Exprienced parents please advise or anything you recommend to motivate my 12 year

Chosing the right tutor can be difficult. I think most of the time is down to confidence as grammar school pupils were normally top of their class in year 6. Coming into year 7 some will be obviously weaker than other and they can see it in every lesson. They don't think they are that good anymore. In my opinion, a tutor doesnt make that much difference in year 7 unless you can get someone to consolidate her school work, get her confidence up. Sometimes it can be simple things such mental maths, timetables. I see a lot of kids in year 7 can get demotivated because they can't do things as quick as their classmates. Get her to work on her timetables, mental maths and simple algebra. It would be enough to catch up with the rest.