CGP Maths 10 mins Workbooks

[pixiequeen]

We have had a go at a couple of CEM full length tests and have discovered that DD3's weak point is the mental maths questions. She is not too bad with the longer maths problems. We have been trying the assessment tests in the back of the CGP Maths practice book but are going to run out of questions (the 30 questions in 10 mins ones) soon. Could anyone tell me whether the questions in the CGP 10 mins tests Maths age 10-11 (not the word problems, the other ones) are of a similar difficulty and timing as the ones in the practice book?

Very frustrated at the moment as lots of mistakes being made in the maths - as soon as we started timing her she forgot all the maths she had ever learnt so we are back to square one of just trying to get some of the answers right. Only 3 weeks to go and not sure how best to help her stop panicking and speed up in such limited time.

Any advice much appreciated!

[grgygirl]

Sorry, I can't remember what the CGP questions were like but my son's recall of CEM maths is that the questions were easier than GL and other tests he sat, but the timing was the tightest of all the tests (The Bond CEM tests were insanely hard to do in the time allowed and ds said were not like the real thing). We used the Letts 10 minute tests and aimed to do them in 7 minutes and also the Schofield and Sims maths books and again, tried to cut the times down. Perhaps try these for the next week in short bursts to get her confidence up and then try a longer paper the following week. Unfortunately, it is all about the timing with CEM. Many of the children are good at maths but it's the ones who are good under timed pressure who get through!

[Trafmum82]

Hi, we have been doing the 10 minute test in the CGP maths, I would say they are a similar difficulty. We have found the books quite good, there are a good range of questions and it was quite easy to spot areas that DS was weak in and work on those from these books. Hope that helps.

[llhj]

Yes agree with Bond CEM being ridiculous. The idea that you could do those long maths questions in 9 minutes or whatever. It wasn't possible unless you were well beyond the normal high ability of candidates.

[neuralc]

I'm a fan of the CGP 10 minute tests, but I don't worry about the timings. I have no idea whether they accurate reflect "real" CEM timings, but I'd would bet that they get it completely wrong sometimes, and other times they get it right purely by chance. They probably play safe by adding excess questions. No publisher wants the reputation that their materials were too easy - "my DC scored near 100% on your tests but failed ..."

Very frustrated at the moment as lots of mistakes being made in the maths - as soon as we started timing her she forgot all the maths she had ever learnt so we are back to square one of just trying to get some of the answers right. Only 3 weeks to go and not sure how best to help her stop panicking and speed up in such limited time.

Any advice much appreciated!

Increase her confidence by relaxing the time pressure and setting realistic expectations on section completion.