Finding Maths really slow going

Eleven Plus (11+) in Kent

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sherry_d
Posts: 2083
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:38 pm
Location: Maidstone

Finding Maths really slow going

Post by sherry_d »

I am tutoring DD and after some recomendations here we started using the AE tuition maths workbook BUT our progress is VERY slow.

So far we have done nearly two moths of about an hour each week just n maths and we are just on page 20 now. There is just loads of stuff in the AE tuition books and this is Book 1 of about 6 in the series. I am beginning to panic that we may not have covered all the stuff in the next 6 months...Just wondering if you guys have other ideas.

Yoyo123 recommended the 10mins workbooks, we did try and use these but DD was thrown off a bit as she didnt quite know some of the stuff...DD is quite strong in Maths but I am panicking if we will be able to cover all the stuff in the AE tuition series and some if the stuff seem quite advanced like 10 939 divided by 16...

We were planning on downloadingn tutors CD here but thought it may be better to cover the basic first of what she need to know.

Other subjects are going on smoothly jus the Maths

Any ideas or should we just go for the Tutors CD and work through the stuff DD doesnt know as she practises????
stevew61
Posts: 1786
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:54 pm
Location: caversham

Re: Finding Maths really slow going

Post by stevew61 »

sherry_d wrote:I am tutoring DD and after some recomendations here we started using the AE tuition maths workbook BUT our progress is VERY slow.
Hi,

We are having similar issues in Berkshire. I have purchased the set of six AE maths books to help support gaps, ok I am a kleptomaniac.

Be aware the AE books go to KS2 level 6 (which is not tested for at KS2 and so does not really exist :roll: ) you need to decide is that relevant for your area, for us in Reading it is not, but every little helps! AE also break everything down into little (visual) steps which is great, but time consuming, you have to hope some of the work has been covered at school. :)

AE publish a
Testbook 1 (Short Tests Levels 3-5)
Testbook 1 consists of 40 graded short test papers each comprising 15 questions
which IMHO goes to level six. We are using this to make progress and then going back to books 1-6 for gaps (recently square number, rectangular numbers, prime numbers....). Also had to use CGP for "dividing decimals".

Maybe time to cut some corners to meet the deadline.....if it is any consolation we are juggling maths/english/VR/NVR. :shock:

steve
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Post by mystery »

Hi Sherry_d

I was a bit unclear from your question what exactly the problem was. Are the books you are using slow going because they are meant to be and you have 6 books to work through in a short period of time, or because your daughter has not covered the work in them at school yet, or because she finds maths difficult?

In the past, the key to the Kent test was to cover as much as you can of the KS2 syllabus before the test, and to cover the question types in the NFER practice papers (and the extra stuff that is not covered at KS2). Since the test has been brought forwards, people who have been to see their child's paper afterwards have reported on this site that the emphasis seems to be a little more on problem solving in the real test, and a bit less on syllabus coverage. Whether this is the long term aim of the Kent maths examiner, who knows? Has anyone tried asking KCC about this?

You also need to bear in mind, that unless you need a high 11+ score for some reason, you do not need to get all the questions right in the paper to pass, a raw score of round about 50% gets you through. Kids need to be trained not to get phased if there is a question they can't do - just make an educated guess and move on, and have a system for coming back to it at the end if they have time.

If it were me I would be trying to work out which KS2 topics your daughter is not good at or has not yet covered and focussing on those. If you are trying to cover the whole of the KS2 syllabus and the 11+ extras in 6 months it could be time consuming (and also boring for your daughter as you will be making her repeat stuff she does not need to do again and again).

Mental arithmetic / quick written down calculation methods are important as no calculator allowed, and accuracy is important.

Good luck.

ps. Are you happy with maths yourself? The reason I asked is because of what you cited as a difficult question ....... I would have thought once your daughter can do long division it doesn't really matter if it is 83169 divided by 16 or 2005070890 divided by 37. If you are a maths worrier I would get someone else to tutor her in the maths as this really is a subject where you don't want a child getting panicky. You don't need someone who teaches the NVR and VR as well, a good maths tutor would be a great help.
sherry_d
Posts: 2083
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:38 pm
Location: Maidstone

Post by sherry_d »

mystery wrote:I was a bit unclear from your question what exactly the problem was. Are the books you are using slow going because they are meant to be and you have 6 books to work through in a short period of time, or because your daughter has not covered the work in them at school yet, or because she finds maths difficult?
It is slow going because there is just a lot to cover in the books and I am not sure what we should work on and what to skip. DD has also been working a lot on the mental arithmetic ie knowing her timestable by heart. Its like 6 books in the series...so i need some shortcuts. I will look at the following too

Quote:
Testbook 1 (Short Tests Levels 3-5)
Testbook 1 consists of 40 graded short test papers each comprising 15 questions

I need some ideas to cut corners like stevew61

I am not a Maths Warrior, just kind OK for the basic maths.
medwaymum
Posts: 827
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:45 pm
Location: Medway & Kent

Post by medwaymum »

I would pick just a couple of areas to work on at a time. Maybe it is too much to take in for your DD, especially after the Christmas break. Start slowly and gradually build up and see if it helps...she may just be overwhelmed.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Post by mystery »

OK, well if it were me and I had only 6 months to go, and no tutor, and no quick idea as to which areas of the syllabus my child needs to improve on or learn from scratch I would:

- see if the school can be any help in telling you which areas of the KS2 syllabus she needs practice on, and which areas they have not yet covered

- work the other way round - do test papers (not the real 11+ papers yet) but things like KS2 test papers and those Bond assessment papers (available on this website and see what areas they show you your daughter needs practice / help with

- then decide what to do with "blanks" that your daughter has - can you teach her yourself, or is there someone else who can - e.g. a helpful GCSE child etc

I don't think that you have time in 6 months just to go through "everything" willy nilly in the KS2 and 11+ "syllabus". If you want to do some maths preparation (and you might not need to) you need to work out what it is that your daughter does need to do more work on.

Remember, you don't need a high percentage right in order to pass; confidence is key. Have you worked through the NFER sample maths papers yourself yet? They are only intended to show you possible question types, and there are not many of the papers so don't show them to your daughter yet. But they might help focus you on what sort of thing could be asked in Kent, and it might point you towards working on some particular topics that you know straight away your daughter will need to brush up on.

Good luck.
familyinthevalley
Posts: 245
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:43 pm

Post by familyinthevalley »

Have a son in year 5 at the moment, and we'll be doing the same as we have just done with his older brother - starting at Easter, giving him the 11+ practice papers, see where he needs help, and then working on those areas. I think if we spend loads of time going through books, books and more books, alot of the work will (hopefully) be duplicated from school, and so will become boring, and maybe the effort required for the more difficult work won't be made where needed.
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