Silly mistakes

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jo123
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue May 15, 2012 12:26 pm

Silly mistakes

Post by jo123 »

Hi I'm new to the forum and wondering if anybody has any advice for me. My 9 year old is preparing for the 11+ in October. (Y5 but an August baby). DD really wants to go to the local GS and her school are keen for her to go ahead, confident as they can be that she will do well. She is working really hard but keeps making LOTS of silly mistakes especially in maths. Often I will just put a tiny mark next to the ones she has got wrong and she instantly corrects them. She doesn't however pick up the errors when she checks her work herself. The school have now started to assess whether she has issues in processing information, but there has been no indication of this until this academic year when the pressure stepped up. Hence, I've been putting it down to the pressure and always use lots of encouragement and reassurance, but to no real effect. I'm just not sure how I can help her achieve better accuracy. Any help gratefully received!!
MrsB
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:02 pm

Re: Silly mistakes

Post by MrsB »

We had that with our DS, and in the end he improved. We spent a lot of time explaining how some questions are really hard and he may get them wrong, so it is all the more important not to waste marks on silly mistakes, not to rush etc etc. It was very frustrating but he got in!
jo123
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue May 15, 2012 12:26 pm

Re: Silly mistakes

Post by jo123 »

Thanks Mrs B - hope we get the same results!
omismum
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 1:32 pm

Re: Silly mistakes

Post by omismum »

Hi ,
I am in a same boat ...my DD is born in may.
I think maths is all about practice, more you do more you will improve.
when their are mistakes,explain her ...discuss with her in a positive way .
in second round practice of same paper yoy will come to know their are less mistakes.

Good luck
*********
copella
Posts: 1200
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 3:51 pm

Re: Silly mistakes

Post by copella »

Hi My DS was just the same and maths was his best subject!!! In the end I slowed him down and made him read the questions slowly before just digging in with an answer as he used to do. This was especially when he answered 10000 - 99 = 901 having misread the question. Over time he eventually got that he needed to read the questions as many had additional parts. I also made him mark his own sheets with me beside him so that he could see what he had done and this helped him. In the actual exams this year he slowed down and whereas others finished quickly he didn't as he was trying to check throughout. So something must have gone in. Good Luck with your DD
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Silly mistakes

Post by Amber »

Learning to self correct is a key skill in English and Maths, but in Maths you could try encouraging her to look for plausibility. I teach a tiny bit of Maths and only yesterday I had a pupil swearing blind that 13 squared was 121. I asked what 12 squared was - correct answer given...but he couldn't see that therefore 13 squared must be a bit more. I think using estimating is key here... the answer 'must be somewhere around' whatever it is. There is also the obvious trick of performing the inverse operation to see if it 'works'. I think the more strategies a child has to manipulate number and estimate the kind of answers they are expecting, the fewer daft mistakes they will make.

I have also noticed that children will sometimes 'panic answer' a times table or division question. I teach them to go back or forward to one they do know to 'anchor' them a bit, eg lots don't like 7x8 but remember 8x8 because of that horrid rhyme about vomiting, so I tell them to go at it like that.

Maths is all tricks!
999 mum
Posts: 422
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:02 am

Re: Silly mistakes

Post by 999 mum »

Amber wrote:eg lots don't like 7x8 but remember 8x8 because of that horrid rhyme about vomiting
Please tell me what the horrid rhyme is :lol: :lol:
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: Silly mistakes

Post by Manana »

999 mum wrote:
Amber wrote:eg lots don't like 7x8 but remember 8x8 because of that horrid rhyme about vomiting
Please tell me what the horrid rhyme is :lol: :lol:
I ate and ate till I was sick on the floor...!?

8x8=64!
modernista
Posts: 302
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 12:03 pm

Re: Silly mistakes

Post by modernista »

I found that my DD made silly mistakes because till then I had only stressed the importance of understanding things and not the mark at the end. Unfortunately, self correcting silly mistakes is an important exam skill that matters in the eleven plus. You have to identify patterns in the silly mistakes she makes and teach her to watch out for them. Also, calculate the mark that she would have got if she made no mistakes to highlight the importance of checking.
jo123
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue May 15, 2012 12:26 pm

Re: Silly mistakes

Post by jo123 »

Thanks for all your help and advice. Sorry for late replies - I haven't been online for a couple of days. sounds like it is just perseverence and hopefully we will get there. You are right about the logic checks for maths being a key skill. DD just seems to read the question and read the answer when she is checking her work, without necessarily putting the two together. We'll keep at it!! Thanks again

(PS we learnt 7x8 by knowing it as "the one we don't know so it must be 56!!!")
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