CEM MATHS

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ridetherollercoaster
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:28 pm

CEM MATHS

Post by ridetherollercoaster »

Have read the posts on standardisation and aware of total score requirement of 121 in Bucks ... so far my daughter is performing well on mock papers and revision books in Verbal and Non-Verbal but she is still getting low score on her Maths. Obv we'll continue to plug away before she sits test in September ... but just wondering with Maths counting for 30 percent of score what sort of percentage/raw score she needs to be achieving on maths section so as not to drag her overall score down (as you can tell I'm no mathematician either :lol: ) So if she scored say only 40/50 percent on Maths element does that mean that she can't reach magic number even with stellar performance on Verbal and Non-Verbal ?
anotherdad
Posts: 1763
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: CEM MATHS

Post by anotherdad »

It's possible to qualify with a raw score of 40/50% on one section. There's no definitive benchmark to reach. It will depend upon her scores in all of the papers and with respect to the cohort. There are too many variables to make an informed estimate.

For instance, if a raw score of 70% happened to be the cut-off for qualification for her birth-month cohort, and numerical accounted for 30% of the overall score, she could get 40% on the numerical section and 83% on each of the other elements and still qualify. Change any of the numbers in that sentence and some or all of the others change. I'm not sure that the 30% weighting for numerical is absolutely set, either, so that's possibly a variable. There are too many variables to make an informed estimate.

If there's an obvious area to work on, doing so will improve her chances of qualification. I think that's all you can do really.
Last edited by anotherdad on Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ridetherollercoaster
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:28 pm

Re: CEM MATHS

Post by ridetherollercoaster »

Tx AnotherDad - good to know that there is still all to play for - heads down chins up :D
anotherdad
Posts: 1763
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: CEM MATHS

Post by anotherdad »

You're welcome. Don't try and second-guess what's required because you'll always guess incorrectly. Focus on developing areas where help is needed and do so in a positive and balanced way. You need to be careful that your daughter doesn't go into the tests (or the practice you're doing) with a mindset of "this is the bit I'm not good at".
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: CEM MATHS

Post by Guest55 »

Very good point - confidence is a key part of problem solving in maths.

Try to find the areas where she is weaker and we'll try to help with ideas.
ridetherollercoaster
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:28 pm

Re: CEM MATHS

Post by ridetherollercoaster »

Yes, that's really good advice. Her confidence in maths is OK but she'd be the first to say that it doesn't come naturally ... thankfully she has some very upbeat teachers at school for maths and so enjoys and participates in lessons even though she has to work hard.
anotherdad
Posts: 1763
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: CEM MATHS

Post by anotherdad »

ridetherollercoaster wrote:Her confidence in maths is OK but she'd be the first to say that it doesn't come naturally
Guest55 is right about confidence and I have an excellent example. My daughter also used to say that "maths doesn't come naturally". She didn't show a particular strength or confidence in maths in primary education or in the early years at secondary school. She attained two A*s in her two maths GCSEs last summer and is taking A-level maths.

What happened? A combination of really good, encouraging teaching at school, a willingness to work at it and exposure and encouragement at home. We put up a large whiteboard on a wall in our kitchen/diner - it's always in view when we sit and eat. Whatever topics she covered at school, I wrote appropriate puzzles or problems on the board and when she had the time and inclination, she completed them on the board. It developed to being used for other subjects as well but I did it to help her confidence in maths in the first place. Once she thinks she's mastered a topic or technique, she does a micro-teach to educate her parents....nothing like teaching someone else to cement your confidence in a subject. Nowadays, I'm learning about DNA-RNA transcription... :D

I have always enjoyed most of maths. It's important that it's seen as a subject to be enjoyed and not dreaded. There isn't a maths topic or technique that can't be made interesting or applicable or just fun if it's delivered in the right way. It's a bugbear of mine that whilst adult illiteracy is something very few people would admit to, plenty will profess proudly "I'm rubbish at maths" and laugh about it. And we wonder why we produce so few scientists and engineers, when the language for those subjects isn't taken seriously by society.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: CEM MATHS

Post by Guest55 »

There was an excellent report by Sir Peter Williams published 2008 which highlighted the issue of parents proudly admitting they 'can't do maths'.

" ... and the United Kingdom remains one of the few advanced nations where it is socially acceptable – fashionable, even – to profess an inability to cope with mathematics."

Many of the recommendations of this report were ditched ...

http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/8365/7/Williams%2 ... dacted.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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