Helping Your Child With Math

Is your child currently preparaing for a math exam? If so, this is no doubt a nerve-wracking time for them. As a parent, you will want to ensure their revision goes as smoothly and successfully as possible, and there are some to improve math skills.

There are going to be periods when your child feels stressed, overwhelmed, lost and demotivated. Studying for an exam can be challenging, and it is important to look for signs in your child that they are struggling. Do not make the situation worse by calling them lazy or berating them. All of the following are indicators that your child is stressed – sleeping problems, not eating as much as usual, having mood swings, showing less interest in the things they love, and talking less. If you notice one or a few of these symptoms, take their mind off their exams. You can do this by taking them out or engaging in an activity they enjoy. 

Also, make it clear that they can talk to you at any time about any concerns they have regarding their exams. Other ways to minimize their anxiety include having regular one-on-one conversations, letting your child talk more throughout, as well as offering treats and praise when they reach revision milestones, cutting back on their chores so they have enough time to study, staying supportive, being positive even if they are not, and encouraging your child to seek help with any subjects they do not understand.

A lot of parents have looked into the likes of boarding schools for boys so that they can be in the right sort of environment 24/7. Home can be filled with distractions, and it can often be challenging for people to study effectively. If you have noticed this during this period, you may want to take a look into boarding school options for the future and their more critical exams. It can be a hard decision, but the right one.

Benefits Of Past Exam Papers

Mathematics past papers are a must if you are planning on taking this examination. There are many different ways you can study, but using past papers is one of the best. Read on to discover the numerous benefits associated with this approach.

Firstly, you will refine your exam answering skills. When you spend time studying maths past papers, you are able to experiment on the best way to answer questions. You can compare your answers with the official marking scheme, and you will be able to get to grips with the best way to answer questions. You will also get a feel for what it is like to sit exams. Nothing gives you a better indication of what exam day is going to be like than by sitting down and taking one of the maths past papers as if you were doing the real thing. 

You can also develop and improve your time management skills. You can use these practice papers to see how much time it takes you to complete the exam paper as if it was an actual exam. If you cannot complete the exam within the time specified, you need to look for different ways to optimize the way you use your time in the exam. Past papers also enable you to practice with actual exam-style questions, so you know that when you go into the real exam they are going to be very similar questions to what you have practised. Finally, you can also focus on common exam themes.

Always Display Your Working Out

Display your working out is vital because even if your final answer to a question is not correct, you may still get some marks for attempting the correct working out. This is why it is so important to read the question carefully and make sure you are fully aware of what you are being asked to do. You can then display your working out in as much detail as possible. This will ensure that you get the highest possible marks for the method you used, even if the end result is not correct. 

This is a crucial process, especially when you sit a maths calculator paper. As you use a calculator, you may be tempted to simply write down the answer shown on your calculator. However, you also need to write down how you got to this enter – the equation you entered into the calculator. This will ensure you get some marks. After all, you may have simply got the wrong answer because you mistyped when using the calculator. The marker will not know this if you did not display the working out. But, if you do show the process you used, they will see that your method was correct, and they will grant you marks accordingly. This can be the difference between an A and a B.

Marking Your Child’s Paper

Maths practice papers are available today, providing your child with an excellent revision tool. Your child will get a feel for what the real exam is going to be like, and they can hone their time management skills too. However, the problem often comes when you need to mark your child’s paper.

It can be difficult to mark math papers as a parent. There are numerous reasons why this is the case. Firstly, you may not know the answers to some of the questions. There is no shame in this; in fact, a lot of parents would struggle to ace a maths exam. After all, the curriculum has changed a lot over the years. The last thing you want to do is guess whether your child has answered correctly or incorrectly. You need to be 100 percent sure if you are to help them improve. 

Aside from this, you will also need to be aware of how markers evaluate such maths past papers if you are to get the grading right. Essentially, for top marks, examiners are looking for clear explanations on how to find a solution to a problem, when required. They also want to see the right working of problems given. If your child has answered a question incorrectly, however, they have shown the correct working out, they may still get a point. Examiners also want to see correct use of units and measurements, correct placement of decimal points, and clear, unambiguous answers.