Supporting dd (Y9) in maths

[Noitsnotteatimeyet]

Dd's very able across the board but seems to have a problem with maths, specifically maths exams. She appears to understand all the concepts they've been covering and usually gets 100% in homework but isn't able to work at speed. In all her recent maths tests she's only been able to complete about three quarters of the paper so her mark has been much lower than the class average. She's getting the majority of answers right although is prone to silly mistakes which she usually spots when she checks her homework but doesn't have the chance to check her answers in tests as she's run out of time.

How can we help her speed up but still stay accurate? She has no SEN so will be stuck with the standard amount of time at GCSE. She desperately wants to be an equine vet so needs a good mark in maths.

Any ideas gratefully received

[Scottishthreeberry16]

You could always try a maths tutor. We got one for dd in yr 7 for a while and it turned out really well. Mainly, it boosted her confidence which in turn made her better at maths. Your dd will have picked up that this is her least able subject and might benefit from it. Ours was £20/hr so not cheap but really worth it. Other than that there's loads of online fun maths activities (ask the school)

[troutsprout]

What are her times tables like? Being able to quickly calculate the small bits of the bigger calculations quickly was a major thing holding ds back.

[user789653241]

Play timed challenges and games? Also make sure written work is neat so she doesn't read her own writing wrong?

Some games/tasks here are good for speed.

www.mangahigh.com/en-gb/

[TeenAndTween]

First remember she is only y9 - you have 2.5 years to sort this so don't panic.

Agree times tables, forwards and backwards, and spotting common factors eg if you have 36 and 60, know they are both divisible by 12.

Some 'exam technique' may come in to play too. If there are things she can get right but which are overly time consuming, she should miss them out and do 'faster' marks, and only go back to the slower marks at the end.

[BertrandRussell]

The thing that helped my dd, who was very slow at maths, was absolute, rock solid instant recall of her times tables to 15X15. She and my mother spent a lot of the summer between year 8 and 9 together, and mum taught her. Still not sure how, sadly, but she enjoyed doing it and went back to school sooo much faster and more confident,

[Noitsnotteatimeyet]

Thanks for the suggestions

I hadn't thought there might be a problem with her times tables - she was the swotty Y1 who was happily teaching herself the 13 and 14 times tables when the rest of the class were struggling with the whole concept of multiplication but it may be that she hasn't actually learned them and is constantly working them out

She hates getting things wrong and pushes herself very hard so this is really bugging her ...

I told her we'd be happy to get a tutor if that would help but she says she doesn't need one as she doesn't have any problem with understanding the concepts

[TheMortificadosDragon]

It sounds as though she's motivated to put some effort into this, which is good because probably she needs to practice to improve speed. Yy to nailing multiplication tables and also 'number bonds'.

[mumsneedwine]

She might need help with exam technique. Sometimes finding the maths in the question can be the hardest bit. So go through past papers (even year 9s can have a go at GCSE questions and papers are all free on exam board websites).

[ChildsPlay]

If you are understanding everything but you are finding that you run out of time in the exams then it comes down to you not understanding the question the first time round and having bad exam technique. You can easily improve this by doing some relevant past papers from the exam board to understand what each question is asking for without needing to read it through several times which is very time wasting. Also checking the mark scheme will allow you to see what is the most efficient way of doing each question as you do not want to be spending more time than each question is worth.