Can anyone explain how to work out this maths SATS question?

[Florabella]

I know there must be a methodology, but can't remember to explain to my daughter his to do it.

7a - 4b = 2 and 2a + 5b = 19
What are the values of a and b?

Thanks!

To the child who can't do this easily now, few months before sats, does that really help? I would rather spend time going over basics and make sure she/he goes over the question so they didn't make any silly mistakes

They don't need to be able to do it at all because it isn't on the year 6 curriculum and will not be in the SATs papers. Year 6 are introduced to algebra, but at a very simple level.
I can't understand why a Y6 teacher would send home practice questions on things that have not been taught though.

AllPizzas, that's exactly what I mean, they haven't been taught, so why teacher expect parents to teach children something beyond curriculum expectation?

Is that from a level 6 maths paper? (ie a higher level paper only given to outstanding pupils).

I don't think simultaneous equations are in the standard year 6 curriculum, although I teach early years so could be wrong!

I can't understand why a Y6 teacher would send home practice questions on things that have not been taught though.

Maybe it was taught in school but the OPs DD didn't quite grasp it. Let's not turn this into another 'all teachers are incompetent thread'!

chicken, nobody is saying teachers are incompetent, because it's not in the ks2 curriculum to teach simultaneous equations in the first place. And also there are no separate test for able anymore. There is only one kind for all.

I agree with irvine too, it's a waste of time to worry about something that's not year 6 level, concentrate on being secure on 99% rather then worrying about 1%

It was in a reasoning paper 3 practice sheet. We gave up on it anyway!

OP, I don't think you need to score 100% to get GDS on maths sats paper.
If she answer everything else correctly, missing one question doesn't really matter. She can still get above expected, not knowing simoltaneous equations.

It isn’t going to come up on the paper at all. It really isn’t worth worrying about.

And does it really matter if she gets 120 or 116, or 110 or 105 anyway?

teen, the short answer is... Yes.

What are you going on about, Arkadia? You don't have sats in scotland, and your dd aren't even in yr6. So why does it matter?

What has the education system you are in got to do with anything?

Teen asked if getting 120 or 116 etc for sats matter, and you said yes, when your dds won't be taking them.

Why do you have to have a child in year 6 sitting SATs to answer whether it matters if you get the right answer in an exam?

Am I missing something?

Patti, maybe I am missing the point then. I read teen's comment as only referring to sats score, when question wasn't even covered, not as in getting right answer in any exam. 100 is a pass. 110+ can be gds, depend on the year. So I assumed missing one question which the child haven't been taught really doesn't matter.

My question was actually rhetorical, because in the grand scheme of things getting 115 rather than 120 really doesn't matter one jot in my opinion.

It doesn't affect what school the child gets to go to.

It will have limited, if any, effect on what set the child starts in at secondary, and at any half decent school the setting will be modified if the child is incorrectly placed. (And if the school isn't half decent then 115v120 in SATs will be the least of your worries).

It may affect the formal target grade for GCSE, but it shouldn't affect teaching or predicted grades. (See comment about half decent school above).

Absolutely, people should be encouraging children to work hard at their maths so they are in the best position possible going forward to secondary. But that has nothing to do with SATs score per se, and certainly doesn't warrant teaching the child items from the KS3 curriculum out of school to enable them to do 1 question they can't understand on a practice paper.

(My eldest scraped a 4b for maths in y6 so her target was a C. She went up sets every year at secondary, ending up with predicted A which she missed by 6 marks. Your child should not be limited by their SATs score.)

I think it matters most for parental boasting.

Both my D.C. got 4c at primary..... middling.....
After 1 term of a full time maths teacher both were swapped into top class as too bright for the original class........ seems once they had a more focused teacher the how to do it clicked in....