maths test problem

[Labro]

Ds has just managed to completely fail the first test of year 7, which was a common entrance 'style' test and he scored 2 out of 30. What do I need to be doing now? His teacher has kept saying since the beginning of term that hes very good at maths and being very unwilling to give any extra help. Hes in top set maths and finished year 6 at Level 5 national curriculum. They only have two maths sets and the other set he is considered too bright for.

I think you end to have a chat about what he is finding hard. Was it the time pressure, how he showed workings or not , overconfidence in his mental maths, poor processing and working memory etc. tbh with this and your other issues I don't think the school have really got a good grasp of his strengths and weaknesses at all. iirc he has seen an Ed Psych in the past ?

presumably there aren't many boys in his year for only 2 sets. Best thing dc prep did for ds was to put him in lowest set (of 5 for 40 odd kids) for maths as it was less competitive and he got to cover the topics at his pace.

Thanks.
Ed psych was for something different some years ago and not relevant as such. Waitingfor teacher to ring me!

Did he spend ages trying to get his answers 'perfect' and therefore not attempt all of the questions? It's what I would suspect in the circumstances.

Labro am I right in thinking that you have known for quite some time that he struggles with maths but you have n't got the confidence to help him and don't need the added expense of a tutor?
The school is obviously not helping either. There is a limit to how many terms you can waste whilst waiting for them to sort out what is happening. Can't you subscribe to one of these (cheaper) maths computer programmes to consolidate some basic skills? The school may already have a subscription to one which he could use at home. It would be at the least useful to know i f he is doing all his homework correctly and if so that it is his work and not a friend's.

Thanks. They already use mymaths. Ds admitted last night he can't understand most of what she says (heavy accent) and that she will not repeat anything. To be honest I think shes been trying to get him moved down for some time (she made a massive thing of him forgetting his book at the start of term) Hes got some tutorial time coming up with the head of maths which should help. Turns out to that the ex decided to teach him a 'new method' of doing things over the weekend!!!!! Will go into school today and try and get this sorted. (The problem with my own maths is I have dyscalcula so struggle to even know if hes doing it correctly, let alone if its right) This teacher leaves at Christmas so a combination of the tutoring and new teacher may actually help. Thanks again for all your help.

When does he take the next lot of entrance tests? tbh it might be worth getting an Ed Psych report if only to request him extra time in specific subjects, assuming it is a recall/processing issue. The best method we found for ds was peer to peer explanation, could he rework the test with a friend ?