Seeking advice on Math performance

[octbride]

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some advice or hear from parents who may have experienced something similar with their child.

My son is in Secondary 2 this year, and I’ve noticed a recurring pattern with his Math performance. When he does his assignments, he seems to understand the concepts and completes them without much issue. However, when it comes to exams, he seems to blank out and struggles to apply what he has learned. His results tend to fall in the B4 or C5 range, which doesn’t seem to reflect his actual ability.

I first noticed this during his PSLE—his assignments were fine, and even his tuition teacher was confident in his understanding. However, his actual PSLE Math results were unexpectedly lower than we anticipated.

Has anyone else experienced this with their child? Could it be exam anxiety, a lack of time management, or some other issue? I’d love to hear any advice or strategies that worked for your child

[zac's mum]

@octbride said in Seeking advice on Math performance:

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some advice or hear from parents who may have experienced something similar with their child.

My son is in Secondary 2 this year, and I’ve noticed a recurring pattern with his Math performance. When he does his assignments, he seems to understand the concepts and completes them without much issue. However, when it comes to exams, he seems to blank out and struggles to apply what he has learned. His results tend to fall in the B4 or C5 range, which doesn’t seem to reflect his actual ability.

I first noticed this during his PSLE—his assignments were fine, and even his tuition teacher was confident in his understanding. However, his actual PSLE Math results were unexpectedly lower than we anticipated.

Has anyone else experienced this with their child? Could it be exam anxiety, a lack of time management, or some other issue? I’d love to hear any advice or strategies that worked for your child

Hi, how does he score for his timed practices at home?

Also, how does he score for other subjects’ written exams? Eg Science.

Did he mention his mood or emotional state during the Math exams? Is it only for this subject?

Welcome to PM me. My son does below average for Math.

[octbride]

@zac-s-mum

Hi zac-s-mum

He scored a B3 for Science in Secondary 2, despite achieving an AL1 for PSLE. I initially thought Science was his weakest subject, but it turns out that may not be the case.

Back in Primary 6, when I gave him exam papers to practice, he could score quite well. However, as I mentioned, his actual PSLE results were unexpectedly lower.

In Secondary 1, I didn’t drill him as much, expecting him to take more responsibility for his learning. When I checked with his tuition teacher, she mentioned that he was doing fine but tended to be careless. However, just last week, his Math tutor (who has been teaching him for six months) pointed out that he seems quite forgetful—he remembers something one moment but forgets it shortly after.

I’m wondering if this could be a sign of attention difficulties or something else.

[yummymath]

@octbride

Hi! I’m a former Math teacher and just wanted to share — what you’re seeing is actually common. It could be exam anxiety, but it might also be that he’s used to seeing very similar types of problems during practice. If the exam questions are worded differently, he might be thrown off, even though he knows the material.

One thing that can help is changing how he studies. Instead of only solving problems, ask him to explain a concept out loud or go through a problem with you as if he were the teacher. This allows him to really understand and apply what he knows!

Hope this helps!

[knockoutmathsg]

Hi @octbride and other concerned parents with similar situations!

We are Knockout Math, a specialist math tuition in Bukit Timah and we’d like to give our input!

It is very common to see students doing very well in school worksheets, assessment books and timed practice papers. However, only during exam situations, they blank out totally. What you may be seeing here is a lapse in teaching approach. The MOE syllabus has changed over the years and become quite condensed and content-heavy generally from Primary to JC. As a result, your child may be subject to rote learning - which is the memorisation of key concepts and formulas just to catch up to the next topic being taught.

When exams throw in curve ball questions, they may not be able to filter the fundamental concepts being tested, and freeze. Here are some recommendations:

1. Always link a key mathematical concept to a real-world application (e.g. formula of speed -> what is the speed of a running man, a car or a cheetah) This helps to visualize the topic so the question is not just a bunch of words.
2. Attempt questions from easy to medium to hard -> find out where your child stands and improve from there.

We hope this helps. We’d love to invite your child to a free trial, and find out how we can help boost his grades. Should you be interested, just drop us a Whatsapp message at your own time!

Contact us today!
www.knockoutmath.sg
Call/Whatsapp Us at 8476 0600
Email: contact@knockoutmath.sg