Maths Problems How to avoid silly mistakes

Maths Problems How to avoid ‘silly mistakes’ Maths Problems: How to avoid ‘silly mistakes’ “I don’t know why I keep making these stupid mistakes in maths. I never get over 90% on practice tests even on problems I am good at because of these mistakes.” Does this sound familiar? Many tutors find that concentration is one of the biggest issues for students, and one that tutors find a lot of time focusing on in their lessons. Careless mistakes account for a huge number of lost marks in maths problems, where one mistake - doing a plus instead of multiply, for instance, or putting the decimal point in the wrong place - can lose all the marks in a question. These careless errors stem from the inability of the mind to concentrate. But how can we avoid them? We recommend following the SHUV Strategy Slow down . Hang On a Minute. Underline Stuff . Visualise with Vivid Images. This strategy can be adopted by parents to support their children with their maths homework. Slow down Practicing the skill of slowing down is quite challenging, especially in exam conditions where students know they have a limited amount of time. Ask your child to say this sentence before every question: “I am just going to slow down for a bit here”. Repeating this sentence exactly sends a signal to your brain to slow down and start thinking. Hang On a Minute Besides slowing down, engaging your child’s curiosity reduces the chances of careless mistakes. Repeat the sentence: “Hang on a Minute, something sounds fishy” Even when your child doesn’t feel that way, this will help to shut off automatic guessing mechanisms. Underline Stuff Besides the obvious benefit of underlining key points from questions, following the question with a pen fixes your gaze to one word at a time and reduces the ‘scatter brain’ syndrome where your mind just tries to look everywhere. See speeder.com  for some examples of this. Visualise with Vivid Images Daydreaming can be controlled by deliberately trying to visualise an image or picture that is partially relevant to the question. Whenever your child sees a question on gradients, he or she can visualise a playground with a slide and the formula of the function floating around this playground. The more strange the context the better. It is important to remind your child that paying attention to detail is an art form that has to be practiced! For private maths tuition tailored to your needs search in your area and for the level you want, e.g. GCSE maths tuition, A-level maths tuition, and boost your learning.

Learning These Words Can Help YOU! - Private Tutoring

Learning These Words Can Help YOU! BobbiM May 6, 2014 Have you ever read a book in which the vocabulary was so elevated you could barely understand what was going on?  I have and I wanted to quit on the second page.  Learn these words and that is less likely to happen. Dearth; n. A scarcity or lack of supply. During the war, there was a dearth of food storage. Diminutive; adj. Very small; tiny. (Diminutive is occasionally used as a noun. It refers to anything that is small or the name given to suffixes on words that indicate smallness. For example, the suffix let is a diminutive. When it is added to a noun, it indicates a smaller version of that noun, such as a booklet or starlet.) She is a diminutive baby, weighing only 4 pounds. Infinitesimal; adj. Immeasurably or incalculably small. I never thought wed be able to study the infinitesimal nucleus of an atom, but with new technology, we can. Insignificant; adj. Of little importance or power. My problems seem insignificant when compared to others. Small and not important. The scratch on the paint was insignificant and the owner of the house didnt make us repaint it. Lilliputian; n, adj. Noun: A very tiny person or thing. Compared to the tall basketball player, the children were Lilliputians. Adjective: Small or trivial in size. The Lilliputian house was perfect for the small family. Not important; petty. The discussion was Lilliputian in the midst of the emergency. Meager; adj. Scarce in quantity or extent; in short supply. After camping for two weeks, we had a meager supply of food. Deficient in richness or fertility. The soil was meager and so the crops barely grew. Minuscule; adj, n. Adjective: Extremely tiny; very small. She used a minuscule amount of frosting on the cake so as to not overpower the people who ate it. Noun: Small, ancient, cursive script. The minuscule writing was hard for me to read. Lowercase letters. A term for lowercase letters is minuscule. Minute; adj. Exceptionally small or insignificant. The way he looked at me seemed minute but my friends told me it was significant. Characterized by precise and close scrutiny. I did a minute inspection to make sure they had cleaned properly. Mite; n. A very small sum of money. To a widow, a mite may seem like unto a large sum of money to others who have more. A very small creature or object. The small child was a mite compared to the big football players. Negligible; adj. Not considered important enough to be worth bothering about; insignificant. The problem was negligible to me, but to the woman next to me it seemed to be important enough for her to cry about. Scintilla; n. A minute amount; barely a suggestion; just an inkling or a spark. For a moment I had a scintilla of hope that he loved me, but then I came back to reality. Trifling; adj. Of trivial or nonsensical importance; not important and easily dismissed. His trifling plan was impossible to make a reality. Trivial; adj. Of little significance or importance; concerned with trivia or inconsequential information; commonplace. I know many trivial facts but I blank on the important ones. Ample; adj. Of a large or great size; fully significant, even more than enough. There is an ample amount of love for you here. Behemoth; n. Something that is enormous in size and/or power. The giant was a behemoth that terrorized all the towns nearby. Colossal; adj. So enormous or gigantic that it seems to defy belief. The colossal monument blew me away. Copious; adj. Containing or yielding plenty; bountiful in amount or manner. I have a copious amount of corn from the harvest. Gargantuan; adj. Of enormous size, quantity, or volume or capacity. I thought Id never climb the gargantuan cliff leading to the path. Humongous; adj. Gigantic or extremely oversized. I was so hungry I ate the humongous pizza. Immeasurable; adj. So vast or limitless in size that measurement is not possible. My love for him is immeasurable. Incalculable; adj. Impossible or too great to be calculated or resolved. Incalculable damage came after the hurricane. Infinite; adj. immeasurably great or large; having no limits or boundaries. The teacher displayed infinite patience even though the students were rude and restless.