Tutor MathsGuru: Ask me for your burning Maths questions!

[mathsguru]

KSP:

I feel that to help our kids do well in Maths, we have to let them learn how to solve these mind twisting questions. Some of the PSLE Maths questions even we as parents can't solve them. I feel that schools are not doing enough in this area.


While we can share our workings and solutions here, but when come to explaining to our kids they may not understand or take a while to absorb. I'm not sure this is the right approach. But I still think there should be a proper method in teaching our kids to solve model questions.

Is there anyone here watch the Friday night 10.30pm Ch8 show about the P6 student saying how tough the PSLE Maths paper.

The thing that interest me was when they asked the HCI and NYGH students to solve the \"Ken Jim chocolate sweet\" question, one of the NYGH said she already know how to answer this type of question when she was P5 and she learnt it at an enrichment class. So I really wonder which enrichment class teaches this. Is it Learning Lab, Dr Peh or etc.... can do the job?

Hi KSP and fellow KiasuParents,

If you don't mind, I would like to share some personal thoughts here... :please:

I do agree with you that some of the PSLE questions are mind-twisting, however, they are definitely not out of what the students have learnt. It's just a matter of applying the Maths concepts/techniques at a more sophisticated level.

Frankly speaking, when I was a Primary School student (about 14 years ago), Maths was not my forte. And I groaned and moaned when my mum bought assessment books for me to do. There were already mind-twisting questions around then...

I still remember a series of books called \"Challenging Problems\" (think there were like 5-6 volumes). And, I still remember my weaker topics were speed and rate-related questions (similar to what Suiyuan posted and those water-flowing-in-and-leaking-simultaneously-at-different-rates kinda questions). My mum doesn't know how to solve those challenging questions too. And ironically, much as I'm a Maths tutor now, I never ever went for any tuition or enrichment classes. Just purely school and assessment books...

And, I'm definitely not a genius or gifted child. I learnt it through the hard way --- practice. Those challenging Maths assessment books have model solutions and detailed examples. So, for every question I didn't know, I read, understood, covered up the solution and try to do it again on my own. Of course, it helped that my parents were pretty strict with me and at that time, there were no DS/PSP/Wii/handphone/Internet/Facebook kind of distractions...probably just WinDos, Pacman and my handheld Tetris which my mum confiscated and only let me play after exams...*sad*

Oops, sorry I digress... Well, the more I practise, the more I gain confidence in myself. And when I see that I can solve more and more \"challenging problems\", I begin to develop interest and liking towards Maths. And my grades improved too. Today, I'm glad I went through all these because it built up a good foundation and instilled good discipline in me. So, I'm a good living example of a student who can improve Maths without going for tuition/supplementary/enrichment classes, etc. All by practice.

(I know some of you may be thinking, \"But hey...that contradicts your profession as a Maths tutor now!\" Like what I mentioned in my profile, having gone through the local education system and the \"frustrations\" it brings about, I would like to share my own learning method and way of understanding Maths concepts with more students so that they can develop interest in Maths and score well in it, just like what I did. Cos out of so many different subjects, Maths is 1 that you can easily score well and potentially get full marks, unlike languages/humanities.)

My point is: Whatever students learnt in schools are basic concepts. Through practice and exposure to challenging problems, students can then materialise and apply what they have learnt into a higher level. (And we must always bear in mind that in every exam, they need to set a couple of more difficult questions to differentiate students of different calibre. Else, everyone gets A* and that is not going to be of value. Such is life, unfortunately...and so, we just got to try our best and make the best out of what we've got!)

Anyway, back to your comment about parents not being able to solve the Maths questions. Actually, sometimes as adults/parents, we find it ridiculous that even we can't solve a question in a few minutes, let alone primary sch students. However, it can also be that the more we know, the more \"blindspots\" we have...

For instance, when we first looked at the \"Ken Jim choc sweet\" question, most of us would wanna use algebra to solve. And then, we stop and say, \"Wait a min, Primary school students haven't learnt simultaneous equations!\". And then we looked at it again and feel that there is no better way to solve it. That's the thing with us. Having learnt more complicated/advanced stuff, we think too much.

Facing a question like this, we should approach it \"simply\" using heuristics and tools like models to compare, etc. You may ask, \"Where do we start then? Don't know how to draw the model/diagram leh...\"

Well, like how I always encourage my students, always begin somewhere! Don't just give up after reading a seemingly difficult question. If you are clueless, draw a simple diagram after reading 1 sentence. Then, for every subsequent sentence, add on more information to your diagram. If required, you may need to split the diagram or add more diagrams. Lastly, make sure you have all the information represented in the diagram(s). Then, from here, it should be clear what you should do as the 1st step of your working.

Perhaps you can try using this method the next time your child tells you \"I don't know how to do this problem...\" You can even do it together with him/her...serves as a bonding session too! :snuggles:


My 2 Cents' Worth Food for Thought,
MathsGuru

[mjl]

Agreed. Well said, Maths Guru!

clap clap

[rocklee]

Hi Mathsguru


I agree with you. Maths is the only subject that we can score if we practised hard enough, unlike languages. I still remember when I was first exposed to A maths in sec 3, I failed every single test cos I had absolutely no idea how to solve the problems. Couldn’t afford any tuition then and no help at all. I had to copy friend’s workings and answers for practically every piece of homework. It was really discouraging but I was determined to overcome my weakness. So I decided the only way out was to figure out the model answers from the ten year series and practised real hard. And eventually I got A2 for my O levels. To me, it was really a great achievement. From then on, I had greater interest and confidence in this subject.

Now that I have to coach my own kids, I find that I really have to unlearn what I have learnt previously cos the methods and syllabus we used to have are outdated. During the course of teaching, I went through their textbooks and also follow up on certain model solutions given from some assessment books. I also "studied" some of the top school papers to find out what the setters actually want to test them on. In this way, it helps me to explain better to my kids. I have learnt a lot through this teaching process and it has been very fruitful. Even though my DS1 did not do very well in SA due to carelessness, I am happy with the progress. I believe in laying a strong foundation at the lower primary and then practise is what we need.

[suiyuan]

Thank you for your help.


Simon has some money.
He spends $10 on 3 exercise books and 7 pencils.
He will be short of $0.40 if he were to buy another exercise book.
He will have $0.60 left if he were to buy one more pencil.
(a) How much does each exercise book cost?
(b) How much money does Simon have?

[tutormum]

suiyuan:

Thank you for your help.


Simon has some money.
He spends $10 on 3 exercise books and 7 pencils.
He will be short of $0.40 if he were to buy another exercise book.
He will have $0.60 left if he were to buy one more pencil.
(a) How much does each exercise book cost?
(b) How much money does Simon have?

I think this question is wrong. Pls check again.

[tutormum]

Mathsguru, I couldn't agree with you better. :udaman: :goodpost:

I did very badly in Maths in secondary school. :oops: So much so that I even believed that I was dumb. However, with determination, I decided to analysis every topic taught and find a way to understand the concepts in simple terms. How to be a good tutor when you are so poor in Maths? That's what made me determined to conquer my fear of Maths to help my students. I have developed some very good techniques in my teachings and my students love them as it helps them to overcome their own fear and gain confidence. :celebrate: If my students' parents know what I've scored in Maths during my secondary days, I think they'll in for a rude shock. :!: I never let them know until they see their kids' results. :lol:

[atutor2001]

suiyuan:

Thank you for your help.


Simon has some money.
He spends $10 on 3 exercise books and 7 pencils.
He will be short of $0.40 if he were to buy another exercise book.
He will have $0.60 left if he were to buy one more pencil.
(a) How much does each exercise book cost?
(b) How much money does Simon have?

Hi

I think your question should be :

He spends $10 on 3 exercise books and 7 pencils.
He will be short of $0.40 if he were to buy 1 more exercise book than pencil.
He will have $0.60 left if he were to buy one more pencil than exercise book.
(a) How much does each exercise book cost?
(b) How much money does Simon have?

Is my guess right? :lol:

[Tang]

atutor2001:

suiyuan:

Thank you for your help.


Simon has some money.
He spends $10 on 3 exercise books and 7 pencils.
He will be short of $0.40 if he were to buy another exercise book.
He will have $0.60 left if he were to buy one more pencil.
(a) How much does each exercise book cost?
(b) How much money does Simon have?

Hi

I think your question should be :

He spends $10 on 3 exercise books and 7 pencils.
He will be short of $0.40 if he were to buy 1 more exercise book than pencil.
He will have $0.60 left if he were to buy one more pencil than exercise book.
(a) How much does each exercise book cost?
(b) How much money does Simon have?

Is my guess right? :lol:

The original question is perfectly all right. The information will give us 'An exercise book costs $1 more than a pen'.

[KSP]

Mathsguru, do you teach maths? I’m going to send my child to you.

[atutor2001]

Tang:

Simon has some money.
He spends $10 on 3 exercise books and 7 pencils.
He will be short of $0.40 if he were to buy another exercise book.
He will have $0.60 left if he were to buy one more pencil.
(a) How much does each exercise book cost?
(b) How much money does Simon have?

The original question is perfectly all right. The information will give us 'An exercise book costs $1 more than a pen'.

Hi Tang

Can help to explain please.

\"He spends $10 on 3 exercise books and 7 pencils\" would means the total cost of 3 books and 7 pencils is $10.

\"He will have $0.60 left if he were to buy one more pencil.\" would means the total cost of 3 books and 8 pencils is $9.40.

How come more pencils will cost less?