Tag: parenting

Your child seems fine in lessons.
Homework gets done.
They can explain things out loud.

Then the test results come back and they don’t reflect any of that.

This is one of the most common concerns parents raise:

“My child can do it at home and in school, so why don’t the results show it?”

It’s tempting to assume something must be wrong with ability, confidence, or effort.

In most cases, it isn’t any of those.

The key difference isn’t intelligence it’s how maths is tested

In school, children are usually taught methods.

For example:

• how to add fractions
• how to multiply
• how to use the column method

And when they’re asked directly to do those things, many children are fine.

If you put in front of them:

Add $\frac{2}{7} + \frac{1}{6}$

they may be able to do it — especially if they’ve practised that method.

But most maths tests (especially SATs, 11+ and GCSE’s) don’t stop there.

Where tests are harder than Lessons

Instead of asking what to do, tests often ask children to work out what needs to be done.

For example:

Jonathan eats two-sevenths of a cake.
Lena eats one-sixth of the same cake.
How much of the cake is left?

Mathematically, this still involves adding fractions.

But cognitively, it’s much harder.

Now the child has to:

• read carefully
• decide what the maths actually is
• remember the method
• carry it out
• realise they then need to subtract from one

That’s a lot going on at once, especially for a Year 5 or Year 6 child.

“But they know how to add fractions…”

This is the most frustrating part, they do know how!
They just haven’t been trained to recognise when to use it.

This is why parents often say:

“If you tell them what to do, they can do it.”

That’s true, and also the problem.

Why this affects maths more than English

English is more fluid.

Children read, write, talk, and interpret language every day. Even when they’re unsure, they can often have a go.

Maths doesn’t feel like that.

When a child sees a maths question they don’t immediately recognise, they often think:

“I don’t know this.”

Not:

“I need to work out what this is asking.”

Once that thought kicks in, confidence drops quickly.

And maths is very unforgiving emotionally, answers are right or wrong, and children know it instantly.

Why getting stuck destroys confidence

In class, children rarely feel “stuck” when practising methods.

They might make a mistake, but they still know what step comes next.

Problem-solving questions are different.

They create a pause.
A moment of uncertainty.
A feeling of not knowing where to start.

Many children interpret that moment as:

“I can’t do maths.”

Even though what’s really happening is:

“I haven’t seen this type of question before.”

Why this issue shows up in SATs, 11+ and GCSE papers

In primary school tests:

• Paper 1 is arithmetic (straight calculations)
• Papers 2 and 3 are problem solving and reasoning

It’s very common for children to do well in arithmetic but struggle badly in the other two papers.

That doesn’t mean they’re weak at maths.

It means they haven’t had enough exposure to:

• unfamiliar questions
• questions where the maths is hidden
• questions that require thinking before calculating

The fix is simpler than most parents expect

This usually isn’t about learning more maths.

It’s about:

• seeing lots of different question styles
• becoming comfortable with uncertainty
• learning that being stuck doesn’t mean being incapable

Past papers help enormously, not because they’re magic, but because they:

• normalise problem-solving
• reduce panic
• build confidence through familiarity

The most important thing for parents to know

If your child struggles with maths exams, it does not mean:

• they aren’t logical
• they aren’t capable
• they “just aren’t a maths person”

It usually means they’re being tested on application, not recall and that shift hasn’t been made clear to them yet.

That’s a teaching gap, not an ability gap.

Final thought

Maths becomes difficult not when the numbers get harder but when the thinking changes and no one explains that change.

Once children understand that maths tests are asking them to decide what to do, not just do it, a lot of the fear starts to disappear.

And confidence comes back surprisingly fast.