September 2020
We hope that the start to your new year is going well under difficult circumstances. After three years of redevelopment we are extremely excited to announce that we have released a new version of Methodmaths that is completely free from Flash and works beautifully on most devices including ipads. We believe it now offers the strongest online solution to both mock exams and past paper revision. Whilst we have maintained the simplicity and elegance of our old system, we have added some great new features.
Annotation tools
Users can now annotate freely on any question so that they can demonstrate how they have arrived at an answer. This is also great for teachers should they wish to model solutions either in the classroom or online via third party video conferencing packages. Teachers can use this feature to leave written feedback with individual students. We have provided two types of annotation tool. One is a normal freehand tool for touch sensitive devices and the other is a drag and drop mouse tool for those who find number formation with a mouse difficult.
Sophisticated Mark Schemes
Every question contains a library of possible responses that cater for both partial marks scenarios and formatting variations. This is growing daily as we analyse input data from schools. Coupled with the ability for students to annotate their questions and the ability for teachers to adjust the mark allocation via the mark pads we believe this hybrid model can save huge amounts of teacher time whilst still delivering an incredibly accurate assessment.
Tutorials
Methodmaths is much more than just a testing tool. It can be used to develop understanding and build confidence. For the first time we have introduced a tutorial link on every question which provides just enough support without giving the answer away. This could consist of some key facts or formulae, bar models to reveal underlying structure or step by step procedures. These are very quick to load, take less than a minute to work through and are carefully tailored to the needs of the question. Access is at the discretion of teachers.
Method Support
Methodmaths is designed to encourage users to break calculations down and utilise successful problem solving techniques attracting additional method marks along the way. The question mark button when selected, provides support with procedures, proofs and written communication. This is ideal for those who struggle to engage with challenging questions. Access is at the discretion of teachers.
Topic Booklets
We have collated hundreds of 9-1 GCSE questions from the IGCSE specification and other sources to provide you and your students with downloadable topic specific booklets. Each pdf also contains a set of solutions and can be downloaded on demand from within each online question. Access is at the discretion of teachers.
Audio support
We are currently adding audio support to the foundation questions. For those who need it, you can click on any sentence to hear it read aloud.
Cross Over Questions
Questions that appear on both foundation and higher tier are now connected so that they only need to be completed once. This is great for supporting tiering decisions as students and teachers can clearly see what is required to reach grades 3, 4 and 5 once the common content has been attempted. The dynamic performance bar at the top of the screen is largely unchanged as this has always been a motivational feature but we have fine tuned the current grade to include a progress percentage. This again is designed to encourage pursuit of the next grade.
New Content
Our initial release contains 30 Pearson 9-1 questions papers from November 19 back to and including November 17. We are close to completing the June 17 series and will be working our way back through the mock content as the next few months unfold.