The math part of that exam is all story problems. I've never met a math teacher who actually taught students how to solve these. They teach processes and spring the story problems on tests. Then they wonder why students perform poorly.
There are actually key words that indicate which operation to use in solving a specific problem, but for some reason math teachers guard this information as if it were a state secret. If you want to learn it, you need to buy a book which tells you how to do them.
Then you had really good teachers. I NEVER had a math teacher say a single word about how to do those. We had calculations but never saw "story problems" until they showed up on a test. It was as if they expected us to somehow figure it out on our own. Well, we didn't.
The math part of that exam is all story problems. I've never met a math teacher who actually taught students how to solve these. They teach processes and spring the story problems on tests. Then they wonder why students perform poorly.
There are actually key words that indicate which operation to use in solving a specific problem, but for some reason math teachers guard this information as if it were a state secret. If you want to learn it, you need to buy a book which tells you how to do them.
Math word problems. Like real world use of math. Had those all the time in school.
Then you had really good teachers. I NEVER had a math teacher say a single word about how to do those. We had calculations but never saw "story problems" until they showed up on a test. It was as if they expected us to somehow figure it out on our own. Well, we didn't.
It was awhile ago…should be brought back. But the teachers likely are too ignorant of the info needed to create the tests.