My son's is actually a bit worse than a "mad minute." They have to do 100 problems in 5 minutes. OF THE SAME TABLE. So if they're doing 2's, he has to do 100 problems of 2s with 100% accuracy! That's not measuring anything other than patience and test taking skills in my book. Add in that the teacher counts off every 30 seconds, then does an audible 10 second countdown at the end!?! My perfectionist burst into tears the first time because he had only finished 80.
I've asked the teacher to deemphasize it at school with no luck. She only agreed to change it to 90% accuracy to move on instead of 100%. It's infuriating because this is the ONLY math they're doing in school right now. Timed test and computer practice. I am now running a math pull-out for the GT identified kids 2x a week because the teacher didn't have time.
My son's in 3rd and has now passed up to his 4's. We just practiced and practiced at home, used Timez Attack and multiplication.com. His difficulty comes in solving every problem every time, to make sure it's correct. He's wicked fast if he doesn't have to be 'graded' but if he's going to be marked for it, he has to check and double check before he'll write it down. It takes a long time to add 6x6 to check your answer in your head.
Last edited by CAMom; 09/26/10 07:55 AM.
