Finding the Best Maths Revision Guides for Your Child?
This month we have been looking at how to revise. Today Liz explains the differences between the different resources to help you find the best maths books for your child. There are a few main publishers for resources and they each have their benefits. At Skills4Parents we focus on the individual and what suits them. We recommend that once you have found a publisher and style that suits your child you stick with them, and use them throughout their education.
CGP
I love CGP because of the colours and designs that they use. However, for some young people CGP books can be too cluttered. If your young person is a visual learner and doesn’t mind the busy pages, then this is for them.
CGP has an immense amount of resources, so think carefully about what it is your young person needs. A lot of their books are split by year group, so it is good to find the ones that have foundation and stretch, as not every child in a year group is the same. There are also workbooks which cover multiple year groups which can help if a young person is below or above their expected levels.
They have a lot of resources for the SATs, which can be really useful, but I’d recommend thinking carefully about how much you focus on test preparation, especially at primary school. You want your child to feel comfortable with the tests, but you also want to reduce anxiety.
The Key Stage 3 range is slightly limited with revision and practice tests. Moving on to Key Stage 4 I love that they have a ‘how to revise for GCSE’ study guide. Of course you could read my blog posts too…
At GCSE there are revision guides, workbooks, practice papers and 10 minute tests. It is all very comprehensive and split up by exam board.
Collins Publishing
The Collins books are clear and simple to use. They are not as cluttered as CGP, so will be the best maths book for a child who likes structure and simplicity. The Collins4parents learning at home ranges is what parents need to be looking at for their children.
The Collins At Home section of the website also contains LOTS of extras including games, activities, maths songs, times table practice, practice papers, flashcards, interactive online maths tools. I like how holistic the Collins ranges are and that you can split it up by topic and focus on the areas that your young person struggles with the most.
The Collins easy learning series is suitable for the ages of 3-10 and is full of really useful books. You can focus on the weaknesses that your child has by getting the book for that area of maths, fitting with what we teach at Skills4Parents and building the wall like the graphic below, now that you know how to revise.
Alternatively get the ‘maths activity books’ for the relevant age groups. To bring some fun into learning and improve their problem solving skills choose the puzzle books. The quick quizzes are a good way to check their understanding on topics and to help you identify the areas that they then need to work on, so make a good starting point.
Collins also have an entire SATs preparation series. If your young person needs preparation for tests then this is the series for you. Full of practice tests, revision and study materials you can prepare them for the tests and reduce anxiety by practice. Collins also has free practice papers to download from their website and a guide to the SATs.
For Key Stage 3 there are revision books which include lots of practice questions and you can get matching revision cards too. For the 9-1 GCSE there are revision guides and workbooks, or an all-in-one book. I recommend getting them separately, so that your child can have the revision guide open whilst working in the workbook.
Again at GCSE there are topic based resourced in the SNAP revision series. Splitting this up by area of maths, I feel makes Collins one of the best options for maths books out there.
Pearson
Pearson and the exam board Edexcel are part of the same company, although they publish resources for both Edexcel and AQA. A lot of schools who do the Edexcel exam will use the
With Pearson textbooks, The text is clear and well laid out without too much information. Sometimes more practice is needed than what is given, and so I recommend using the workbooks with the study guides. These resources are aimed much more at general exam preparation than at general learning.
They cover the year 6 SATs, preparing for GCSE at Key Stage 3, and then the GCSE. If your school uses the Edexcel exam specification then the GCSE revision guides and workbooks are a good option.
How do you know what will work with your child and their preferences on how to revise?
Choosing the best maths book and revision guides for your child is probably more important than you realise, as you want them to like it and enjoy using them. For much more detail and comparison on all of the ranges above you can get my guide to maths books, and for only £9.99 you can get a bundle which also includes my guides to apps and websites.