How to improve your speed in the Maths exam?
A good calculation speed always comes handy while solving maths problems. Often students seem to understand the concepts of various chapters but still, they cannot score well in their maths exam. One of the major problems with many students is keeping up the pace during the exam. Mostly, students who are not fast with calculations, tend to mess up with the sums in the latter part of the question paper in Maths exam. Once they start realizing that they are lagging behind during an examination, they start rushing and end up making mistakes. The below listed simple ways will make it easier for students to pace up their calculations.
Revise the multiplication tables regularly
One of the most time-consuming calculations is the multiplication of two and three-digit numbers. Even though the multiplication tables are being taught in the junior classes, yet, most of the students tend to forget them. It is really important to learn these multiplication tables as thoroughly as possible to enhance your speed at calculations. Make it a point to memorize the multiplication tables till 20 to do most of the multiplications faster. The best way to do this is by writing down two or three of these multiplication tables every day in a notebook and revising all of them regularly. Once you have learned all the tables, most of the multiplication and division problems will be a matter of a couple of minutes during the exam.
Practice the basic calculations
Even though the basic calculations of addition and subtraction are apparently easy for all of you, yet most of you make silly mistakes in these calculations. It is advisable for all students that they should practice some basic arithmetic every day back at home. Maintain a rough notebook for this purpose and practice some additions, subtractions, long multiplications and long divisions every day. With more of such practice, your mental maths skills will keep on improving, thereby helping you improve your speed at calculations during the exam.
Break the word problems into parts
Many students struggle with word problems and this lowers their confidence during the exam. The word problems are mostly created to simulate real-life situations so that students can relate to them while solving them. Most students get confused while reading and interpreting word problems. The best solution to it is to break the word problems into simpler parts. Take down the information given in each of the sentences of a word problem. Once you have all the information right there on your notebook, you will find it easier to understand the starting point of the calculation. The way to calculate the answer is always hidden in a word problem itself. Also, you may refer to the NCERT Solutions for class 6 maths by Vedantu for a better understanding of the word problems occurring in maths.
Do the rough work
It is always advisable to show the rough work in your answer sheets to avoid silly mistakes. Many students rush the calculations and skip the rough work in order to save time during the exam. But this does not always work for them in the right way. For some calculations, wherein carry-overs are included, most students tend to forget the carry-over and thereby make calculation errors. This is one of the most common errors that are encountered by teachers while checking the exam answer sheets. It is better to draw a narrow column for the rough work in your answer sheets and do all the calculations there. This makes it easier for you to identify the calculation errors when you revise your answers.
Read the questions carefully
It is important to read the questions carefully and calmly before starting off with the calculations. Most schools provide a reading time of about 10-15 minutes once the question papers are distributed among the students. Students are not allowed to write anything on their answer sheets during this time. This is the time when you need to analyze the questions carefully and chalk out the way to proceed with the sums. The only thing to remember is that no calculations are to be done mentally during this time. You only need to figure out if you know the process by which the given sums are to be done. For those schools where no reading time is provided, it is better to utilize the first 10 minutes of the exam in reading all the questions carefully and sorting out which sums are to be attempted.
The only secret recipe to fetch a good mark in maths is practice. The more you practice the better you get at Maths. A strong base always makes way for a better understanding of advanced concepts. So, while you practice the sums from your Maths syllabus, it is important to keep a check of the above-mentioned basic points as well.