Why it helps
Plenty of exams still ask for arithmetic without a calculator. In England, for example, between a third and a half of the marks in GCSE mathematics must come from questions answered without one.1 Quick, accurate number facts mean less time stuck on the small steps of a question.
The idea is that when number facts come back quickly, more of your working memory is left for the harder parts of a problem. A review of 110 studies found a medium sized link between working memory and math, strongest for word problems and whole number calculation.2 That is a link, not a promise, but it is a good reason to keep the basics quick.
For parents
Math Workout is free to start. Pro is an optional one-time purchase that a grown up can make in the app; nothing on this page asks a child to buy anything.
Mental math practice fits around revision rather than replacing it: one short round before a study session, or a World Challenge with breakfast. Every round can be stopped at any time. Free players see a Pro screen from time to time, for example when the day's free workouts are used up, and get one ranked World Challenge run a day.
How Math Workout fits
A few minutes before revision works well. Times Table Master's AI coach asks the facts you miss again later in the round, and the Progress screen's review picks your weakest facts. I'm Feeling Clever mixes all four operations, so you have to spot what each sum needs. The Brain Cruncher has you keep a running total in your head as the steps flash by. And World Challenge gives everyone the same 50 questions each day, so you can compare your score with players everywhere.
Built around science, for this age
Of ten study techniques a large review rated, practice testing and spreading practice out over time came top, helping learners of different ages, including in real classrooms.3 Answering sums from memory is practice testing, which is why the classic workouts and Times Table Master work the way they do.
Methods matter too. In a study of 70 seventh graders, students who compared different ways of solving the same problem gained more skill and more flexibility in choosing a method than students who studied the methods one at a time.4 That study used algebra equations, but we think the idea carries over to choosing a mental math method.
What about the clock? A review found that time pressure can push people towards weaker strategies, but not yet evidence that time pressure causes math anxiety.5 In 81 fourth and fifth graders, timed drills raised the number of digits answered correctly overall; children with high math anxiety scored lower in every condition, and timing did not hurt them more.6 So treat the timer in World Challenge as a way to beat your own time, not as a measure of how good you are.
One more idea for exam day, which has nothing to do with the app: in a small study of 28 adults preparing for a graduate school admissions test, those told that the jittery feeling before a test can help them did better on its math section than those who were not told.7 It is one small study of adults, so treat it as something to try, not a promise.
Try it together
No pressure. Just see how it feels.
7 × 8 = ?
Show the answer
56
Turn on JavaScript to play this one against the clock.
None of these studies tested Math Workout, and none showed that an app raises exam grades. The calculator rule above is for GCSE mathematics in England; other exams have their own rules, so check yours. If a fast clock feels stressful, Practice runs in Math Run and the step by step lessons in Method Lab are calmer ways to practise.
References
Written in APA 7 style. Tap a number in the text to jump here, and the arrow to jump back.
- 1
Ofqual. (2017). GCSE (9 to 1) subject level conditions and requirements for mathematics (Condition GCSE(Mathematics)4, Use of calculators). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80549de5274a2e8ab4f874/GCSE_Subject_Level_Conditions_for_Mathematics_Feb_17.pdf
- 2
Peng, P., Namkung, J., Barnes, M., & Sun, C. (2016). A meta-analysis of mathematics and working memory: Moderating effects of working memory domain, type of mathematics skill, and sample characteristics. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(4), 455-473. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000079
- 3
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266
- 4
Rittle-Johnson, B., & Star, J. R. (2007). Does comparing solution methods facilitate conceptual and procedural knowledge? An experimental study on learning to solve equations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(3), 561-574. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.3.561
- 5
Caviola, S., Carey, E., Mammarella, I. C., & Szucs, D. (2017). Stress, time pressure, strategy selection and math anxiety in mathematics: A review of the literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 1488. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01488 Free to read
- 6
Grays, S. D., Rhymer, K. N., & Swartzmiller, M. D. (2017). Moderating effects of mathematics anxiety on the effectiveness of explicit timing. Journal of Behavioral Education, 26(2), 188-200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-016-9251-6
- 7
Jamieson, J. P., Mendes, W. B., Blackstock, E., & Schmader, T. (2010). Turning the knots in your stomach into bows: Reappraising arousal improves performance on the GRE. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(1), 208-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.08.015 Free to read
