Free Step by Step Maths Practice: A Guide to the Maths Skills Lab

Most maths practice goes straight to the questions. If your child did not follow the method in class, a page of twenty questions gives them twenty chances to practise the same mistake.

The Maths Skills Lab works the other way round. Your child sees the method first, one step at a time, and only then practises it. It is free, there is no login, and it runs from primary number skills up to GCSE Higher algebra.

I'm Aadam, an experienced maths teacher. This post explains what is in the lab so far, how each part of it works, and how to get the most out of it at home or with a class.

How a skill works

Pick a skill, then pick a level. Each skill has its own set of levels, starting with the simplest version and climbing towards exam standard, so your child can start where they are rather than where the textbook starts.

Every skill can then be used in four ways.

• Teach puts one worked example on screen. Each press moves the method on by one step, and the numbers being used light up before the result appears, so your child sees where every number comes from.
• Practise gives ten fresh questions at the chosen level. Your child writes the answers on paper, then taps each question to reveal its answer and check.
• Speed races the same kind of question against the clock, for methods that need to become quick as well as right.
• Board puts a screen of questions up for a class or a small group, with the answers hidden until you choose to show them and a button to print the set.

You can also tick several skills and practise them mixed together. That is closer to a real exam, where your child has to recognise which method a question needs before using it.

What is in the lab so far

Fifteen skills are ready, and new ones are added every week.

Number. Place value, numbers in words and figures, comparing and ordering numbers, multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000, negative numbers and 10 more and 10 less.

Algebra. Expanding single, double and triple brackets, expanding brackets with surds, the nth term of linear and quadratic sequences, factorising quadratics, completing the square and the quadratic formula.

Ratio and proportion, geometry, and statistics and probability are coming next. The lab stays free while it is being built, and the full set is expected around November 2026. There is a box on the lab page to get an email when it is finished.

Why the method comes first

In my experience, when a child gets a question wrong, the problem is usually one step they skipped or misunderstood, not the whole topic. Seeing the steps one at a time is how you find that step and fix it.

Take (x + 2)(x + 5). A child who has only ever seen the answer, x² + 7x + 10, has no idea where the 7 came from. In Teach, each of the four multiplications appears on its own press, with the two numbers being multiplied lit up first, and only then are the two x terms added together. By the time your child practises, the 7 makes sense.

Your child controls the pace, because they are the one pressing. They can step back as many times as they need, which is much harder to do with a video.

GCSE past paper walkthroughs

For GCSE Higher students there is a separate section of past paper walkthroughs. These are the hardest questions from the end of real Edexcel papers, taught one press at a time in the same way as the skills.

• Paper 1H, 19 May 2023, non-calculator, question 22 on 3D trigonometry, question 23 on surds and question 24 on quadratic inequalities.
• Paper 2H, 7 June 2023, calculator, question 20 on vectors, question 21 on transforming graphs, question 22 on probability, question 23 on similar shapes and question 24 on the area of an octagon.

Each walkthrough starts with the question exactly as it appeared on the paper. Once your child has followed it, the New numbers button builds a fresh version of the same question, so they can check they can do it on their own without watching the answer again.

Open the GCSE past papers section to see all eight.

How to use it at home

1. Watch one Teach example together. Let your child do the pressing, and ask them to say what the next step will be before they press. If they can predict it, they understand it.
2. Move to Practise at the same level. Ten questions, worked on paper and checked one at a time.
3. Go up a level when the answers are mostly right. Eight or more out of ten is a good sign they are ready. Fewer than that, go back to Teach for another example.
4. Finish with a Speed round. Once a method is right, speed is what makes it useful in an exam with a time limit.

Progress saves on the device you use, and there is no account to create. It is easiest on a laptop or a computer, where the worked examples are large enough to read comfortably.

How to use it with a class

Board mode is built for teachers and tutors. Choose the skills and levels, and the lab fills a screen with questions for the class to work through, with the answers ready to reveal when you are.

Every new set deals fresh numbers, so a starter can run again the next day without the class remembering the answers. You can also print the set for anyone who works better on paper.

Where to start

Pick one skill your child finds hard this week, open it in the Maths Skills Lab and start with Teach. When a whole topic needs teaching rather than one skill, the maths mastery lessons cover it from the beginning.

Aadam, SHLC Tutors