What Maths Level Is My Child At? A Free 16 Topic Check

A test score tells you how your child did on one paper. It does not tell you which topics cost them the marks, or what they should practise next.

Parents often ask me what level their child is really at in maths. The Maths Level Finder is my answer to that question. It is free, it checks 16 topics, and at the end it tells you, topic by topic, where your child is secure and where they need more work.

It is pitched at children preparing for the 11+ and at students working at GCSE Foundation level. This post explains how it works, what the report shows, and how to get an honest result from it at home.

What the Level Finder checks

It covers the same 16 topics as the free practice pages, split into four parts of four topics each.

• Part 1, place value, fractions, angles, and averages.
• Part 2, the four operations, percentages, area, perimeter and volume, and probability.
• Part 3, factors and multiples, fractions, decimals and percentages, measures, and charts and data.
• Part 4, decimals and negative numbers, ratio, algebra, and reasoning and problem solving.

Each part mixes number, shape and data, so every sitting covers a spread of maths rather than one topic over and over. Your child needs a pencil and paper, calculators are not allowed, and it works best on a laptop or a desktop computer.

How the questions adapt

Every topic starts in the middle. When your child gets questions right, the next ones get harder. When they get them wrong, the questions ease off.

It decides in short blocks of questions rather than after every single answer. That means one careless slip does not drag a confident child down a level, and one lucky guess does not push a struggling child up one.

Once the level is settled, it carries on until all 12 skills in the topic have been asked. The report can then show exactly which skills are secure, instead of guessing from three or four questions.

Topic questions are untimed, because the aim is to find out what your child can do when they have time to think.

The four speed rounds

At the end of each part there is a speed round of ten quick questions against a stopwatch. Your child types each answer on an on-screen keypad or on the keyboard, and can skip a question, or the whole round, if they want to.

The four rounds are times tables with multiplying and dividing mixed together, adding and subtracting, matching fractions, decimals and percentages that are worth the same, and multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000.

Speed is scored separately from the topic levels, so a slow but careful child is not marked down in their topics. It still matters. In an 11+ paper a child has roughly a minute for each question, and one question can hide three to five quick facts inside it. A child who has to work out 7 × 8 from scratch every time runs out of minutes on questions they actually understand.

Each round ends with one of four results: Instant recall, Exam ready, Getting there or Needs practice. Accuracy is checked before speed, so a fast guesser cannot reach the top result.

What the report tells you

Every topic gets one of four levels.

• Foundation means the topic is not secure yet, even with the easier questions. This is where to start.
• Developing means the easier questions are secure, and the standard ones are not reliable yet.
• Secure means your child answers the standard questions confidently.
• Mastered means they handled the hardest level of the topic as well.

Next to each level the report shows how many of the 12 skills are secure, for example 9 of 12. Two children can both be Developing in fractions, one with 3 skills secure and one with 10, and they need very different help. The count tells you which one you have.

For the topics that need work, the report names the lessons that would help and links to the free practice page for that topic, so you can start the same evening without buying anything.

The four topics from Part 1 appear on screen straight away. To see the rest, you enter your email address and a full copy of the report is sent to you. It includes a PDF with a short letter summarising the results, a one-page report card and a skill by skill checklist you can print and tick off as your child improves.

How to get an honest result at home

1. Let your child work alone. Sit nearby if they want company, but let them answer by themselves. If you help, the report shows what you can do rather than what they can do.
2. Put a pencil and paper next to them. Working out on paper is allowed and expected, just as it is in the exam.
3. Do one part a sitting. A part is four topics and one speed round. Progress saves after every question, so your child can stop and carry on another day on the same device.
4. Tell them wrong answers are fine. Wrong answers are how the check finds the right starting point, so an honest attempt gives you a far more useful report than a quick guess.

What to do with the results

Start with the Foundation topics, then the Developing ones. Within those, begin with the topic that is taught earliest, because later topics are built on earlier ones. Place value and the four operations come before fractions, and fractions come before percentages and ratio. The maths learning order page shows the full sequence.

Every topic has a free practice page with questions at three levels and answers revealed with a click. Short practice several times a week works better than one long session a fortnight, because your child remembers more when they keep coming back to the same idea.

If a topic needs teaching rather than practice, the report names the lesson that teaches it. Each maths mastery lesson opens with worked examples your child clicks through one line at a time, then gives them questions to try and check.

Take the check again after a few weeks. The questions use fresh numbers each time, so your child cannot remember the answers, and you can see which levels have moved.

What the Level Finder is not

It is not a mock exam, and it does not predict an 11+ result or a GCSE grade. It shows what your child could do on the day they took it, one topic at a time.

It covers maths only, so verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and English are not part of it. It is pitched at 11+ and GCSE Foundation level, so it will not tell you much about Higher tier GCSE topics.

Start the Maths Level Finder with your child this week. Part 1 on its own gives you a useful first picture of where they are.

Aadam, SHLC Tutors