OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Bond SATs Skills: Maths Workbook: Numbers 10-11 Years

Great tasks.

Excellent book. Very challenging

Usually I'm a big fan of Bond's revision and skills practice books in support of SATS and 11+, but I think this one needs a bit of a health warning. The book is pitched above the level of the Key Stage 2 Maths SATS. Some of the content and phrasing looks more like the old, optional, Level 6 extension paper - which was a good bit harder than the paper now taken by all. Although marketed as a Core and Stretch resource, this book makes no distinction between elements that belong to the core curriculum, and those that are extensions. Instead, it's divided simply by topic.Topics covered are- Algebra: simple formulae- Algebra: linear sequences (these include recognition of a Fibonacci sequence)- Calculations: estimates and two-step problems- Calculations: properties of number- Fractions and decimals- Decimals and percentages- Number and place value- Approximation and rounding- Ratio and relative sizes- Proportion and scale factorsThere are 47 pages of questions, a progress chart, and a detachable answer sheet (with no explanations/work through of answers). Each section has quite a lot of questions in it, and several different types of question are included - quick-fire one-liners, multiple choice, and examples with boxes for workings out.As far as I can see, this is not the most suitable practice book for a child working towards the expected standards in Key Stage 2 SATS or struggling with a particular topic. This is much more suited as an extension resource for a child who is exceeding the expected standards.

Bond workbooks are one of the best on the market for the 11+ or SATs success (I would say both these and the CGP range are excellent). There are a huge range of workbooks in the Bond Range, but this one is for 10-11 year olds and is for KS2 SATS Skills Maths Workbook - Numbers.The book contains ten units of activities which cover the number element of the National Curriculum for maths – this includes algebra, calculations, fractions, decimals, percentages, estimates, place value, rounding and more.Obviously, the SATs exams have changed a lot recently, with levels being replaced with standards. It would have been helpful to know which score you need to achieve to be working either ‘towards’ the expected standard, ‘at’ the expected standard or ‘above’ the expected standard. These test units do have a different number of questions, so it was perhaps difficult to give too much guidance.The SATs Maths exam now has three papers – two reasoning papers and one arithmetic paper. As well as a ‘Numbers’ book, there is also an Arithmetic book and a Measurement, Geometry and Statistics book. This particular book works on the core mathematical skills for the reasoning element of the SATs assessment and the ability to apply this knowledge in problem solving questions. Oddly, there is a ‘stretch’ book available in Arithmetic, but both the reasoning books are labelled ‘Core and Stretch,’ so attempt to combine the two. These are useful workbooks, but I would have liked to have seen a clearer view of what the results actually meant in terms of the standards achieved.

This book is ideal if you are seeking to stretch someone in their maths education rather than teaching and helping them with the core curriculum. It's definitely not suitable for anyone working at the average level or for extra tuition trying to help them get to standard. This is especially the case as the answers do not contain explanation, so it really is a test book than for teaching.As well as all of the questions and handy detachable answer sheets there is also a nice little progress chart for tracking performance.