Mental Arithmetic was written by an experienced maths teacher to fulfill the need for frequent and progressive practice in mental arithmetic as outlined in the Cockroft Report on Mathematics Teaching in the United Kingdom. The programs have been tested extensively both in school and the home.

This package provides tests covering a wide range of skills in basic numeracy at 7 topic levels. Each level is subdivided with up to three degrees of difficulty. The teacher or student can select the level, difficulty and number of questions for each run of the test, using the topic level table and sample tests as a guide. 

To ensure a balanced spread of questions, a 'balance vector' is used. The degree of difficulty is sent by giving an upper limit. Topics from lower levels than the one selected are included are included, but the degree of difficulty is higher. Questions may be asked in up to three different ways to ensure a freshness of response and use sophisticated randomising routines so that each run of a program produces a new set of questions.

There are two versions of the test, a class version and an individual version.

The class version displays the questions one at a time so that either the class can see them or the teacher can read them out. Once all the questions have been viewed, the computer will display them again, this time with their answers.

The individual version displays the questions but requires answers to be entered. These are checked and at the end the student's score is displayed together with the time taken. Finally, any questions that were answered incorrectly are displayed with correct answers. 

When using the individual version of the program, it is a good idea for the parent/teacher to monitor the progress of the student. This can be done by entering the date, level, degree or difficulty, mark obtained and time taken on the RECORD SHEET provided with this package.

Mental Arithmetic is only one of a rapidly growing range of high quality educational software packages available from Griffin Software for the most popular home computers. 

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