16th September 2017
First Attempt: 88%

Pencil? Paper? Go!

It had been a while since I had to think about maths and I don’t mean, ‘do I have enough change in my pocket for this galaxy caramel?’ I mean, had to really think about it. The overwhelming sense of anxiety creeped in as I opened the NOMA in a new tab. Numbers staring at me from every corner of the page. Graphs I can’t even remember ever looking at in my school years.

Time to tackle the first question.  I grabbed my pencil and paper and began to write down the numbers. Do I divide this by this? Do I multiply that by that? Then suddenly the light bulb flickered… I was remembering. I smugly typed the answer. In my head I thought I had this covered.

Next question. ‘Oh? Never mind. How do I divide fractions again?’ Back to square one. Numbers flying about my paper, some I had definitely made up, for sure. The frustration was getting the better of me. Surely maths wasn’t this hard when I was at primary? Surely it isn’t that hard at all? ‘Oh wait! Common Denominators!’ And, once again, I was basking in my smugness. Look at me having basic maths knowledge. This carried on back and fourth throughout the online assessment until I finally completed it.

Even though I was quite chuffed about the percentage I got, a lot of it was just luck. I definitely need to start thinking about brushing up on my maths skills, especially with the MA1 placement coming up very shortly. The last thing I want is to be caught short in the classroom when aiding a child with their working or demonstrating a tricky sum on the board. Some food for thought.