News from Mathnasium of Cary
NC EOG Math Tests
May 19, 2018
The monster under the bed,
The mountain at the end of the year,
The finish line at the end of the race,
All of these describe what students experience with the EOG at the end of each year.
Parents and students get anxious about these impending tests, and rightly so. This anxiety and stress is partly because they don't understand what's on them or what their student really knows and partly because they are such important benchmarks.
Removing the anxiety and stress is doable. We do it for parents every year. We don't have a magic EOG wand, but understanding what's on the test, how they're scored, and, most importantly, getting a plan together to approach both the test and what comes after, goes a long way to removing the anxiety and getting students on the right track!
First let's understand how these tests are scored: The composition of questions and curve change each year for students.
Check out this link to find a breakdown of questions for each year and where the breakpoints are for each score.
Yes you read that that one correctly, scoring a 55% most years will get students a 3!!! It only takes scoring a 60% most years to score a 4!!! But then students have to score closer to a 85% to garner a 5!!! That means a 3 says that your student only understands, and is capable of solving, about half of the problems in any given year. A 4 might mean your student is capable of 60% of the material or 80% of the material, on a ten point scale that's the difference between a D and a B! As assessments of where students are, it's important to understand these breakpoints.
Each year's EOGs have a different composition of questions. Take a look at this link and look at some of the trends.
The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade EOG all tackle similar material but have very different breakdowns. Most notably is 5th grade which is made up 50% by fraction problems. That means if a student can master these fraction questions, they will score a 3.
But if they have a lot of trouble with fractions, it is very difficult to pass.
It's important how these questions are asked as well. You won't find very many questions that say 3/4 + 1/2 or 0.2 x 1.5. No, the vast majority of questions on every EOG are word problems.
Everything here is applied math, not straight computation. Before you can tackle this material you have to master the computations, but that's only the first step. Then you have to learn when those operations are applied and how to read these complicated word problems. You aren't going to parse these word problems by only finding key words, these are mostly multi-step word problems that require students to also comprehend the story in order to determine the solution.
Let's take a look at an example. This is one of our favorite problems from the 5th grade EOG and is a good example of a lot of things.
Two-thirds of the students in a class are wearing blue jeans. Two-sixths of the students who are wearing blue jeans are also wearing red shirts. What fraction of the students in the class are wearing blue jeans and red shirts?
Solving this problem can be done by multiplication or by drawing a picture, let's look at both and why.
First by multiplication, so if 2/3 of the class is wearing blue jeans and 2/6 of those students are wearing red shirts, we are looking to take 2/6 of those 2/3. "Of," as many of us have learned in math, is almost always multiplication which is what it is here, so we have to multiply 2/6 times 2/3. We get 4/18 from this multiplication and from there reduce to 2/9, our answer.
This requires students to both understand the story, how the language fits together, and that multiplication is how we would translate the word “of” into math.
If we draw a picture we would first draw the 2/3 of the class wearing blue jeans, like so: 
Then we know that 2/6 of the amount shaded would be the students also wearing red shirts. So we would split the 2/3 into 2/6. We split each into 3 to make six and shade in 2, like so: 
Now we know we need to split the other 3rd also into 3 pieces turning this picture into ninths, of which we have 2 shaded. So we get 2/9, which we know is our answer.
I would vastly prefer to draw the picture as it clearly represents what we are doing and is easier to pair with what is actually happening in the story. It opens up meaning and avoids us making any computational mistakes.
Many, Many, Many of these fraction questions can be answered or estimated using similar pictures.
Doing better on these EOGs or mastering them is about understanding these problems and using that to tackle them in the most efficient way. These problems involve a lot of problem solving and cover a lot of different topics even if most years lean towards a singular subject.
There is no replacement for getting practice and seeing all the different ways these questions can be asked. Practicing for EOGs is all about practicing problem solving. Knowing the school year's material is a start but if you can't do problem solving with it, it is going to be hard to score well. Practice EOGs are a start, but getting focused work in specific kinds of problem solving: algebraic, fraction, and geometric, is how you master each kind of problem over time.
The best way to study for a math test is to know the math. It’s never too late and it’s never too early to start learning the math. Feel free to give us a call, or leave your information in the box at the top of this page, if you’re interested in learning more about us and what we do.
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March 17, 2019
Sharon Hill
Mathnasium of Cary Reviews
March 17, 2019
Sharon Hill
March 7, 2019
Jaya Singh
March 5, 2019
Q.C.
February 26, 2019
J.R.
January 8, 2019
Leena Rao
January 2, 2019
B.D.
November 24, 2018
P.B.
November 20, 2018
E.F.
My son is enjoying his sessions at your center. He tells me you all are helping him, and that he feels like the sessions are 90 minutes well-spent. He is so engaged while there that he doesn’t notice the time pass.
I appreciate the easy session booking process, your thoughtful assessments and progress reports, and detailed learning plan. Thank you so much for your efforts!
October 2, 2018
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March 30, 2018
Melissa Bracken
March 28, 2018
J.S.
March 10, 2018
Z.T.
My son started with Mathnasium in the fourth grade and has gone for four years. He is currently taking tenth grade math in his eighth grade. Two of the last three years my son's math was distance learning with a computer and he didn't have the resources of a full time math teacher. Mathnasium gave my son the ability to interact with an instructor and get his questions answered. They worked well with my son and he enjoyed learning at Mathnasium. The tutors are very knowledgeable and friendly.
March 10, 2018
L.E.
February 12, 2018
C.A.
February 12, 2018
M.W.
January 20, 2018
L.O.B.
Emily did a great job tutoring Colin and preparing him for his pre-calc final. We want her to know he got a 93!!! We would absolutely recommend her, and we are so grateful she worked with him. She did a wonderful job holding him accountable and helping set expectations about what to expect the remainder of his junior year.
January 17, 2018
R.B.
Our kids have been attending Cary Mathnasium for 2 years now, and we're very happy with the results. Before Mathnasium, one child's math final exam grade was almost an F. With Mathnasium, this year's final exam grade was a 98%. We believe there's no way that would've happened without Mathnasium! Thanks guys!
January 17, 2018
C.S.
December 14, 2017
H.J.
November 18, 2017
C.K.
It really help my child get through her class! I have already told some parents of students to try it if their child needs extra help. I only wished that I would have gotten a email receipt every time I Schedule a class with the time and date. I had put down the wrong time a couple of times in my calendar because of trying to schedule to many at one time and mixed up the times. The receipt would have help me remember to how many privates I used. So I could reorder more.
November 2, 2017
K.B.
October 8, 2017
K.W.
Thanks to Mathnasium of Cary on James Jackson Ave, my daughter's skill set has changed dramatically over the last several months. Her confidence in Math has increased 10x, she is now engaged in the classroom & her test results have improved. She is excited to go every week and loves the staff there. Not only are they experts in this line of work but their approach, patience and never-ending encouragement has made my daughter blossom in an area where she felt like a failure. I'm so excited to see her now being successful and would encourage anyone who is struggling with Math to make the investment...it's totally worth it!
September 1, 2017
C.W.
August 20, 2017
S.B.
August 18, 2017
K.T.
July 10, 2017
A.B.
July 2, 2017
Geetu Deogun
June 26, 2017
S.T.
May 23, 2017
Amy Sherman
Mathanasium has been fantastic for my first grader. He enjoys math and wanted a challenge. The Mathanasium group is able to challenge him with an organized approach that fills in some gaps that he missed due to moving ahead quickly. He loves the teachers and actually wants to... and looks forward to his time at Mathanasium! In fact, he wants to go more than once a week. Somehow, the teachers are able to challenge him and keep him loving math and coming back for more. As a parent, I appreciated the pre-testing which highlighted gaps and strengths. It's been a wonderful experience for us.
March 11, 2017
A.M.
January 30, 2017
M.A.
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November 28, 2016
Michael Moore
November 9, 2016
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October 22, 2016
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September 1, 2016
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July 27, 2016
H.V.
July 5, 2016
Beverly Cormier
June 3, 2016
Kalpana Satyavolu
My daughter came to Mathnasium towards the end of the semester...even so..just in 1 month Mathnasium was able to bring her up to speed and helped identify all her weak spots and gave her extra work to gain those skills. I am so glad I found Mathnasium for my daughter. I'm bringing her back for math 3 next year. It's totally worth it 😀
May 22, 2016
A.M.
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S.P.
April 26, 2016
V.K.
April 25, 2016
A.H.
February 17, 2016
G.W.
February 14, 2016
Vicky Almond
February 14, 2016
G.A.
Mathnasium has been very accommodating to ensure that my daughters receive their makeup lessons in situations when they are unable to make their regular session times. Due to the fact that our daughters have hectic schedules...something always seems to come up and Mathnasium always works with me. I appreciate the effort they make to always make the necessary adjustments to the girls' tutoring schedule when extenuating circumstances present themselves.
February 8, 2016
C.S.
February 5, 2016
M.L.
January 4, 2016
C.S.
November 21, 2015
Monika Joshi
November 20, 2015
Jyoti Yakowenko
November 20, 2015
D.H.
Catherine has been using Mathnasium as a learning resource for a number of years and we feel that it has been critical in her success with math. We have also noticed that as she has progressed through the grades it has become important to ensure that Mathnasium is targeted to the material being covered in her class.
November 20, 2015
A.M.
November 16, 2015
L.A.V.
November 14, 2015
V.P.M.
May 19 2018
The monster under the bed, The mountain at the end of the year, The finish line a...
Apr 9 2018
Math might not be as fun as art or sports, or as cool as robotics and science, but it’s sti...
Aug 21 2017
There has been an update to the Math 1 course. Below is the URL to check it out, and the mo...