Q: What is a comprehensive assessment?
A: Mathnasium's comprehensive assessment is a checkup given to the students at our initial meeting designed to identify the students' strengths and weaknesses in their math ability, so that we can build them a customized learning plan that's specifically tailored to their individual learning needs.
Q: What things do you learn about a student when they take a comprehensive assessment?
A: We learn so much about a student when they take a comprehensive assessment. Some of the things that we learn about the student include their numerical fluency, their learning gaps, the concepts that they have already mastered and those that they need more practice on, their organization skills, etc.
Q: What is a customized learning plan?
A: A customized learning plan is developed based on the student's assessment result. As one can imagine, not every student in the same grade is performing at the same math level. Therefore, it's important for us to tailor the student's learning plan to suit their individual learning needs; otherwise, some students at the same grade may find the materials too boring for them because they are advanced students, while some may find the materials too difficult because they haven't mastered the needed prerequisite skills.
Q: How do you gauge progress?
A: As the student completes a prescriptive unit (a topic/skill in their learning plan), they will do a Mastery Check to show us if they have mastered the skill/topic. In addition to the prescriptive unit Mastery Check, we will administer a re-assessment to the student every 3 months or so, and update their learning plan accordingly.
