OneMath- What is it?

Background

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I’ve been a volunteer with the CDAC (Chinese Development Association Council) for the past 2 years, under the SHG (Supervised Homework Group) programe. If you’re not aware, the SHG programme is to provide holistic help to families under (the) CDAC Family Assistance Programme by guiding their upper primary children in their schoolwork and organising activities to develop their character.

Therefore, having volunteered (and also conducting private tutoring for primary school subjects, and programming), I’ve personally believe that PSLE academic performance can be distilled down to these two factors:

1. Familial Encouragement - Parental, Sibiling support at home. For example, when the student is studying, everyone conscientiously does not use electronic devices or watch TV, and instead reads/works so as to discourage the student from losing focus.
2. Practice- The more practice you have, the better you are. The PSLE isn’t a University Module on application, where more-often than not, you’ll see some things for the first time ever. Instead, PSLE, being the first major exam, will repackage, repurpose, or flip past questions over and over again. This is because the syllabus is too limited. Of course, rote memorisation of questions and answers will definitely not get you 95/100, but I guarantee you it will get an easy A✨ (because that’s how I got mine nearly a decade-and-a-half ago!). And that’s good enough! Who needs 95/100, when 90/100 is already better than most?

Motivation

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In lieu of the two reasons above, OneMath was born. Realistically, as a student-volunteer (not a social-worker), it’s nigh-impossible to fix Point 1 from my position. This will require a higher-level joint approach from both Social Workers, the Family, and possibly even the School. However, as a student-volunteer, or as a mentor, it’s far easier to focus on Point 2. The solution for a lack of practice is simple: Simply Practice More.

I’m sure that there are many different theories from more accomplished people with better credentials than me about how to effectively practice. However, what I’ve found that works is a combination of time, effort, and learning.

1. Time is needed. The more time you dedicate, the faster you’ll inevitably be. You might not be better, but you will be faster.
2. Effort is mandatory. Effort, or daily persistence, is necessary. This is different from time, since time is just a cumulation of raw man-hours dedicated. However, daily practice is needed to even master anything, occasional efforts will suffer from a lack of persistence because nothing is committed to memory; memory will naturally build the moment you do the same thing everyday.
3. Learning is ironically, the least important for PSLE. Due to the nature of how questions are mostly repeated, learning is not too needed. Of course it is good to learn how to solve a question, but unfortunately, due to the presence of it being a timed-examination, after you learn, you’ll need to know how to apply. In an exam, that means you’ll need to craft a solution from a couple of tools you have, adding stress and wasting time. If you had practiced sufficiently, you would know that this question is something you’ve seen/never seen before (typically the last question). And if that’s something you’ve never seen before, go and check and ensure that all other questions are correct since it’s a waste of time to attempt it.
   This does not mean you should force-fit the first thing that comes into your brain onto the paper. This just reflects a lack of practice, since pattern recognition is poor due to a limited data sample set (a lack of questions done).

Although personally, I cannot recall how many questions I did during my entire year in P6, I do remember that my motto I stuck on the wall opposite the dining table was “100 questions a day”. I firmly recall that because that entire year led me to develop an intense dislike for the Andrew Er series of workbooks, since the spine was too rigid and the more I tried to fold the book in half along the spine so that it took less space on the table, the more the book would rip apart. Additionally, I developed a habbit of keeping used pen ink cartridges, and remember filling up an entire bottle of Nonya Love Letters with used Techmatic Cartridges.

Therefore, OneMath aims to solve Point 2.

Features of OneMath

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In a nutshell, OneMath aims to bridge the disconnect between students and questions. By using a digital platform, when a student visits the website, the student will be presented with a math question. Solve it on pen and paper, and type in the answer, and if the answer is correct, the goal of a correct math question daily has been accomplished. If not, another question is generated, until a correct question has been answered. Of course, students are encouraged to do as many as they can within a time limit, since more practice never hurts. But OneMath wants to encourage students to practice effectively daily, and build a habit of solving questions. To be exact, the list of features are:

1. Math Question returned after clicking question button. When student answers, it will be marked, and solution will be shown as well. If wrong, another math question will be displayed after 1 minute.
2. Linking of email to generate a weekly report to send done weekly list of correct/wrong questions to.
3. In the future, questions will be given based on past performance. For example, if the student has gotten many Algebra questions wrong, more algebra questions will be given. Currently, it’s still random.

That’s it. It does nothing else. No AI, nothing. Just questions and solutions.

Note that all questions are suitable for PSLE.

Feel free to view the linked proposal here!