Basic computation practice
One operation at a time, in the order a child meets them: adding, then carrying, then subtracting, then borrowing, then multiplying and dividing.
Which class?
20 questions. No timer, no score, nothing to lose.
What this practice is
One operation at a time, in the order children meet them at school: adding, then adding with a carry, then subtracting, then subtracting with a borrow, then multiplying and dividing. Each question has a single operation in it, so when something goes wrong there is only one place it can have gone wrong.
This is the method layer rather than the recall layer. A child can know every table by heart and still lose a digit in a column, and the two need practising separately because they fail for different reasons.
- Addition within 100, first without carrying and then with it.
- Subtraction the same way — clean first, then the ones that need a borrow.
- Multiplication by a single digit, then by two.
- Division that comes out exactly, then division that leaves a remainder.
Why children find it hard
Carrying and borrowing are the first pieces of maths where something has to be held somewhere other than where the pencil is. The digit that gets carried lives in the child's head for a second or two between two columns, and that is exactly long enough to lose it. The answer that comes out is usually only one digit away from right, which is why it gets read as carelessness.
It is rarely carelessness. The same column fails again and again, which is a signal rather than a mood, and it is the reason a wrong answer here queues two more of that same shape instead of moving on.
What each step fixes
Step 1 · Add within 100
+ within 100, no carry
Digits lined up by eye rather than by place value, which stays invisible while the numbers are the same length.
Step 2 · Add with carrying
+ with carry
Carrying the digit and then not adding it into the next column.
Step 3 · Subtract, no borrowing
− without borrow
Setting a two-digit number against a three-digit one by the left edge instead of the units.
Step 4 · Subtract with borrowing
− with borrow
Taking the smaller digit from the larger one whichever way round they sit, so 72 − 46 comes out as 34.
Step 5 · Multiply by one digit
× by 1 digit
Multiplying the units correctly and losing the carry on the way into the tens.
Step 6 · Multiply by two digits
× by 2 digits
Dropping the second partial product, or writing it without shifting it a place to the left.
Step 7 · Divide exactly
÷ exact
Guessing the quotient from the first digit and never checking it back by multiplying.
Step 8 · Divide with a remainder
÷ with remainder
Not knowing what the leftover is for, so it gets stuck onto the quotient and 38 ÷ 5 turns into 73.
How to practise it
Ask your child to say what they did rather than what they got. The answer alone will not tell you whether the borrow was the problem or the subtraction was, and the sentence they say out loud usually names the step that is missing within about ten seconds.
If the same column keeps failing, stop the session and do that one step on paper together. Practice is good at showing you which step it is; it cannot replace the two minutes where you write it out with them.
Worked examples
38 + 47 = 85
Carrying — the units column overflows.
72 − 46 = 26
Borrowing — the units column will not stretch.
96 ÷ 8 = 12
Exact division, no remainder to lose.
Those steps are not written by hand. They come out of the same evaluator the practice screen uses, which is how every generated question can be explained.
Common questions
Is this the same as the times tables practice?
No. Tables is recall — the answer is either there or it is not. This is method: carrying, borrowing, long multiplication, remainders. A child can be quick at tables and still lose a digit in a column.
Does it help with word problems?
Not directly. Word problems add reading load on top of the arithmetic, and mixing the two makes it hard to tell which one went wrong. This is the computation on its own.
Is it free, and does my child need an account?
It is free and there is no account. Nothing is typed in except answers, progress stays on the device you practise on, and no gameplay is recorded.
Is there a timer or a score?
Neither. A countdown is the last thing a child who already dreads maths needs, and a score turns practice into a test. A session is 20 questions, and a wrong answer adds two more of the same kind rather than taking anything away.
What happens when my child gets one wrong?
The ring turns amber, never red. Then the screen asks which part of the sum comes first, and once that is settled it folds the expression down one line at a time until the answer is left standing.