A basic mental maths test includes a variety of tips and tricks that can help students know their strengths and weaknesses.

Taking the first step to academic excellence is to identify the areas you need to work on.
 

I'm the author of this article and I'm a qualified abacus teacher, answering questions from around the world online abacus and various questions from online-soroban.com students.

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Maths is that one subject that is all around us.

Succeeding in any of the science fields and even in economic fields, requires a good grasp of mathematics.

Upon research, we find out that it is not actually the concepts of calculation that most students find difficult.

Most students are able to wrap their heads around the fundamental calculation concepts.

It is actually the calculation part that gets them.

Most students have a hard time dealing with the calculations of maths.

This is where mental maths comes in.

Today, the mental calculation is widely practiced by students of all ages to ace their exams.
 

 

1-1.Assess My Calculation Ability With Basic Mental Maths Test

Before we begin on any sort of learning journey, it is important to know how much you already have knowledge of.

In this section, we will look at how you can assess mental math ability.

There are a variety of websites that can do that such as soroban websites and other mental math websites.

These educational websites concerned with mental maths and mental well-being offers a globally scaled test which anyone can take.

It is a great way to keep the mind sharp.

Educational tools provides a great way to apply the mental math knowledge you have and see how you perform.

For instance, Online Soroban maintains several leaderboards that are helpful in assessing where you stand in comparison to others.

There are also user friendly platforms that provides a minimal interface.

It is heavily concentrated on the arithmetic section and especially the addition, subtraction, and fast multiplication.

Online Soroban offers a free tier along with a paid version with extra features.

As you perform, you are moved to more and more advanced levels.

Some tips will also be provided as you go along, so you don’t feel totally under pressure.

Online soroban is also a free online mental maths platform that has games in different levels from Easy, Medium, to Hard.

The use of pen and paper and calculators is prohibited as with most mental math exams.

Students with a heavy focus on the arithmetic aspect of maths will be rewarded with each correct answer.

 

1-2.Basic Mental Maths Test Using Just the Abacus

The abacus can prove to be a golden tool that can help in improving mental math.

There is a multitude of ways to improve mental calculation with the abacus.

Here we shall discuss a few of those.

Simple Additions/Subtractions Simple arithmetic operations on the abacus like addition and subtraction have the benefit of repetitions.

When we do something repeatedly, it tends to become ingrained in our memory.

This can be very helpful in improving mental calculation.

Because the students would know the answers and calculations by heart, they would be able to instantly recall the answers and use them in their answers.

Jumping By 10’s Jumping by tens is also known as adding tens.

It is a popular exercise amongst regular abacus users.

In this exercise, we keep adding the number ten repeatedly.

Everybody is able to multiply numbers by ten but with this exercise, it becomes easy for the students to add any multiples of ten to any number, big or small.

Basic Multiplication After you’ve mastered addition/subtraction and Jumping by 10s, the next step is to move onto multiplication.

Multiplication can really help you improve that calculation speed as the numbers involved in multiplication are much bigger in comparison to addition and subtraction moreover, some extra steps are needed for multiplication to take place.

 

1-3. Basic Mental Maths Test and Its Benefits for Students

Regular usage of the abacus is proven to endow the users with a variety of benefits.

We will look at some of them here.

Improved attention Because the abacus involves moving beads and calculating mentally at the same time, it can really help in improving the attention of the students.

The overall attention span also improves.

The students are able to focus on any one thing for a longer period of time.

Spatial thinking is the ability of a person to imagine things in a three-dimensional aspect.

A lot of people find it hard to imagine things with a 360-degree viewpoint.

The use of the abacus is known to improve this and the students end up thinking far better in 3-D than they used to.

Faster calculations This one goes without even saying.

Regular practice of mathematics surely improves calculations.

It is not just about memorizing the numbers, however, as is seen in many other math programs.

In abacus programs, students actually get to learn proper techniques and patterns which help them become intimate with the numbers and not be intimidated by them.

Boosted creativity It is theorized that abacus users have a boosted creativity.

They tend to think out of the box more often than not and come up with unique solutions when faced with problems.

This result is difficult to achieve by pretty much every other course out there, but abacus courses can do it in a breeze.

 

Overall  
We have discussed how important mental maths is for us today.

Without it, there is definitely a significant lack of proper understanding of the calculations going on.

We also saw some online resources which can help us ascertain our mental health level.

Online Soroban provides all sorts of free-of-cost tests, but there are paid plans available for those looking for extra features.

We must keep in mind that using the abacus is an art.

It takes practice to master any art and the abacus is no exception.

It is therefore recommended that the students have a fixed schedule and stick to it.

Doing so will keep them in the flow and give them regular practice.

 

 

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