National Numeracy Challenge

Archi_Bald

Sometimes I see posts on here asking for help with working out the amount of interest you get on £x if the interest rate is y%. Or the claim that Regular Savings account interest is only half the advertised rate. Or the question whether 5% interest taxed is better than a 2% cash ISA.

What I didn't appreciate until today is that, according to the National Numeracy Charity, almost 17 million adults in the UK have numeracy skills below those needed for the lowest grade at GCSE. That is over half the working age population and must cost both, the individuals concerned as well as the UK economy at large an absolute fortune.

You can check your own numeracy level online at the National Numeracy Challenge. I have done the test just now - takes about 15-25 minutes but you can take as long as you like. You get a completion certificate or improvement suggestions at the end of the challenge.

If you want to volunteer in numeracy improvement, you can become a Challenge Champion.

Mistermeaner

Will have a look thanks. As a maths / physics graduate i am firm believer in importance of maths and an underpinning to most other learning.

What i think is still rediculous is that personal finance is not taught in schools - we all enter the world of adulthood completely ignorant about tax, savings, loans, mortgages, etc.

It wouldnt be deliberate now would it to keep us ignorant masses firmly in the claws of the circling vultures?

brendon

ggb1979 wrote: »

What i think is still rediculous is that personal finance is not taught in schools - we all enter the world of adulthood completely ignorant about tax, savings, loans, mortgages, etc.

I commented on this a while ago, and it turns out that personal finance is now taught in schools, split between mathematics and citizenship lessons. The maths deals with the calculation side of things.

Certainly when I was at school (only 6-7 years ago), citizenship only covered multiculturalism and religious tolerance (essentially a box ticking exercise). Looking at it now, I can see it covers debt, economy, poverty, tax and budgeting. So, it seems to have moved in the right direction.

Gram_Parsons

99/100 but in my defence I am listening to The Clash quite loud on Spotify so hard to concentrate.

mgdavid

96% - sloppy - but it is 2 am and I raced the clock!

Mistermeaner

brendon wrote: »

I commented on this a while ago, and it turns out that personal finance is now taught in schools, split between mathematics and citizenship lessons. The maths deals with the calculation side of things.

Certainly when I was at school (only 6-7 years ago), citizenship only covered multiculturalism and religious tolerance (essentially a box ticking exercise). Looking at it now, I can see it covers debt, economy, poverty, tax and budgeting. So, it seems to have moved in the right direction.

Good to hear

Was a while ago i was at school

Might ask some yoofs about it, see how much sunk in

JohnRo

Decided to really test myself and not use a calculator for anything.

not very good, 94/100

I can't check my answers against the correct results. I put things like £2.00 for two packs of butter despite the recipe requiring less because obviously you can't buy 1/4 of one pack. etc..

margaretclare

I'd always had this problem. I put it down to hang-ups from early schooldays. I was cracked across the knuckles by a teacher who thought I was taking the p*** when, age 6, I thought that a sum should be written in words. She hadn't yet taught us the use of figures but just 'assumed' I would know. For ages afterwards I could hear those voices 'oh she's no good at sums..' and being highly-literate and ahead in other areas did not cancel out those voices.

Fast-forward almost 70 years. I decided it was time to get rid of those 'ghosts', those hang-ups, once and for all. I signed up to a local education basic numeracy course. Following that, I did GCSE Maths and gained a 'D'. Not brilliant, but far more than any of those 'ghosts' could have imagined.

talexuser

JohnRo wrote: »

I put things like £2.00 for two packs of butter despite the recipe requiring less because obviously you can't buy 1/4 of one pack. etc..

Exactly what I did without knowing if that is what you should have done, or worked out the theoretical amount of what just the recipe actually cost.

MadMat

98/100 did use a calculator for the drudge work of adding up columns of figures etc. (highest level maths studied - open uni first year course)

I also assumed you'd have to buy 2 packs of butter

Surely the whole point of the circle one is that people should know the formulas to calculate circumference diameter, radius etc, giving the formula in the question turns a maths question into a calculator button punching exercise!

Mat

mgdavid

MadMat wrote: »

98/100 did use a calculator for the drudge work of adding up columns of figures etc. (highest level maths studied - open uni first year course)

I also assumed you'd have to buy 2 packs of butter
Surely the whole point of the circle one is that people should know the formulas to calculate circumference diameter, radius etc, giving the formula in the question turns a maths question into a calculator button punching exercise!
Mat

I'd already got the answer before I read to the end of that question.
It is easier and faster to use the formula circ=pie x d rather than 2 x pie x r.
(I may be numerate but special characters on an unfriendly PC still defeat me!).

I did the feedback and pointed out the uselessness of not telling us the answers we got wrong, or better still re-presenting the incorrect ones for a 2nd attempt. How is one supposed to learn if not shown what one got wrong? Madness...

Did anyone else feel the web design was rather too 'Janet and John' and lacked subtlety? 'could do better'.