Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Maths-Whizz®?
- Aren’t there lots of similar websites?
- Are there any effective alternatives to Maths-Whizz?
- Is it recommended?
- How much will it cost to subscribe?
- How often can my child use Maths-Whizz®?
- When can my child access Maths-Whizz®?
- How secure is the information about my child?
- When can a parent access the Parent Account?
- Whom can I contact for help/technical assistance?
- Can Maths-Whizz® help with tests and exams?
- How is Maths-Whizz® different from other products on the market?
- What is an Assessment?
- Why is an Assessment necessary?
- Can I let my other children use Maths-Whizz®?
- What are the minimum system requirements?
- What is 'Maths Age'?
1. What is Maths-Whizz®?
Maths-Whizz® is an online private tutoring service for 5 to 13-year-olds. Following an initial online assessment/test the service delivers a personalised programme of lessons to your child through your home computer. As your child uses the service, the lesson programme dynamically adjusts depending on their progress. Maths-Whizz® covers the entire National Numeracy Strategy and uses the teaching and creative animations found in our successful Maths-Whizz® Teachers' Resource CD Roms which over 3,000 schools in the UK now incorporate in their teaching of this key subject.
2. Aren’t there lots of similar websites?
No. There are plenty of websites offering maths exercises, tests, simple animations etc, but currently none provide a full tutoring service catering for a child’s individual abilities for all ages between 5 and 13.
Other websites are nice, but Maths-Whizz is a full tutoring service that generates real progress for students in maths.
3. Are there any effective alternatives to Maths-Whizz?
Yes, you can get a private tutor to teach a student, though the cost will typically be between £25 and £45 per hour. The additional challenge here is finding the right tutor that “clicks” with your child.
You can get a whole year of unlimited tuition with Maths-Whizz Tutoring Plus for £99.99 per year or, if you prefer monthly payments, £14.99 per month.
4. Is it recommended?
Yes. it was recommended on the BBC “Click” program in April 09, and also prior to that had been on the news on US television.
See the King 5 news piece (at right).
The Maths-Whizz animations are used in over 3500 schools in the UK (and abroad) and our software won the major industry (BETT) awards in 2006.
See a video that BECTA commissioned of Maths-Whizz being used in a UK school (they didn’t even tell us about it, we just found it by accident on the web one day!).
5. How much will it cost to subscribe?
- £99.99 per year, or
- £14.99 per month. With each payment you make, you purchase a further month of tuition for your child.
6. How often can my child use Maths-Whizz®?
Your child can access lessons from their virtual bedroom as often as they like. The lessons take the form of colourful interactive animations, which means children enjoy the experience whilst learning. To avoid burn out, we recommend parents should restrict lessons to no more than 45 minutes per day. This is important as best results are achieved using Maths-Whizz® regularly over a sustained period of time, e.g. 20 - 45 minute sessions 2-3 times a week.
7. When can my child access Maths-Whizz®?
As Maths-Whizz® is an online service it is available whenever you have access to the Internet. The beauty of Maths-Whizz® is that you can build your child's studies into your routine. Access your child's personalised tutoring programme from home, friends' or relatives' and even from Internet cafes or hotels.
8. How secure is information about my child?
When you add a student to your parent account we only collect the minimum information to deliver an excellent service (name, age, sex, username and password). For more information on how your child's information is stored please read our Privacy Policy (which can be accessed from the link at the foot of every page on www.whizz.com).
9. When can a parent access the Parent Account?
Whenever and wherever you have access to the Internet. You can view an up-to-date report on your child's progress at any time.
10. Who can I contact for help/technical assistance?
Please email customerservice@whizzeducation.com. Alternatively, call the Whizz Customer Service line on +44 (0)20 7262 6952, Monday - Friday, 9am - 10pm. Outside of these hours please leave a voicemail message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
11. Can Maths-Whizz® help with tests and exams?
Yes!
After successfully completing an animated exercise, the student is usually presented with five exam style questions. This is to ensure that the understanding the student has gained through the animated exercises is transferable to traditional paper-based questions. This way Maths-Whizz® not only helps to develop understanding and confidence, but also improves exam results. Maths-Whizz® currently meets key objectives covered in the National Numeracy Strategy for Key Stages 1 and 2 and Year 7.
12. How does Maths-Whizz® differ from other products?
Books and CDs can help a child to learn but the Maths-Whizz® service teaches by
identifying your child's ability level in each topic of the maths
curriculum, delivering specific lessons that address your child's needs
and dynamically adapting the lesson programme as your child progresses.
In addition, most of our animations contain help functions to show how
the correct answers can be found.
You can keep track of your
child's progress at all times through the Report Card, accessed through
the parent account. The report breaks the curriculum down into topics,
and shows how well your child is performing in each topic, as well as
showing their overall performance.
Some Private Tutors offer excellent teaching services to children. Maths-Whizz® is not seeking to replace private tutors, but to offer a more convenient and affordable service with the common goal of developing your child's maths ability. With private tutoring costing between £20 and £40 per hour, we believe Maths-Whizz® offers excellent value.
Other tutoring companies typically offer prescriptive, centre-based learning that you need to fit your routine around. The teaching methods used are not right for all. Maths-Whizz® not only offers you the flexibility of using the service whenever and wherever you want, but also allows your child to enjoy their lessons through the colourful interactive animations and the rewards they can earn.
13. What is an Assessment?
The Assessment is a 'test' to assess your child's ability across the key topics set out in the National Numeracy Strategy. We have presented the Assessment in an exam style so we can understand his/her basic maths ability topic by topic. The output gives you a guide to your child's actual maths ability and determines the initial lesson plan for the Maths-Whizz® service.
Please do not help or let others help your child with the Assessment. A false result will generate an unrealistic lesson plan, and disqualify you from our Money Back Guarantee.
14. Why is an Assessment necessary?
The Assessment allows the Maths-Whizz® Virtual Tutor to create a unique lesson plan which will cater to the needs of the individual student, a plan that will build confidence in their weaker topics and fortify their stronger ones.
15. Can I let my other children use Maths-Whizz®?
If you want more than one child in a household to use Maths-Whizz® they will all need to be separately registered, assessed and paid for. Allowing more than one child to use a single Student Account totally disrupts the continual assessment process and is prohibited by our terms and conditions. However you only require one Parent Account, from which you will be able to access all of your children's details.
16. What are the minimum system requirements?
PC Requirements:
- Pentium II 400 MHz or AMD K6-2 or 100% equivalent processor
- Windows 98, 2000, ME or XP
- 64Mb RAM
- 16 bit colour (though 32 bit is ideal)
- Sound card and speakers (essential for Key Stage1, optional for Key Stage 2 and above)
- Recommended minimum screen resolution 1024 x 768 pixels
MAC Requirements:
- G3, G4 Mac 300MHz
- Mac OS X version 10.1 with 128Mb RAM or Mac OS 8.6 or 9 with 64Mb RAM
- Recommended browser: Mozilla Firefox
We recommend that you should have a broadband internet connection to use Maths-Whizz .
17. What is 'Maths Age'?
Maths age is a term we use to define maths ability, similar to the way that 'Reading Age' helps to define reading ability. We use information given in the National Numeracy Strategy to calculate maths age to the nearest quarter year (e.g. maths age 8.25 = equivalent maths ability to age eight and a quarter).
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