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Maths-Whizz FAQs

I If the FAQs below cannot answer your question then please contact us either by email or by calling us on 0800 066 9980.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is Maths-Whizz at Home?
  2. How much will it cost to subscribe?
  3. What is the Money Back Guarantee?
  4. How often can my child use Maths-Whizz?
  5. When can my child access Maths-Whizz?
  6. How secure is the information about my child?
  7. When can a parent access the Parent Account?
  8. Whom can I contact for help/technical assistance?
  9. Can Maths-Whizz help with tests and exams?
  10. How is Maths-Whizz different from other products on the market?
  11. What is an Assessment?
  12. Why is an Assessment necessary?
  13. Can I let my other children use Maths-Whizz?
  14. What are the minimum system requirements?
  15. What do I need to access Maths-Whizz?
  16. What is 'Maths Age'?

Existing Subscribers

  1. What if I have forgotten the student password?
  2. What if my password/username doesn't work?
  3. My child keeps getting the same exercise repeated. How do I stop this happening?
  4. Do pop-up blockers affect the Maths-Whizz service?
  5. I can't access the Maths-Whizz service / Nothing happens when I click the 'Go to Bedroom' button.
  6. Will my security / antivirus / firewall software interfere with the service?
  7. What is Revision?
  8. Where do I find Revision?
  9. What do I do if I want to cancel Maths-Whizz?

1. What is Maths-Whizz at Home?

Maths-Whizz at Home is an online private tutoring service for 4 - 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 at Home 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.
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2. How much will it cost to subscribe?

Monthly subscription

  • £27.50 per month. With each payment you make, you purchase a further month of tuition for your child.

Annual subscription

  • 1 child £269 per year, saving you £61.00 as compared to the equivalent monthly subscription for a year.
  • 2 children £498.00 per year, saving you £162.00 as compared to the equivalent monthly subscriptions for a year.
  • For more than 2 children please contact customer service on 0800 066 9980.
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3. What is the Money Back Guarantee?

In summary, if your Subscription begins or has begun after 1st June, 2007, you will be entitled to receive your money back after 1 year if, in that period, your Student has recorded time spent on Maths-Whizz exercises totalling at least 78 hours (equivalent to 90 minutes per week) and yet his or her maths age has not improved by 1 year or more from the initial Assessment. The guarantee is based on our experience of the results which are typically achieved by regular and sustained use of Maths-Whizz at Home. Please refer to the detailed provisions concerning the Money Back Guarantee in our Terms and Conditions Applying to Subscriptions to Maths-Whizz at Home which will solely determine whether you will be entitled to claim  and to receive your money back.
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4. 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.
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5. 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.
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6. 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).
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7. 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.
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8. Who can I contact for help/technical assistance?

Please email support@whizzeducation.com. Alternatively, call the Whizz Customer Service line on 0800 066 9980, Monday - Friday, 9am - 5.30pm. Outside of these hours please leave a voicemail message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
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9. 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.
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10. How is Maths-Whizz different from other products on the market?

Books/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.
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11. 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.
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12. 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.
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13. 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.
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14. 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.
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15. What do I need to access Maths-Whizz?

See above for minimum system requirements.
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16. 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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Existing Subscribers

17. What if I have forgotten my child's password?

In your Parent Account page, go to your child's student details. Select the a link labelled 'Edit details' to change the password to something memorable.
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18. What if my password/username doesn't work?

Passwords are case sensitive. Check that Caps Lock is switched off and try again.
If you still can't access your account, select 'Forgot your password?' from the navigation bar to the left of the screen. Enter your e-mail address and we will send you a new password. Change this to something more memorable by using the 'Change Your Password' option on the Parent Account page.
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19. My child keeps getting the same exercise repeated. How do I stop this happening?

This can be caused by your computer's 'cache'.

Web browsers save pages you look at to make surfing the internet faster. The next time you visit a page you've been to before it uses a copy of that page. These pages are stored in the 'cache', or 'Temporary Internet files'.

To solve the problem you can delete these files, or 'clear the cache'. Follow the steps below for your browser:

AOL Browser

  • From the 'My AOL' menu, on the AOL toolbar, Click 'Preferences'.
  • Then Click 'WWW', look for the 'Temporary Internet Files'.
  • Click 'Delete Files' and then click 'OK', this will clear your cache.

Internet Explorer

  • Click 'Tools' in the main menus (File, Edit, Tools etc.), then 'Internet Options'.
  • This brings up a dialog with 6 tabs across the top (General, Security, Content, ...).
  • Click 'General', then look for 'Temporary Internet Files'.
  • Click 'Delete Files', then (if it appears, check off 'Delete all offline content'), then click 'OK'.
  • Click 'OK' again and this will have cleared your cache.

Netscape

  • Click 'Edit' in the main menus (File, Edit, etc.), then 'Preferences'.
  • Find 'Advanced'. Click the + sign in front of the word, 'advanced'.
  • You'll see 'Cache, Proxies, etc...'
  • Click 'Cache'.
  • On the right you'll see, buttons labeled 'Clear Memory Cache' and 'Clear Disk Cache'.
  • First, click 'Clear Memory Cache' when the "?" dialog appears click 'OK'.
  • Then click 'Clear Disk Cache', when the "?" dialog appears, click 'OK'.
  • Click 'OK' again to close the Cache Dialog box.
  • This will have cleared your cache.

Firefox

  • Click 'Tools' in the main menus (File, Edit, Tools etc.), then 'Options'.
  • In the following dialog click 'Privacy' in the left-hand list.
  • Click the 'Clear' button to the right of 'Cache'.
  • Click 'OK' and this will have cleared your cache.

If you have repeated problems please contact Customer Service on 0800 066 9980.

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20. Do pop-up blockers affect the Maths-Whizz service?

Yes, Maths-Whizz operates using the full screen and so pop-up blockers can affect the service. If you encounter problems please ensure that you have any pop-up blocker turned off.
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21. I can't access the Maths-Whizz service / Nothing happens when I click the 'Go to Bedroom' button.

This is typically caused by Pop-Up Blocker software installed on your computer. Pop-up Blockers are sometimes unable to recognise that this is user requested, so they prevent the page from opening.

Pop-up blockers are included in software from AOL, MSN, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Norton Utilities, Alexa and many more. If you experience this problem accessing our service, try disabling your pop-up blocker. Please also see the FAQ relating to security software.
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22. Will my security / antivirus / firewall software interfere with the service?

Possibly. Norton Internet Security (NIS) and Norton Anti-Virus/Firewall may prevent the service from working. To navigate this problem you must temporarily disable the "Security" option in these products in order to access Maths-Whizz. To do this, select the NIS Security Center option within your Norton software and turn the first option under "Security" to "Off". Then refresh your browser before trying once again to access the service.

If you have a different firewall installed (software that protects your computer from viruses, etc.) this may be responsible for the problem. Try temporarily disabling it to test whether this assists Maths-Whizz.

If you're still unable to get access, please email a complete description of the problem to \n customer@whizzeducation.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . For us to best assist you, you'll need to include your computer platform, operating system, browser type and number.
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23. What is Revision?

Revision allows Students to return to animated Maths-Whizz exercises they have already completed. Students will find in Revision any exercise up to 12 months back from their current Maths age. Screenshots are laid out topic by topic in chronological order. This makes it quick and easy to revise a maths topic for an exam. As an added benefit, your Students will always be able to run over again the exercises they have particularly enjoyed!
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24. Where do I find Revision?

Revision is accessed from the Student Bedroom by clicking on the Whizz Logo and selecting Revision. Revision is only available to subscribers of Maths-Whizz.
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25. What do I do if I want to cancel Maths-Whizz?

If you wish to cancel your subscription to Maths-Whizz, please email customerservice@whizzeducation.com Ensure your email arrives at least the day before any new payment is due.
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