There are many ways that the Math Drill Express may be used effectively. Depending on the student, level and the amount of time that the student has to work on Math Facts, the parent or teacher may want to consider the following:

Drill 1 – Have the student do Level 1 Addition in Random order and choose the 1 minute time limit. (Please note that if no choices are made, the program will default to this setting.) Print the Results page and if any problems are missed, print the Missed Problems page. If a student scores below 90-95%, have them do the problems on the Missed Problems sheet.

Drill 2 -Try Level 1 Addition in Random Order for 2 minutes. Follow the same procedure. Note: The scores 90-95% are given as a guideline with leeway for students that may make a mistake in mechanics (careless) error and not necessarily an arithmetic error.

Drill 3 - Try the Addition, Level 1 for 2 minutes again and this time compare the percentage correct and time to the nearest tenth of a second with the second drill attempted. There should be a lowering of the average time per problem and an increase in the number of problems attempted and the percentage correct. The amount of time (3, 4, 5 or more minutes) may be increased if the student appears to need more drill work.

Drill 4 - Once Level 1 has been mastered, move on to Level 2 Addition and follow the same pattern. Again, the amount of time for the Math Drill work will be determined by the individual student, ability level and time available.

The number of problems is listed as a total after each of the printed Problem Sets. Please notice that if a student requires 2 minutes to do 45 problems then he may need 4 minutes to do 88 problems if the goal is to attempt all of the problems in the set. All of the above strategies may be used for the other three operations. If a student is scoring below 80% at any given level they may need to go back to a lower level. If they score below 80% at Level 1, they be instructed to set the problem sets to “Ordered” instead of Random and spend more time concentrating on the correct answers, that are automatically displayed, if they are missing problems on a regular basis. Another suggestion is to have the students recite aloud the problems as they are displayed on the screen and answer vocally as they enter the answers on the electronic keypad.

The Levels 1-4 are not correlated to any grade level. Further, if a student is performing well in Level 3 Addition, this does not imply that they should be at Level 3 in Division.

Multiple operations may be attempted at any time the student’s abilities warrant mastering this type of drill.