Reckless Maths

At the start of last year, Mr Reckless noticed that many of his pupils were finding the algebra topics particularly challenging and wanted to find a way to help them. He thought they would very much benefit from having a clear and self-contained source that would focus on equation solving.

During the first lockdown, he found the time to design the hierarchy of equations and to learn how to program a website (mainly through lots of YouTube videos!)

‘It made sense to create something that would automate the marking process and, as I developed it, I thought of adding a competitive points system’ Mr Reckless explains.

All pupils from Second Form (Year 7) to GE (Year 11) now have exclusive access to the website, which contains video explanations, instantly marked practise questions and a progress section where they can track their correct answers, total points and best times for each stage, amongst other statistics.

Mr Reckless is very pleased to note that students have found it very engaging so far. ‘The competitive side is what makes it unique!’ he explains.

Since Lockdown 1:

• 48,189 equations have been correctly solved
• 334 students have logged on
• Students have spent 470 hours in total solving equations

Here is what Mr Reckless’s pupils had to say:

‘I love Reckless Maths as it has taught me loads about algebra! I can do all of the stages but my favourite is stage 7 as I love quadratics. I like playing in my free time and when I have completed all my prep. It is a common myth that maths is really boring but I genuinely enjoy playing and going through all the different stages of an equation. I recommend it to anyone who thinks they would like to improve their maths or just burn some time.’ Ollie (LE/Year 9)

‘Reckless Maths gives you the opportunity to practise and revise different algebra questions and lets you compete against your classmates and friends. I like being able to look at the different stages and gradually work my way up to the harder questions. It helpfully gives you the solutions and the calculation on how to get the answers so you know where you have gone wrong. This is a really helpful website that can be really beneficial to improving your algebra skills, I highly recommend it!’ Louise (GE/Year 11)

‘I find Reckless Maths extremely useful since I can practise my algebra on it, and overall it is an excellent way to learn. It’s a more proactive way of learning compared with practising normal algebra from a textbook. When you get the answer wrong, there are detailed explanations of how you can answer the question. In addition, I think that the fact that there are videos on the website makes it really useful for me when I am stuck on a particular topic. The fact that there are different stages depending on the difficulty allows you to tailor your revision to what best suits you.’ Zara (GE/Year 11)