I went to an educational store to find this toy for my daughter who was having trouble learning her multiplication tables. It is exactly what I was searching for. Drills are leveled so the first one is for essentially step-counting by number, say, 4 or 6, etc -- up to 9. They learn the multiplication set this way and then proceed to the second level where that particular "times table" is randomized for practice.
PERFECT!
My daughter has suddenly started passing her multiplication tests. She is so happy: she said to me "this is the best present ever" with a big beaming smile. Giving a child the tool for succeeding is about as good as it gets!!
I agree the muting function is pretty priceless too! Though it can hinder one's speed a tad so I tolerate the noise sometimes.
I agree the smiley faces get in the way of completing each round of 10 questions quickly, but you can just compensate for that -- in terms of the time that the machine provides for each round (also a terrific feature), you can just adjust; try aiming for a personal best rather than an absolute one.
And then there are many more levels above these two "drill" levels -- things get progressively harder, and are a wonderful prealgebra tool too.
Plus the device is a calculator.
About as good a purchase as I've ever made! Thank you thank you thank you to this company for producing a tool that has really tangibly improved my child's life. You cannot imagine how anxious her inability to master this expectation had been -- and how much clearness this device has given in her life! Educational Insights Math Whiz
I just got this toy for my 10 yr old who is still not all that with his flash cards and for my first grader to start doing flash cards. Its great it works on so many different skill levels that my 6 year old uses it for begining addition facts and my ten year old then uses it for his timed multiplication and division tables. Its like killing two birds with one stone. And they both love the smiley face for rewards and my ten year old loves that it shows the time it took him because he is always trying to beat his last time.
This product was highly recommended by a school teacher in the UK as a great teaching tool. It was well received as a gift by the children and their parents. An excellent math teaching tool that the children love. It is portable, user friendly and has something for those on many different levels, so much so that one father, an engineer, loves to play the game by himself when travelling and is equally enjoyable to his 7 year old son, as well as a game that they can play together. Math Whiz is a tool that creates a friendly math experience which can be used for many years as the upgrading levels will remain a challenge.
Math Whiz replaces flash cards with a nifty digital solution, that doesn't need to be shuffled. The Math Whiz provides problems at various skill levels, it includes subtraction, addition, division, and multiplication. It is a great way to hone basic skills, improve speed, and accuracy, and move up step by step at your own pace. It's simple and to the point, making it suitable for adults and kids alike. An adult can use this without feeling they are using a kids toy, just mute the sound.
The only downside is that congratulatory text, and a quick smiley face can hinder answering problems rapidly, instead you must wait a second for the smiley or frown to leave the screen before you move on to the next problem.
With the help of "Memorize in Minutes," my 4th grader was able to master her times tables, but she has always been incredibly slow. Her teacher would always tell me that she's great in math, but it just takes her forever to recall her multiplication facts. I was at my wits end trying to help her get faster. We tried flash cards, repetitive work sheets, nothing helped -- and she HATED it.
So last month we started using the Math Whiz and it's been great. There are different levels so you can work on one fact at the time (eg., the 6s) or mix them all up. (They even go into double digits). We have been working on one multiplication fact at a time and have made a game with breaking her record and getting faster and faster. In only a few weeks, she can do each math fact in under 20 seconds, which is phenomenal for her. On her lastest math test (where they are multiplying triple digits together, she was the first one done in her class (and got them all correct!) This has never happened before.
The other great thing about Math Whiz is you can use it for a variety of ages and abilities. There's also addition, subtraction, and division, and you can make the problems as easy or hard as you want. So my youngest is using it for addition. Both of my children are not at all competitive and don't like working under pressure, but for some reason, they enjoy competing against themselves with the Math Whiz and trying to beat their old time.
If your child is having trouble with math facts, I recommend looking at the "Memorize in Minutes" book. The teacher's edition is available through Amazon (or if you just need the student book, check out www.multiplication.com). Then when you get the math facts down, the Math Whiz is great for improving upon speed.
This is the most useful educational toy I have ever purchased. Highly recommended!
I have an 8 year old and an 11 year old. I ordered this and the Math Shark. The Shark is about twice as much, but both of my children prefer the Shark. The Shark appears to be more challenging and cover a wider range of problems. If your child is over 10 I would choose the Shark. If not, this is a good value. I give this 4 stars because of the value proposition. The Shark would get a 5 star rating.
My 5-year old just started Kindergarten, but LOVES math (which they will only really cover a little of sometime this year). I bought this for him after his first day of school (he's "earned" a toy, and the one he planned on wasn't available). He choose this instead. He loves it. Its easy to use, even for one not too accustomed to computers, etc. He has had trouble with other electronic toys that try to get him to answer in X seconds, but loves that this tells him how long it took him, but doesn't pressure him to get it done in a certain time. The progression from easier to harder on the levels is great. He was "way past" some early levels, but he could do some mid-levels and still be challenged. We even discovered he could divide while he used this toy, though we didn't really know that before (other than 4 divided by 2 or such). He loves this toy so much, he took it to show and tell at school.
I would highly recommend for either kids struggling to remember things like times tables, or kids who just love doing math problems and want to be continually challenged. I'm sure this toy will last my little one for a long time, as there is so much to learn with it. Oh... he also loves to use it as a calculator. Its amazing how many things he finds to "calculate" in everyday life! - Electronic Learning Toys - Flash Cards - Educational Toys - Mathematics'
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