If you weren't a fan of maths in school and don't want to be left scratching your head, look away now. But for those people who want to try and solve a maths problem for 10 year olds to see whether you're smart enough, read on.
SATs exams, or equivalent, may feel like so long ago for many people, but how much information from your school days can you actually remember?
Maths is something that we often use in our daily lives, but there are parts of it that you'll probably have forgotten. For example, do you remember what a square number is?
Kit Yates, a maths biologist and author, took to Twitter to ask people how they'd answer a SATs question, which are exams that are sat by children in the UK at ages 10 and 11, depending on when their birthday is.
He wrote: "Imagine you've just learned what a square number is. How would you answer this? (From this years Year 6 SATS)"
The question asked pupils to "write the missing square number to make this addition correct."
Some people cited that the question had a "serious error" in it though, which Kit explained, saying the question could potentially be confusing and misleading, especially for kids.
Kit wrote: "For context, my view is that the number that should go into the blank space to complete the equation is three. This, however, is not a square number.
"I think the wording of the question would very easily confuse some children and potentially lead to them pondering how to answer."
Adults were baffled in the comments, saying how kids could be tripped up by the question.
One wrote: "Heck. I went straight for the calculation and got three. It was only afterward that I noticed I was being asked for the *square* number. Nine? But that couldn't fill in the blank, as the square sign is already there. I don't know what I'd put. Either way, I'd have to explain it."
Another said: "I'd consider that pretty a serious error. Who is in charge of checking SATs exams for correctness?"
A parent said that their child didn't think it was difficult though, claiming: "My year 6 remembered the question and answered it correctly again to me. I explained that some people felt it was a little hard but he said that it wasn't very hard at all provided you had paid attention in square number lessons."
"It begs the question what is this trying to assess/consolidate?", someone fumed. "Because it's certainly not to deepen an understanding of square numbers."
Have you got an exam-related story to tell? Email: danielle.wroe@reachplc.com
