Math Levels

Study Skills & Tips

Goal:​ To develop work skills and understanding of concepts to encourage self learning.
When work skills are developed, students can complete a large number of worksheets
with speed and concentration. In other words, "work skills" refers to the ability to
concentrate on a good amount of worksheets and complete them quickly without
stopping.

Time: Students should ONLY work for 20 to 30 minutes of study per day.

Level Goal Time Per Page Time to complete

3A - 2A - A 1 - 2 minutes 10 - 20 minutes
B-C 2 - 3 minutes 20 - 30 minutes
D-E 3 - 4 minutes 30 - 40 minutes
F-G 3 - 5 minutes *reduce pages
H-I 4 - 6 minutes *reduce pages
J 5 - 8 minutes *reduce pages

Corrections: ​Don't fear them. Learn from them. Grade and correct at home - always.
You’ll see the results sooner than later.
Handwriting: ​Make sure students write numbers quickly but neatly and the size of the
print on the worksheet.
Review: ​Student should​ ​review the entire packet for writing their name, the end time,
the date and any missed problems to answer.
Grade: ​Circle pages that are 100% and mark the question that has something incorrect.
If they forgot to simplify the fraction or write the remainder up top, mark the question
with a Triangle.
General Guidelines
● Your child needs a consistent, comfortable, quiet area to study Kumon. Minimize
distractions like siblings playing, television, or snacks & drinks.
● Only use pencil. Make sure you have enough pencils and erasers in your Kumon
pouch.
● Have your pencil pointing down ready to write with every problem and work
quickly.
● Write your numbers to fit the answer boxes on the worksheet.
● Only erase what's incorrect, not the entire answer.
● Quickly move to side B and to the next page after that.
● Follow the guided exercises.
● The use of stopwatches or egg timers can be very helpful in keeping them aware
of their times and keeping them motivated to finish within their SCT window.

Levels 3A - A: Tips

● The goal is to make your child a “human calculator!” This means your child will
add and subtract without using fingers, counting in their head, making dots on
paper and bobbing their heads.
● Students should say each problem out loud to develop focus, concentration and
master the facts.
● To avoid using fingers or counting in head, starting with doubles like 6+6, (those
are easy to remember) work your way up to answer 6+8. Students should say out
loud: ​“If 6+6=12 then 6+7=13 so 6+8=14.”
● Another method to avoid using fingers or counting would be to calculate:
5+4 =? Students should say out loud, ​“If 5+1 = 6 then 5+2 = 7 then 5+3 = 8 so
5+4 must be the next number which is 9!”
● Do not skip around the page going in order of +1 to +10, this is like finger
counting, nothing is learned. Parents observe your child completing their work at
home to ensure this is not happening on these levels.
● The goal is for your child to know what 9+6 = so that they can build on that skill.
Students will understand that 19+6 is only ten more than 9+6 and 29+6 is only
twenty more than that. This means there will always be a 5 in the one's place
with a 9+6 calculation. This is a great learning experience!
● With subtraction, use the addition to subtract. With a problem like 6-1= 1 plus
what number equals 6. Sometimes it’s also helpful to give a visual. Show the
 student 6 cookies and take one away. Ask them how many are left? Practice this
from 6-1=5 to 6-6=0. See if there is any pattern recognition with the numbers.

Levels B - C: Tips
● Do not write carry overs or borrows - you will do multiplication and division faster
if you don't
● See if there are any patterns in the columns
● Multiply - Multiply - Add: this is the concept used to multiply a two digit number
with a single digit number 17
​x 3
51
Start with 7x3 = 21. Write 1 (hold the 2 in your head) then multiply 1x3 and add
the 2.
● Make sure your answers are aligned in the row
● For some reason, in Levels B and C, students start using their fingers again to do
basic addition and subtraction. Please remind them of the steps in Levels 3A - A.
They just need to be reminded that they do not need to use their fingers or count
in their head.
● If the student can complete the problem from Left to Right, quickly, encourage
them to apply this method but if they cannot then encourage starting with the
tens place.
● For problems 2 ⟌616 write only the answers and work from left to write. 2 goes
into 6 three times and ask the question, “does 2 go into 1?” no, so put a zero
there. "Tucked" in your head is there anything left over from 61 - 60? Yes, only
one. So, since 2 cannot go into 1 bring down the 6 (tucked in your head) and
does 2 go into 6? yes, three times so the answer is 308. Check if correct by
multiplying 308 x 2 it should = 616.

Levels D - F: Tips

● For problems like 21⟌45 (division) ask your child how many times does 2 go into
4? So maybe the first number that's divisible in 45 starts with a 2.
Such as 21 x 2 = 42 subtract that from 45 and whatever is left is the remainder.
● When converting large improper fractions to mixed numbers, it is best for
students to use written division.
 ● Encourage self-learning by encouraging students to refer to directions and
examples before asking for help, and praising them when they do so.
● Honor the = sign: When a problem needs to be reformatted, reduced or
expanded you should always rewrite the entire equation on both sides of the
equal sign. This will reduce careless errors.
● Do NOT skip steps.
● Double check every step in the problem.
● Don’t forget to Simplify Fractions to it’s lowest form.
● Master the Kumon Method with Subtraction of Fractions.
● Order of Operations: Apply “PEMDAS” Parentheses Exponents Multiplication
Division Addition then Subtraction if more than two operations are in a problem
however if there’s only multiplication & division OR addition & subtraction in the
problem, you can answer the question from left to right.
● Simplify Multiplication of Fractions throughout the problem instead of at the end.
● Show Intermediate Steps in Level E and in Level F---that's great if you don't need
to unless the directions tell you to do otherwise.

Word Problems: Words to Know

Subtraction -
Minus, greater than, more than, take away, fewer than, less than, how many more?,
how many left?, how many less?, subtract, difference, is left

Multiplicaiton x
Product, multiplied, multiplied by, times

Division /
Quotient, dividend, divide, divided by, each, per, average, divide equally

Equal =
The same, equals, the same as, is equal to, equivalent