Every year, students move into secondary school with strong SEA results and still end up struggling in maths a few months later. Here I tell you why that happens, and how to tell, before the new term, whether your child understands maths or only memorises it.
Nazera Abdul-Haqq, Development Economist · Master Caribbean Exams TT. Written for parents of children moving from primary into secondary maths.
A child can do well on the SEA and still struggle with secondary school maths. One mom raised with me on a consultation last week that her son finished his first year at his first choice secondary school, is not coping with maths, and is starting to give up on it. Her plan was to use the vacation for extra practice with a workbook. I get it, but it just does not always work.
Extra practice helps when a child understands the idea and simply needs to become faster. When a child has misunderstood the idea, however, a workbook can end up drilling that misunderstanding deeper.
Research distinguishes between knowing the steps and understanding why the steps work. Most of us grew up memorising maths, and that worked well enough when the questions looked familiar. But when a question was presented differently, many of us got stuck. We knew the method, but not always the reasoning underneath it (Rittle-Johnson; Star; Hiebert).
Repeating the steps makes a method faster. It does not, by itself, build understanding.
A strong SEA result does not always mean a child is fully prepared for secondary school maths. The structure of the exam can allow some weaknesses in understanding to remain hidden.
Of the 40 items on the mathematics paper, 45 percent assess "Knowing," which the Ministry defines as recall and carrying out procedures, while 20 percent assess "Reasoning," applying knowledge to unfamiliar problems (MOE SEA Assessment Framework, 2025–2028). A child who is fluent with familiar methods can therefore earn a strong score even if their understanding is less secure than it appears.
This is not a criticism of the exam. Every assessment has limits. The challenge is that secondary school maths places increasing demands on reasoning, connections, and problem-solving. A child can therefore arrive in Form 1 looking successful in maths while still carrying gaps that only become visible when the questions change.
The transition to secondary school is often where hidden gaps become visible. Students face a faster pace, more subjects, and mathematics that builds on foundations the curriculum assumes are already in place.
In Form One, students carry up to 14 subjects, and the maths moves quickly into new concepts without stopping to rebuild earlier ones. Each new topic assumes an understanding of ideas such as place value, fractions, and equality. When those foundations are weak, a child has to learn the new concept while trying to repair old gaps at the same time.
Secondary school often demands two things at once: learning new ideas while trying to repair old gaps.
Gaps that were easy to miss in primary school can become hard to ignore in secondary school.
This challenge is reflected in regional data. Across the Caribbean, the share of students performing mathematics at their grade level falls from about 54 percent in early primary to about 37 percent by lower secondary, with the steepest decline occurring during the transition into secondary school (CARICOM HRD 2030 Baseline Report, 2020).
A few ideas in maths hold up almost everything that comes after them. Get one of them wrong early, and every topic built on top becomes harder to understand. The answers can still come out right for years because a memorised method works on routine questions. The misunderstanding sits there quietly until the maths gets harder.
One example is the equals sign. Many children learn to read it as "do the calculation" rather than "both sides are equal in value." That misunderstanding often stays hidden until they meet algebra and equations, where equality becomes the whole point (Falkner, Levi & Carpenter, 1999).
Place value causes similar problems. A child may see digits as numbers written next to each other rather than positions that each carry a value. This becomes important when working with decimals and larger numbers, where place value drives the entire calculation (Ross, 1989; Fuson, 1990).
Fractions are another common stumbling block. Some children apply whole-number thinking and conclude that ¼ is larger than ½ because 4 is larger than 2. That logic creates difficulties later with ratios, proportions, and algebra involving fractions (Ni & Zhou, 2005).
Multiplication can also be misunderstood. If a child learns that multiplication always makes numbers bigger, the idea works for a while but breaks down when fractions, rates, and scaling enter the picture. Suddenly, multiplying can make a number smaller (Fischbein et al., 1985; Greer, 1994).
A wrong answer in any of these areas points to a gap in understanding. The procedure may have been learned, but the idea underneath it never fully took root.
Strong marks can hide a misunderstanding for years.
Here is a question most parents cannot answer: if you asked your child what the equals sign actually means, what would they say? Many children, even ones with good grades, only know it as "where the answer goes." This check helps you find out where your child really stands.
Eight quick questions about what you have seen at home, then a few questions you can ask your child tonight. About two minutes, and your result comes up straight away. No email needed to see it.
A research-informed check that looks for signs of a gap in understanding. Not a diagnosis, and it does not assess learning differences such as dyscalculia or attention difficulties.
Ask each question and listen for the why, not the how. A vague answer that repeats the words is still the surface answer.
If your child gave the surface answer on any of these, it is not a sign they are weak. It is a sign there may be a misunderstanding in the foundation that never fully got corrected, and that can be addressed.
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Tell me your child's level and the topic they struggle with most, and I will tell you whether it sounds like a foundation gap, a confidence issue, or a topic-specific problem. This is the kind of gap I work on with students before the new term.
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