For many children, math is neither fun nor easy. Therefore, because students are not permitted to use a calculator, by the nature of repetition and memory (also known as neuroplasticity), become excellent in mathematics, to the point where they could answer many problems faster than with the use of a calculator.
Applicants to the Mathematics course who take A Level Mathematics in Year 12, and A Level Further Mathematics and one other A Level subject in Year 13 won’t usually need to take another A Level in Year 13.2 Such students may be required to achieve A in the two subjects taken in Year 13 (even if they achieve A in Mathematics), and should be enhancing their subject knowledge through wider engagement beyond their A Levels.
The other day, I was speaking to a College Professor working on a research paper that could revolutionize human mathematics, and introduce some rather intriguing geometrical shapes as the basis for calculating quantum computing problems, and also solving mathematical proofs that have been deemed nearly impossible to prove so far.
This is also why Universities still require “higher math” for degrees in Law or Medicine where I often hear students wonder aloud what the point of taking math they’ll never use is. They miss the point that it’s not the math and computation but the critical thinking that will make lawyers better at debate and doctors better at problem solving in their field.
Children in third through fifth grades who are having difficulty with procedural operations, such as long division and multi-digit multiplication, very often have not had any kinetic activity associated with the learning of the multiplication tables which are the basis for their computations.