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Level 2 maths
Confidence checklist for personal maths skills
at Level 2
Note that this self-assessment is entirely for your personal use to inform your choice of
modules and units to tackle in this course. It is not part of any external assessment and need
not be disclosed to anyone unless you are seeking further support for your maths skills and
teaching and wish to use it to pinpoint areas for development. It would be useful to revisit it
at the end of the course to assess your progress.
Confidence indicator
Use this confidence indicator to self-assess your level of confidence in maths at Level 2.
Note that Level 2 includes GCSE mathematics as well as Level 2 Functional Skills. The
maths skills listed here cover most, but not all, aspects of maths at Level 2. For further
details about curriculum content, contact a maths expert teacher in your organisation.
The curriculum description in the chart below is based on aspects of the most recent version
of GCSE subject content (from September 2015) and some elements of the Level 3 Award in
mathematics for numeracy teaching. (Note that this links to the City & Guilds site and that
C&G are not the only awarding organisation offering this qualification.)
How to use the confidence indicator
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Look carefully through the curriculum descriptions in the chart and consider each
statement. The statements cover both your own personal level of skills and your
confidence in teaching those skills to your learners. Record your level of confidence
using the key below.
Make a note of any specific issues. Make any personal reflections in the final box.
Each curriculum description matches to a learning unit in this program. If you have
identified that your confidence level is at 2 or 3, then you will benefit from tackling the
relevant units. Don’t forget to look at the introduction unit at the beginning of each
module and the ‘Marking learners’ work’ unit at the end of the module.
If, after completing your selected units, you feel you need further consolidation, then
you may benefit from further work on maths or perhaps studying for the revised
GCSE course. You may need advice about how best to proceed – this could be
obtained from various sources such as a maths expert teacher in your organisation,
from NCETM, or one of the regional maths specialists based at Centres of
Excellence in Teacher Training: http://maths.excellencegateway.org.uk/regionalspecialist-leads-maths . In addition, the ETF maths Exhibition site contains a wealth
of further links to development resources http://maths.excellencegateway.org.uk/
You can use the confidence indicator again at the end of your visit to this resource, to selfassess your progress and indicate any aspects of maths where your confidence levels are
not yet high. You could also try the Maths Self-Evaluation Tool on the Foundation Online
Learning environment.
Key
1 = Confident
2 = Fairly confident but need more practice
3 = Not confident and probably need lots of work
Please tick the most appropriate box.
Curriculum description
Module 1: Number
Can you…?
Understand a range of mathematical
terminology
 Explain maths terminology to learners.
 Identify the maths terminology involved
in everyday and work tasks.
 Know methods and resources for
teaching maths terminology.
Understand place value
 Explain place value to learners.
 Identify the place value involved in
everyday and work tasks.
 Know different strategies and activities
for supporting learners with
understanding place value, including
using decimals to represent parts of
numbers.
 Analyse common errors that some
learners make in this area.
Calculate with fractions and decimals
 Use different methods for finding
fraction-decimal equivalences.
 Use fraction equivalences to compare
the relative size of two fractions.
 Analyse common learner errors.
 Know teaching strategies to support
learners.
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Your comments
Convert between percentages and fractions
 Know how to convert between fractions
and percentages.
 Analyse learner errors when they
calculate percentage change.
 Know teaching strategies and
approaches in relation to percentages.
Calculate simple and compound interest
 Identify common errors in simple interest
calculations.
 Work out the formula for compound
interest and apply it in order to solve
interest problems.
 Know teaching strategies that can be
used to support learners.
Solve problems involving ratio and
proportion
 Know the difference between ratio and
proportion and the learner
misconceptions that can occur.
 Convert between units of measure, and
consider some different strategies for
supporting learners with such questions.
 Identify where ratio is used in vocational
and other contexts.
 Know some approaches to teaching and
supporting learning in this area.
Understand and calculate proportional
change
 Understand the effect of proportional
increase in the dimensions of shapes.
 Explain proportional change to learners.
 Spot errors in reasoning made by
learners in ratio and proportion
questions.
Standard form
 Know the laws of indices (for example
how to work out 3.48 x 3.4-6).
 Write very small and very large numbers
using standard index form notation, and
vice versa.
 Spot common learner errors.
Curriculum description
Module 2: Algebra
Can you…?
Understand the language of algebra and use
algebraic notation
 Explain why algebraic notation is used.
 Write algebraic expressions concisely
and elegantly.
 Recognise real-life situations where
equations are used.
 Support learners to become confident in
writing algebraic equations to represent
problems stated in words.
Substitute numbers into formulae and
expressions
 Find the value of algebraic expressions
by substituting numbers for the
unknowns.
 Evaluate formulas to solve problems.
 Identify common errors made by learners
when substituting values into equations
and formulas.
 Support learners to practise their
substitution skills.
Simplify algebraic expressions
 Collect like terms.
 Multiply a single term over a bracket.
 Multiply out pairs of brackets.
 Take out common factors.
Solve linear equations
 Recognise linear equations.
 Solve linear equations algebraically.
 Form and solve a linear equation from a
problem stated in words.
 Support learners to become confident in
recognising, forming and solving linear
equations.
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Your comments
Solve quadratic equations
 Recognise quadratic equations.
 Solve quadratic equations by factorising.
 Use completed square form to solve
quadratic equations.
 Use a formula to solve quadratic
equations.
 Choose the most appropriate method to
solve quadratic equations.
 Spot common errors made by learners
and help them.
Plot graphs
 Plot coordinates on a grid.
 Draw graphs of linear and quadratic
equations.
 Use the graphs of linear and quadratic
equations to find solutions.
 Spot common mistakes learners make
when drawing axes and plotting graphs.
 Interpret real-life scenarios represented
by graphs.
 Support learners to become more
confident in drawing and interpreting
graphs.
Curriculum description
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Your comments
Module 3: Measures
Can you…?
Interpret scale drawings and maps
 Use a ruler and a protractor to measure
accurately.
 Use the points of the compass.
 Work out the three-figure bearing of one
point on a map from another point.
 Interpret scale drawings and maps.
 Spot areas of difficulty for learners.
Area and volume
 Know and use the formulae for areas of
common shapes.
 Describe and apply formulae for the
volumes of prisms.
 Spot areas of difficulty for learners.
Use a range of formulae
 Know those formulae that need to be
learned for GCSE and those that do not.
 Explain formulae for the circumference
and area of a circle.
 Support learners to remember these
formulae.
Curriculum description
M3 u22
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Your comments
Module 4: Geometry and trigonometry
Can you…?
Properties of circles and other shapes
 Identify and apply circle definitions.
 Use circle definitions to make
conjectures about angles drawn in
circles.
 Identify properties of solids.
 Support learners to develop the
language used to describe geometrical
features.
Properties of angles
 Calculate missing angles formed by
drawing a straight line through a pair of
parallel lines.
 Use the terms alternate, corresponding
and vertically opposite to describe
particular angles.
 Calculate the sum of the interior angles
of any polygon.
 Support learners to understand the
properties of angles.
 Spot the errors made by learners and
develop strategies to help them.
Congruence and similarity of shapes
 Identify congruent shapes.
 Identify similar shapes.
 Identify what is the same and what is
different about pairs of similar triangles.
 Use similar triangles to find missing
angles.
Transformations of geometric figures:
rotation, reflection, translation and
enlargement
 Describe fully transformations of plane
(2-dimensional) shapes on a grid.
 Support your learners to understand
transformations.
Trigonometry
 Understand how the ratio of the lengths
of the sides in a right-angled triangle is
related to the angles.
 Use Pythagoras’ theorem to solve
problems.
 Use trigonometry to solve problems in a
variety of contexts.
Solve geometry problems
 Use the drawing of a diagram to help
identify the geometry skills needed to
solve problems.
 Use geometry skills and concepts to
solve problems.
 Support learners to tackle problems with
confidence.
Curriculum description
Module 5: Probability
Can you…?
Record and analyse probability
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Explain the language of probability
theory.
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Describe how frequency trees can lead
to probability estimates.
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Make predictions about future events
based on relative frequencies.
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Explain how relative frequency can be
used in real-life situations.
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Spot the errors learners may make in
calculating and estimating probabilities.
Combining probabilities
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Explain the terms ‘mutually exclusive’
and ‘independent’ and use your
understanding of these terms to calculate
probabilities.
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Explain how to use tree diagrams to
solve probability problems involving more
than one event.
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Spot the difficulties learners may have
when calculating probabilities.
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Your comments
Curriculum description
Module 6: Statistics
Can you…?
Interpret discrete and continuous data
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Identify whether data is discrete or
continuous.
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Construct and interpret cumulative
frequency graphs.
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Construct histograms and know the
difference between a histogram and a
bar chart.
Interpret univariate data (where there is only
one variable)
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Estimate measures of central tendency
and spread for grouped data and
interpret these statistics in the context of
the original data set.
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Draw and interpret box and whisker
diagrams (box plots).
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Select appropriate statistical diagrams to
create the best visual display of the data.
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Spot the mistakes and misconceptions
your learners might make or have.
Interpret bivariate data (where there are two
or more variables)
 Use and interpret scatter diagrams of
bivariate data.
 Recognise correlation and know that it
does not indicate causation.
 Recognise lines of best fit and use them
to make predictions.
 Understand and use the terms
‘interpolate’ and ‘extrapolate’.
 Recognise the limitations of correlation
and lines of best fit for making
predictions.
 Understand the particular issues learners
have with this area of statistics.
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Your comments
Any general comments or personal reflections