Singapore P6 Whole Numbers — the revision topic that everything else stands on: reading and rounding numbers to 10 million, the four operations under the order of operations and brackets, and factors, multiples, HCF and LCM. Almost all of it is Paper 1, and almost all of it is no-calculator.
What the PSLE asks about whole numbers
Whole Numbers is the revision topic that the rest of the paper stands on. At P6 it covers numbers to 10 million, the four operations with the order of operations and brackets, factors, multiples, HCF and LCM, number and figure patterns, and word problems on excess, shortage and least amount. Much of it is tested in Paper 1, which is taken without a calculator, so speed and accuracy by hand count.
The most common way to lose marks is not ignorance of a rule, it is applying the rules in the wrong order. A pupil who works an expression from left to right, rather than doing brackets first and then multiplication and division before addition and subtraction, will be careful throughout and still wrong at the end.
Keeping the order of work, rather than hurrying through it
The course teaches the order of operations as a fixed sequence and asks for each step to be written on its own line, so that an error can be found rather than repeated. Factors and multiples are kept apart by a simple habit: highest goes with common factors, and lowest goes with common multiples.
The word problems on excess and shortage rest on one idea, that the difference in what is left equals the difference in what was used. Set out side by side, the two situations show the difference between them plainly, instead of leaving it to be worked out blind.
What comes with the course
The five lessons below carry the teaching, each with a worked example, and a free account is enough to read them. The practice that follows is where the repetition happens: multiple-choice, short-answer and structured questions in the style of the paper, which a pupil can attempt as often as they like, at any hour.
There are 53 timed topic tests for rehearsing under exam conditions, so that a method that works at the kitchen table can be seen to hold when the clock is running.