How to tackle SEAG Maths word problems before November

Your child can multiply and divide, but a paragraph about tickets, distances or money stops them. If that sounds familiar, the next step in SEAG Maths preparation is to practise translating the situation into a calculation. Another page of arithmetic will not necessarily fix that particular gap.

The official SEAG dates put Paper 1 on 14 November and Paper 2 on 21 November 2026. There is time to strengthen a few important habits before then. Start with one question your child has already attempted, and ask what they thought was happening in the story.

Find the question hiding inside the paragraph

Before calculating, ask the pupil to finish this sentence: “I need to find…” The answer should identify a quantity, such as the number of tickets or the money left. Then identify which information helps find it.

Avoid teaching a rule such as “more means add.” A question can say that one person has more money while asking for the smaller amount. The relationship between the quantities matters more than a single word.

Consider our original example. A school buys four packs containing six pencils each. Nine pencils are given out. How many remain? The target is the number left, so the child first needs the starting total. Four groups of six make 24; removing nine leaves 15 pencils.

Ask them to explain why 4 + 6 − 9 does not represent the story. That explanation tells you whether they understand groups, rather than simply remembering the answer.

Draw only what helps

A quick sketch can make a relationship visible. For the pencils, four boxes labelled six are enough. There is no need to draw every pencil beautifully. Write 24 beside the boxes, then show nine being removed.

For a comparison, try this example. Ben has £18. Aisha has £7 less than Ben. They combine their money. Aisha has £11, so together they have £29. Two labelled bars can show why the first operation is subtraction and the second is addition.

The drawing is a thinking tool. Once the learner understands the structure, ask for a shorter written calculation. Keep the method flexible: a bar, number line or short note can all be useful when chosen for the actual question.

Check whether the answer fits the story

Checking should begin with meaning. After giving away pencils, the number remaining must be below the starting total. Aisha's amount must be below Ben's. These checks will catch some mistakes before the child repeats the calculation.

Then check the arithmetic using an inverse where practical. If 24 − 9 = 15, adding 15 and nine should return 24. Write the appropriate unit too. An answer of 29 is incomplete thinking if the pupil cannot explain whether it represents pounds, people or minutes.

Use a changed version afterwards. What if the school bought five packs and gave out eight pencils? The answer is 22. A fresh attempt reveals whether the pupil can transfer the method without your prompts.

Practise a small set before adding speed

Choose three varied problems rather than ten nearly identical ones. Include grouping, comparison and change. Ask the learner to state the target, show the relationship and check the result. Record where support was needed.

Once those steps become reliable, use selected questions from SEAG's official practice materials. Our practice paper review guide explains how to learn from a marked attempt. The examples above are our teaching examples, not predictions of November questions.

Bring one difficult question to a consultation

An online SEAG Maths tutor should help the pupil explain their choices and solve a different question independently. Ask how lessons will distinguish a reading difficulty, a missing Maths concept and an arithmetic slip.

Bring one attempted word problem and a recent marked paper to a free parent consultation. We can discuss the most useful priority for the remaining weeks and whether focused lessons would help your child tackle unfamiliar questions more confidently.