Numeracy Skills
1. Introduction
We use maths every day, whether we realise it or not. You'll need maths to work out your UCAS grades and your university finances. As adults, you'll need maths at work, at home, and in every other aspect of your life too, such as going shopping, planning holidays, deciding on financial products such as mortgages and bank accounts, or decorating your house or garden. Good numeracy skills will help you interpret data and statistics, from economics to health information (such as medicine dosages).
Love it or loathe it, maths is a part of our lives, and we need to stay numerate in order to succeed and achieve what we want.
"Good numeracy is the best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health."
Andreas Schleicher, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
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Those of us who didn't enjoy maths at school often look forward to "never having to do it again!", but this is not a good attitude to have towards numeracy. These days, a lot of maths is automatically done for us - calculators, computers, tills, etc. But can we always trust these machines, or the people using them, to get things right? Have you ever got the wrong answer from a calculator, even though you thought you had put the numbers in correctly? A lot of people don't even check the change they're given in shops, or whether they've been charged correctly for food or a household bill, etc. How will you know you're not being ripped off? And if you think you want to be a millionaire one day, or retire early, the only way to plan for that is to start understanding the financial world as soon as possible - which you cannot do without numeracy!
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Even if you have your pass grade for GCSE Maths, you still need to maintain your basic numeracy skills.
This short modular course is adapted from an AS Critical Thinking course (by Oliver McAdoo) and looks at:
- interpreting information,
- percentages and ratios
- averages,
- probability,
- interpreting graphs and charts, and
- patterns and correlations.
These are all numeracy skills which will prove very useful in the 'real world', as well as improving your ability to analyse and evaluate data in college courses and beyond.
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If you're not sure how to navigate this course book, click here.
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Other helpful resources:
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A fun way to improve your basic arithmetic skills is to learn to play Dominoes (e.g. Fives and Threes) or Darts! |
If you are keen to develop your numeracy skills further than just the above topics, you could take a look at the National Numeracy Challenge and complete their online check-up to see which numeracy skills (if any) you need to brush up on. Check out their video on why numeracy is important and what the challenge is all about here:
If you are struggling with your college Maths course, you should discuss this with your subject tutors. The Maths department have included numerous links to helpful websites on their own GO page (see the right-hand column).
You can also find some helpful video tutorials on the Khan Academy website, on all aspects of mathematics - from the basics of arithmetic, to the more challenging topics for the experienced mathematician. This extensive site is currently free, but requires you to log in to access it.
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