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Why doing more practice questions isn't improving your child's maths marks

If your child studies hard and does plenty of questions but the marks stay flat, the issue is rarely effort. It is usually the method underneath. Here is what is happening and how to fix the cause rather than the symptom.

Updated May 2026 · MathPert. Online IGCSE Maths & Additional Maths tuition, Malaysia

Short answer

More practice only raises marks if the method being practised is correct.

When a student repeats questions using a method they do not fully understand, practice rehearses the wrong method, so the mark stays flat no matter how many papers they do. The fix is to find the specific earlier step that never settled, rebuild it so the student understands why it works, and only then drill for speed. For the closely related pattern of understanding the lesson but freezing in the exam, see understanding class does not always mean exam independence.

Why volume alone stalls

Copying a method is not the same as understanding it

There is a real difference between three things, and the exam is where the difference shows up.

  • Memorising. Knows the formula and copies the example, then freezes when the question is phrased differently.
  • Mimicking. Can repeat the steps for familiar questions, then loses marks the moment a step is missing or reordered.
  • Understanding. Knows why each step works and when to use it, so can adapt to new, exam-style questions independently.

A student who can solve x² × x³ when it looks like the textbook example may still guess x⁶ instead of x⁵ when the wording changes. They were not lazy. They learned to mimic the steps, not understand why powers add when you multiply. More repetition of that habit just makes it faster.

Signs parents may notice

What it can look like at home

  • Long study sessions and many completed questions, but the test mark barely moves.
  • The same kind of mistake keeps coming back, often called careless.
  • Confidence on questions that look familiar, guessing the moment the wording changes.
What MathPert would check

The first check is diagnostic, not more drilling

  • Whether the student can explain why a step works, or is only repeating it.
  • Which earlier step, often in signs, fractions, or algebra, never fully settled.
  • Whether the working is clear enough to protect method marks under exam pressure.
How we fix the cause

Find the gap, rebuild the method, then drill

  • Diagnose the hidden weak step before drilling. Finding the exact step that broke is faster and more useful than re-teaching the whole topic.
  • Rebuild the method so the student understands why each step works, with clean written working that earns method marks under Cambridge marking.
  • Active checking in small classes (max 8, online via Zoom) so confusion is caught in the room, not discovered in the next exam.
  • Then drill for marks. Once the method is solid, practice finally does what parents hoped it was doing all along.

Understand first. Score next. Marks follow understanding. They do not arrive before it.

Questions parents ask

Frequently asked questions

If the method underneath is wrong, extra practice just rehearses the wrong method, so the mark stays flat. The fix is to find the specific step that never settled and rebuild it, then practise.

Not sure where your child stands?

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