Repost from May 2022: Just got my annual reminder to do the National Numeracy Challenge! And as we get older, our math skills can easily deteriorate. Like everything else- body, spirit, blood sugar- we need to keep our brains in good shape. So why not give the Challenge a try? Perhaps you’ll surprise yourself!
With Sophie about to graduate from high school, I’ve been giving some thought to the usefulness of education. A lot of the classes I took, and classes she took, seem utterly pointless. (And I’m not the only one who feels this way!) And the topics that we all could really benefit from get very short shrift (like personal finance.) On the other end, we could all use a check in on our basic cognitive skills as we get older. That’s where the National Numeracy Challenge comes in.
What is the National Numeracy Challenge?
The National Numeracy Challenge is run by a UK charity, but guess what? Numeracy is the same in any country. I am convinced that if everyone were more numerate, a lot of issues would be mitigated. If we understand how percentages, ratios, and basic probability, I really do think issues with money, planning and more would resolve themselves.
Here’s the pitch from the Numeracy Challenge:
“National Numeracy is an independent charity working to improve numeracy across the UK. The Challenge is a free website to help you check and improve your numeracy – the maths you use in daily life and at work, like managing your money, working out measurements or understanding percentages, rather than algebra or trigonometry.”
The challenge takes about 10 minutes and you’ll get a score and info on areas for improvement. And every year, you can return to retest. I’m making an effort to do so as I get older- I don’t want to be blind to issues of financial decline as I get older. Luckily, this year, I did even better than in 2020- but we all know what a state we were in 2 years ago. So it might not be a fair comparison! 🙂
It’s not a hard challenge, but you will need a pencil and paper- and you can even use a calculator! Give the National Numeracy Challenge a try…
