I bought this to make my ADHD son practice his math in a way that he would not fuss about. Now he panics if he doesn't remember to do it. It is fun and easy to use and quick. I like the positive encouragement and medals.
Only improvement I suggest is requiring a practice session before the daily testing to make them play longer. Now I need a spelling game...
I bought this for my 7 year old to sharpen his skills. I love the way it is setup. I have gone through two other games for him but they didn't do what I wanted.
This game allows you to choose an operation; multiplication or subtraction, flash cards or cell math, etc. Mathblasters just throws out problems, some of which were way above his head.
This game times him. It's more of a learning tool vs a game, which is what I wanted to help him speed up and get basic practice. I liked it so much I bought it for 2 other children I love.
My 7 yr old daughter loves playing this game. I haven't tried it my self yet, but my husband informs me it kept him playing as well and he's a math wizard. Great for coaching kids on math.
ok so I'm not a Math fan; never was but I bought this game to brush up on my math skills. I never liked math when I was in school but this game is fun and challenging. As some people get older their computation skills slow down. This game is good for brushing up on them. Not everyone can do math in their head and this game is great practice for that. I like it and I'm glad I purchased it.
This game teaches my daughter to be fast on her feet with math, a subject she struggles in. Hopefully her grades will increase as well.
I purchased this game for a 9 year old who hates doing flash cards. This game is helping her become quicker with her basic math facts. Since that is the reason I purchased the game, I am very happy with it. I get her to play the game 3 to 4 times a week for 10 - 15 minutes at a time and have already seen an improvement in the quickness that she can come up with the answer. We have had no problems with the screen being able to tell what number it is that we have written. All people in my house have played the game and we all have varying degrees of neatness/sloppiness to our handwriting and how we write our numbers. This is a good game for the kids who need to sharpen up their math facts. As an adult, I do find the game a bit boring and repetitive, but I really don't think this game was aimed for an adult crowd. Overall, a good game for the price for the kids around ages 7-10.
this game is geared to the 7-10 year old set. For a second grader, there are addition drills. For a third grader, multiplication drills. 4th graders get to review all those and get some division practice, although this is set up differently. I purchased for a 3rd grader who is learning multiplication. She had been slogging along doing mental repeated addition to get the answer. This game has been hugely motivating to her to practice the times table and in doing so, she has started to just *memorize* many of the answers, not have to work them out, which is the whole point.
I have just a couple complaints. One, the game comes preset with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place scores. I'm not sure how the game makers came up with these scores, but imho, they are unrealistic for the intended audience to achieve. And an 8 yo might get a little frustrated when it takes him 10 minutes to fill in a times table but he'd have to break 2 minutes to make 1st place. It would be SO much better if they tracked the users' scores so the user could see her completion times dropping each time she did the game. Forget how I did against some mystery computer score, how is the game helping ME?
The other complaint, and it is minor, is the handwriting recognition. Not perfect, but we are learning what the system likes and doesn't like.
I bought this as a way to help my 4 children develop and maintain their computational skills over the summer. As I tried out the game so that I could show it to them, I became hooked myself! I have a college minor in math, and this game can be challenging no matter what your level, because it pushes you to improve your accuracy and your speed. I would finish and then say, "Darn! I can do better than that!" And then do it again. My oldest son is having a similar experience.
Some reviewers have complained about how the game doesn't recognize their handwriting. Although this is a little troubling at times, I actually really like this feature of the game: my 2 youngest sons are left-handed, and they make some of their numbers backwards, or in inefficient ways. This game requires that they make the numbers "correctly." It's one thing to have your old mom keep correcting your handwriting; but if you have to do it right to win the game, then you very quickly change your ways. Hooray for 7's and 4's going in the right direction!
This game has all sorts of clever drill methods, and many levels of practice, ranging from one-digit to 3-digit. It provides feedback on speed and accuracy. An effective and fun way of improving skills for both children and adults.
Our little boy is in the 3rd Grade and has been "getting by" in math without really liking it. We'd have to use positive reward type motivation to get him to do his drills without groaning and then my husband downloaded the demo of Personal Trainer Math.
Both our kids (8 & 5) played this demo non-stop for two hours until they passed out on the couch (they chose this over watching a movie with us)!!!
The game basically has them run through several different types of drills covering addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with the help of a very cute animated professor!
The only frustrating thing is you have to teach yourself how to write the numbers so that the game can process your answers in order to get the best time.
The kids have got that figured out and now they do their daily tests each day. Our son is at a level six. He's very confident in his ability to solve math problems quickly (which is a huge improvement). It's so nice to see him excited about math!!! What a change in his attitude and approach to the subject this game has made!
Our boys (7 & 10) really enjoy doing daily mental math drills on Math Trainer. It is a fun, yet skill building break from workbooks. I highly recommend this to any homeschooling parents or for any student that needs to build a strong foundation in the basics (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).
I bought this game originally to increase by basic arithmetic skills. (Note: I am 37 and have BS in math). The 100 cell challenge really helped speed by basic arithmetic skills. For six months it sat on the shelf. My children go to Japanese abacus training class, and the younger was having attention issues in class. I thought they might like the game, and yes, they took to it and fight for time with it on the DS. Now his skills are up and more importantly, his morale. Excellent game. UI is a bit clunky at times, but clear enough for children to use. Note: my children do not regularly play other games on the DS.
My 6-year old loves this DS game. He played with it for 2 hours when he first got it. Are you tired of printing out math worksheets for daily practice? This will be a great game for you and your child. I wouldn't worry about the DS not recognizing your handwriting. We have not had a problem with this as other reviewers have. It recognizes my 6-year old's handwriting without a problem. Even if you only play with it a few minutes a day it can help improve your addition skills. Definitely worth the money.
this is a great math learning game. it figures out where you need help and teaches you what you need help with
I got this for my 7 & 9 yr old daughters to practice math facts. I isn't the glitziest interface, but it does a great job at drilling the basics. I especially like the Kageyama 100 cell matrices. Kind of like a math crossword puzzle...
Good way to put the DS to educational work.
I got this for my son ,he was having trouble in math .At first he hated it ,got frustrated ,but that competative part of him kept him comming back for more ,now he has brought his grade up in math and plays it all the time I even play it, its fun,and very challenging .Its a great way to teach and tutor at the same time.
