Reviews
"A really excellent product that I have no hesitation in recommending. I was surprised by the extent of our Year 5 pupils' positive response to Perfect Times' relatively simple games based on sets of playing cards."
Evaluate
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"The software could be used during the daily numeracy lesson, as a whole class warm up or plenary and for group, pair or individual activities, providing frequent practise which is vital in raising pupil's standards of multiplication and division skills."
Schoolzone
Read the full Schoolzone evaluation
"Whilst learning multiplication tables is intrinsically important to developing many areas of numeracy, the chanting and testing method that most teachers use appears to have more to do with how good a child's memory is, rather than a measure of mathematical ability. Wendy Fortescue-Hubbard attempts to address this shortcoming in Perfect Times.
The CD-ROM is based around five games, which offer different levels of difficulty and can be played with any multiplication table from 2 to 12, so differentiation is well catered for. Linked in to the games are help buttons, which offer advice and hints on how to work out the given table.
All the teaching of the multiplication-tables involved is based on mathematical reasoning, as opposed to simply memorization of the numbers; for example learning the four times table by doubling and doubling again.
In many ways, this program is extremely accessible; it is very colourful and easy to navigate. It is also very easy to set up so that children can log in under their own name, and therefore keep a record of high scores and quickest times. Perfect Times presents a refreshing angle on the learning of the multiplication tables and will help and interest children (and many adults) of all ages and abilities."
Mathematics in School
"It's a good tool for self-directed learning."
Ray Barker, BESA
"One of the games, Times Up, is an excellent tool to test fluency in multiplication and division. The game is played against the clock; any mistakes are given a time penalty and deducted from the total score. Individual and group scores are recorded and presented in the form of a box whisker chart.
The software has an excellent hints and tips section for both the learner and teacher, including information on the mental strategies needed to increase fluency and multiplication facts for any of the times tables from x2 to x24. Negative integer tables are also included. All the games can be configured to suit the ability of the user.
Perfect Times is a fun way to enable children (and adults) of all ages to become fluent in multiplication tables and to help in the rapid recall of multiplication and division facts."
ICT in Education
"This product aims to perfect your understanding of the times tables. The emphasis is nicely balanced between speed and accuracy. It is possible to run this on a network, and create groups and individual student passwords - to enable the students to keep track of their performance.
Times tables can be tested individually so that the child can progress carefully without becoming overwhelmed. It is even possible to extend the program to tables beyond 12 or to include negative numbers.
Perfect Times operates through five different games. All work with the concept of playing cards with numbers on - either the question or the answer. It is possible to change the colouring of different answers according to their times table.
For a class working at the same time, keeping a record of their scores, and gaining rewards for improvement - or the high score of the week, then this could be just what is needed. The children would clearly gain much valuable practice. This would be worth using for years 4 to 8 depending on their skill with the times tables. I'd love to try it with my lower ability year 11 students…"
The Association of Teachers of Mathematics website
