22/03/2026
Well said !
A Low Score Does Not Always Mean a Child Is “Not a Math Person”
I often think of my own daughter when parents become anxious after one poor mathematics result.
She learned Kumon from preschool and built a fairly solid foundation over the years. Before entering secondary school, she had already reached Level J.
But she was never the kind of child people would immediately call exceptionally strong in mathematics.
Then one day in secondary school, she came back with a mathematics test paper showing only slightly above ten marks.
It was a shocking result.
Her mathematics teacher believed that some children are naturally good at mathematics, while others are not, and that this difference is difficult to change.
He even shared that her own three children were also not strong in mathematics.
But my husband and I did not believe that this result represented our daughter’s real ability.
Because we knew what had already been built over the years.
We knew she had:
• calculation fluency
• familiarity with algebraic thinking
• the habit of working carefully
• enough foundation to go much further
So during one school holiday, we did not immediately search for new tuition or large amounts of extra practice.
Instead, we spent about a month helping her slowly see where school mathematics and her previous Kumon learning were actually connected.
Sometimes children already know more than they seem to know, but they cannot yet recognize familiar ideas when they appear in a different form.
What she needed was not more pressure.
What she needed was help seeing the connection.
The change came faster than we expected.
When school reopened the following year, her mathematics results improved sharply.
Her teacher was genuinely surprised and even asked where we had sent her for tuition.
The truth was: nowhere.
No special tuition.
No sudden miracle.
Just a clearer connection between old understanding and new presentation.
This experience has stayed with me because it reminds me of a very important educational truth:
A low score does not always mean a child lacks ability.
Sometimes it simply means the bridge has not yet been built.
This also explains why Toru Kumon repeatedly emphasized something very simple:
Children must first become able to do ordinary things securely.
Because once ordinary things are truly secure, what looks difficult often becomes surprisingly manageable later.
For parents, this is why one examination result should be read carefully.
A score shows one moment.
It does not always show the whole story underneath.
Sometimes what looks like weakness is actually unfinished connection.
And when that connection appears, progress can come very quickly.