Mathematics
Focus your review
Mathematics items emphasize conceptual understanding alongside procedures. Be solid on place value (base-ten bundling and regrouping), number sense and estimation, the four operations and their models, fractions as numbers (part-whole, measurement, division), proportional reasoning, early algebra (patterns, equality as balance), geometry (shape properties and hierarchy), measurement (units, area versus perimeter), and data and probability. Know the Concrete–Representational–Abstract progression and the practice standards: make sense of problems, reason abstractly, justify, model, use tools strategically, and attend to precision. Diagnose errors by asking students to explain reasoning, because a correct answer reached through faulty logic predicts later failure.
Traps
Keyword strategies ('altogether means add') break on multi-step and comparison problems. Items assume multiplication always makes numbers larger (false for factors between 0 and 1) or that division always makes them smaller. Others confuse area and perimeter, treat a square as 'not a rectangle,' or apply order of operations strictly left-to-right instead of grouping first. Regrouping mistakes usually signal weak place-value understanding, not carelessness.
Worked example
3/4 ÷ 1/2. Ask: how many halves fit in three-fourths? Invert and multiply: 3/4 × 2/1 = 6/4 = 1 1/2. Rule of thumb: attach a meaning (measurement or sharing) to every fraction algorithm before drilling it.