Year 4 student Charlie focused on multiplication and division facts, using short quizzes to build confidence with times tables.

For Year 9, Mia worked through algebraic techniques—especially solving equations—and revisited key syllabus topics like linear relationships and statistics by breaking down exam questions.

Meanwhile, Year 11 student James tackled financial mathematics concepts such as depreciation and shares, applying formulas to real-world scenarios and practicing calculations for dividend yield.

A recurring theme in Year 10–12 mathematics was over-reliance on formulas without understanding the reasoning behind them. As one tutor noted, "Liz tends to just plug numbers into formulas rather than grasping the underlying concepts," especially in financial maths and algebra.

In Year 8, Lara often rushed through tasks and skipped organizing her working clearly, making it harder to spot errors or improve accuracy.

For Danika (Year 10), "lazy thinking" appeared when she avoided complex-looking algebra questions, preferring familiar routines instead of tackling new challenges. These habits led to confusion when unfamiliar question types or mixed methods were presented in assessments.

One Salamander Bay tutor recently saw a big change in Danika (Year 10): at first, she'd avoid checking her own mistakes, but now she actively backchecks her work and even organises questions from class to ask during tutoring.

Liz (Year 12) used to hesitate when tackling exam-style financial maths problems, but with practice she's become much more independent—she now completes tough questions with minimal prompting and explains her reasoning out loud.

Meanwhile, Lara (Year 7) has started trying new problem-solving strategies on her own rather than waiting for hints; last session, she finished a challenging linear equations question completely independently.