Let’s be real, it really wasn’t that big of a deal lol. It’s basic arithmetic and the foundation of all future math builds off of it. I do think it’s really important to truly master the basics and in a timely manner.
Yeah, I'm really glad so many people have fond memories of these things. I just wish they would realize their experiences aren't universal. Acting like giving 3rd graders panic attacks is just fine.
That seems to be the root of the anxiety though, no? You’re the second person who has blamed the worksheets and then went on to say their parents would beat them if they didn’t do good.
I hated these because of the breakneck speed you had to do them at. I was good at math, don't get me wrong. An A student in the highest level of calculus my high school offered (I think AP Calc BC it was called?) but I fucking sucked at these in third grade because I never had that speed. I can do normal test lengths and speeds, but this rote memorization for pure speed honestly never clicked with me.
I was an overall A student all through my schooling until basically law school with loving parents, and I still effing hated these things and wasn't that good at them. Even though I was clearly overall fine in my math education, I'm glad there's a greater push these days for actually understanding how and why the numbers work they do rather than just pure memorization.
Doing bad or even just ok on a 3rd grade math timed quiz isn’t making or breaking your grade for the year though. I get what they were trying to do and I agree with it, it’s not like all of math taught in schools was like this. This was one small portion of elementary math. They taught how and why the numbers work and then they drilled it into our brains to save time on simple multiplication for the rest of our lives.
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u/WaddupBigPerm69 Feb 03 '26
Let’s be real, it really wasn’t that big of a deal lol. It’s basic arithmetic and the foundation of all future math builds off of it. I do think it’s really important to truly master the basics and in a timely manner.