Mathematics Archives | Sindu's Math Tutoring

How to Use IXL Math Program, For Parents

This blog post is for Parents considering or Using the IXL Math Program

IXL is an online learning Platform primarily offering educational practice for K-12th graders. The company also provides analytical tools to track student and classroom performance and identify areas for academic improvement with each student. IXL Learning offers practice skills for math, language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish. IXL is used in more than 190 countries by 7 million students.

And as a Math tutor, I love using IXL for my students. It has a lot of great features. The Questions are focussed at testing their understanding at all levels. Assigning and Assessing Homework has never been this easy. It is a wonderful tool for Elementary and Middle Grades.

And I was really shocked to see so many negative reviews by Parents.

Well, as a tutor, I never really rely on the explanations that IXL provides when the students get them wrong and I don’t expect them to learn from them. Also, I really don’t take the points it awards the students seriously.

For me, it is more like a testing, practicing, and a revising tool and it does it so well.

So, Here are some ways to use IXL without getting frustrated

How to Use IXL

It is a supplementary tool. My suggestion is to supplement IXL with Khan Academy lectures. The one thing Khan Academy isn’t good at is the lack of Practice Questions and IXL fill that gap. Khan Academy is free and IXL costs $80 per year.

How to Get a 100 on IXL

The Smart Score: Well, your child is doing great, got all the questions right, has full 100 points, but gets a question wrong and the points dropped drastically. That’s the frustration most parents and children have.

I would advise you to aim for 85 %, just that, that is sufficient. Or I would even go to an extent and say, Ignore it.

And as I said in the beginning, IXL is just a supplementary tool. Given any day, I will definitely choose to solve problems with a pen and paper over any online tool.

In my opinion, Reasoning and writing the steps involved in a problem are as important as arriving at a solution to it. IXL does the latter job and as a parent, just make sure you do the other one.

For IXL assisted online tutoring, Make an enquiry here

Divisibility Rules and Prime Factorization

2 (Prime)	A number is divisible by 2 if its last digit is 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8. Any even number is divisible by 2
3 (Prime)	Add all of the digits composing the number. If the sum of the digits is divisible by 3, then so is the original number. Example: If the number is 564, add 5 + 6 + 4 = 15. The sum of the digits (15) is divisible by 3, so 564 is also divisible by 3.
4 (Composite)	A number is divisible by 4 if the number formed by its last two digits is divisible by 4, or if the number ends in 00. Examples: The number 5748 is divisible by 4 because the number formed by its last two digits (48) is divisible by 4. The number 300 is divisible by 4 because it ends in 00.
5 ( Prime)	A number is divisible by 5 if its last digit is 0 or 5.
6 ( Composite)	A number is divisible by 6 if it is divisible by both 2 and 3 (see above).
7 ( Prime)	Draw a vertical line between the tens’ and ones’ digits, so that there are now two “numbers.” Multiply the rightmost “number” by 5, and then add the leftmost “number” to the product. If the result is divisible by 7, then so is the original number. Example: For the number 182, write it as 18\|2, giving the two “numbers” 18 and 2. Multiplying the second “number” (2) by 5 and adding the first “number” (18) gives (5 × 2) + 18 = 28. Since the result (28) is divisible by 7, then so is 182. (When testing for divisibility by 7, it may be easier just to use your calculator.)
8 (Composite)	A number is divisible by 8 if the number formed by its last three digits is divisible by 8, or if the number ends in 000. Examples: The number 5840 is divisible by 8 because the number formed by its last three digits (840) is divisible by 8. The number 7000 is also divisible by 8; it ends in 000.
9 ( Composite)	Add all of the digits composing the number. If the sum of the digits is divisible by 9, then so is the original number. Example: If the number is 576, add 5 + 7 + 6 = 18. The sum of the digits (18) is divisible by 9, so 576 is also divisible by 9. (Note that 9 is not prime!)
10 ( Composite)	A number is divisible by 10 if its last digit is 0.
11 ( Prime)	Add every other digit composing the number, starting with the leftmost digit, and obtain the sum. Then add the digits not used previously and obtain a second sum. Find the difference between the two sums. If this difference is 0 or is divisible by 11, then the original number is divisible by 11. Example: If the number is 1529, find the sum 1 + 2 = 3, then find the sum 5 + 9 = 14. The difference between the two sums is 14 – 3 = 11, which is divisible by 11, so 1529 is also divisible by 11. Can you show that the number 142,857 is also divisible by 11?
12 (Composite)	A number is divisible by 12 if it is divisible by both 3 and 4 (see above).

The first few primes: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103,…

When factoring a large number, do not try every prime all the way up to the number. For example, if factoring 503, test each prime in order (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, etc.) to see whether it is a factor of the large number. Before checking each prime (for example, before checking 13), take that prime and multiply it by itself (in this example, 13 × 13 = 169). If the product (169) exceeds the number to be factored (503), then you have gone far enough and may stop. In this example, it is necessary to go farther and test 17 (17 × 17 = 289) and 19 (19 × 19 = 361). Since the next prime (23) has the property that 23 × 23 = 529, which exceeds 503, we can stop after 19 (note that it is not necessary to test whether 23 is a factor of 503). Many students make the mistake of assuming that a large number is prime if it is not divisible by 2, 3, 5, and 7. Often you must do additional testing (beyond 7)! The procedure just described tells you exactly how far you must go when testing factors.