SoGaBee’s Math Facts Fun by Marcel Widarto- Review

SoGaBee’s Math Facts Fun: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division; is a Universal app from Marcel Widarto. Marcel is also the developer of Sight Words and Spelling with Pixopop, and Sight Words Hangman. This app uses a very similar format to the Pixopop app, but this time tackles basic arithmetic. The target age range for this app is 5-8 years old.

The app has three sections: Flashcard, Multiple Choice and Fill in the Blank. In each section you can choose whether to work on addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. You can also choose what number to work with from 1-12, e.g. multiplication x 3.  All numbers are unlocked in the flashcards, but in the other sections the child needs to work through the lower numbers in sequence to unlock the higher ones. You can also create custom levels. Each time they play they can choose one of three cute characters to help them: Robot, Dino or Sophie. In flashcard mode they can learn the equations, and then be tested on them in Multiple Choice or Fill in the Blank modes. In Multiple Choice and Fill In modes, for every correct answer the character gets a body part or item of clothing, if they complete the level there is a fanfare and Robot, Dino or Sophie dances. For every incorrect answer they lose a life (they start with 3 lives shown by little birds) and get to try again, if they lose all 3 lives before completing the level, Robot, Dino or Sophie will cry, and they can start again or select a new game. If they get all questions in a level right they win a “trophy” which they can see in their trophy room (these are a variety of different stickers, so it can be fun to see what they have earned each time).

Flashcard: In this mode the selected character holds up flashcards, e.g. for addition with six: with quiz mode off the character will hold up cards in random order all showing sums with 6+ another number (1-12). In quiz mode the same cards will show up but with no answer e.g. 6+7=? Once the child has said what they think the answer is they can press the “show answer” button to see if they are correct.

Multiple Choice:  A sum will appear e.g. 4+5 and the child has to pick the right one out of four possible answers.

Fill In: In this section a giant calculator appears on the screen – you can see the question at the top of the calculator and use the buttons to enter the answer.

After each testing session you can view how they got on- which answers were correct or incorrect, and how long they took to answer. These results are stored so you can look back and compare them to previous sessions. Any incorrect ones will automatically be added to the “Tricky Problems” custom level, and stay there until they answer it correctly three times. You can also create your own custom lists of problems to work on. The app contains no adverts, social media links, in-app purchases or external links.

The one area I think that needs work is the score keeping. In multiple choice or fill in, if they get an incorrect answer, and then get it right at the second attempt, it is marked as correct, so they can score 12/12 even with two lost lives. Also if a child loses all 3 lives and the session ends early e.g. after 5 questions, they still get marked out of 12. I would like to see answers only marked as correct if they were answered correctly on the first try, and I’d like to see it scored out of the number of questions attempted e.g. if they have lost all their lives after 5 questions and the session ends, give them a score out of 5 instead of 12. I have spoken to the developer about this and he is considering changing the scoring in a future update.

Overall, I think the developer has done a lot right with this app – you can choose to work on addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, it supports multiple students, there are three ways to work on learning these equations, there is data collection and recording and a built-in reward system with cute characters, animations and trophies. I like the inclusion of the Tricky Problems and Custom Levels. I would like to see some changes made to the scoring so that data would be more meaningful. A useful app for K-3rd grade students working on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division from 1-12.

SoGaBee's Math Facts Fun: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division by Marcel Widarto Category: Education, Educational, Games, Kids Requirements: Compatible with iPhone5, iPadFourthGen, iPhone 3GS, iPadFourthGen4G, iPadMini4G, iPodTouchFifthGen, iPad 3G, iPod Touch (3. Gen.), iPadMini, iPad 2 WiFI, iPad 2 3G, iPod Touch (4. Gen.), iPadThirdGen, iPhone 4, iPhone4S, iPad WiFi, iPadThirdGen4G Size: 32.82 MB

$2.99USD

Screenshots

Screenshots for iPad

NOTE: A fee was received to expedite this review to the top of our waiting list but this payment has not influenced the objectivity of the review and all opinions have been offered honestly.

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Mary

Mary is originally from England but now lives in California with her husband and three children, an 8 year old boy and 5 year old boy/girl twins. Mary and her family love soccer, camping, hiking and playing with their iPad which is also used for therapy for their daughters Apraxia (speech disorder).

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