My child is weak in maths - what should I do?

If your child is weak in maths, start by finding where the gap really begins - it is usually a topic from one or two classes earlier, not this week's chapter. Then close that gap with short, regular practice, keep the mood around maths calm, and bring in a tutor if a month or so of steady work at home doesn't move things.

Below, for CBSE, ICSE and Maharashtra State Board families: a 20-minute check you can do this weekend, how to practise, how to use the textbook, and what to ask a maths tutor.

Why is my child weak in maths? Find the real gap first

Maths is built in layers. A Class 8 child who “can't do algebra” is often stuck on negative numbers or fractions from Class 6, and a Class 10 student losing marks in trigonometry may really be struggling with ratios and squares. Extra worksheets on the current chapter won't help until the older layer is repaired.

A 20-minute check you can do at home

1. Find the maths textbook from one or two classes below your child's current class. NCERT and Balbharati both publish their textbooks online if the old copy is gone.
2. Pick 8 to 10 questions on the basics: a few multiplication and division facts, fractions, negative numbers, one simple equation and one word problem.
3. Ask your child to solve them out loud while you watch. Don't help or correct yet - you are listening for the moment the explanation goes vague.
4. Note which questions were slow, which were wrong, and which were right by a method your child can't explain.
5. The earliest topic that wobbles is where to start.

Is it really maths, or something else?

Before you decide your child is weak in maths, rule out problems that only look like maths.

• Careless errors. If the method is right but signs, copying or arithmetic slip, the fix is checking habits and neat working, not more teaching.
• Reading. Word problems are reading tasks too. Children who moved from a Marathi-medium or semi-English school often know the maths but trip on English terms like “quotient”, “at least” or “remaining”.
• Eyesight and focus. Copying numbers wrongly from the board can be an eyesight issue. If attention drifts in every subject, it isn't only a maths problem.
• Fear. Some children freeze on anything that looks like a test, even on topics they know.

If your child has unusual, persistent trouble with basic number sense - judging which of two numbers is bigger, counting on, remembering simple facts - despite good teaching and regular practice, talk to the school counsellor or your paediatrician. A specific learning difficulty in maths (sometimes called dyscalculia) needs an assessment by a qualified professional. Tuition can support a child, but it is not a treatment.

Maths anxiety: does how you talk about maths matter?

Yes. A 2015 University of Chicago study of 438 first- and second-grade children in the US found that when parents who were anxious about maths helped often with homework, their children learned less maths over the school year and were more likely to become anxious about it themselves. The researchers didn't tell parents to stop helping; they called for better ways to help, and for easing the parents' own anxiety.

• Avoid “I was never good at maths either” or “some people just aren't maths people”. Children hear it as permission to give up.
• Praise the method and the checking (“you went back and found that slip - good”) more than speed or marks.
• Treat a wrong answer as information: “Let's find the step where it went off.”
• Ask your child to teach you the method. Explaining is one of the quickest ways to find what they don't understand.
• If you feel yourself getting frustrated, stop for the day. Ten calm minutes do more than an hour that ends in tears.

How to help a child struggling with maths: practice that works

More hours rarely fix weak maths; how the practice is set up matters more.

Little and often

Twenty to thirty minutes on most days beats a two-hour session on Sunday. A short gap between sessions means your child has to recall the method each time, and that recall is what makes it stick. In Class 9 and 10, build up to 45 to 60 focused minutes on most days as exams approach, with breaks.

Mix old and new questions

Textbook exercises put 15 or 20 similar questions together, so a child only repeats one method. In the exam, they first have to work out which method a question needs. In a 2019 randomised trial across 54 seventh-grade maths classes in the US (roughly Class 7 here), students who practised with mixed (“interleaved”) assignments scored 61% on a surprise test a month later, against 38% for those who practised one type of problem at a time.

At home, add three or four questions from earlier chapters to whatever the school set, and open each session with two quick questions from last week.

Keep an error notebook

Give your child a separate notebook just for mistakes. Every wrong answer from homework, class tests and practice papers goes in, like this:

Once a week, your child re-tries the old mistakes without looking at the answers. Within a month, the notebook shows whether the trouble is concepts, methods or carelessness - and that tells you what to work on next.

Show every step

Board marking schemes generally give marks for correct steps, so a right method with a small slip still earns something. Children who do sums in their head lose those marks. Make full, neat working a habit now, not in the month before the exam.

How do you use the NCERT or Balbharati textbook properly?

The school textbook is what the exam is set from, so get the most out of it before you buy anything else.

• Read the worked examples first. Cover the solution, try the example, then compare. Most children skip straight to the exercise.
• Do every question in every exercise, not only the ones the teacher ticked, and then the end-of-chapter questions.
• For CBSE, NCERT Exemplar problems are on CBSE's list of prescribed books and are the natural next step once the textbook is solid.
• For Maharashtra State Board, work through each chapter's Practice Sets, then the Problem Set at the end, which mixes the whole chapter.
• Use solution guides only to check, after a real attempt. Reading a solution feels like understanding; solving it alone is what shows up in the exam.

NCERT has been publishing new maths textbooks for the middle-school classes, and CBSE's Class 9 maths syllabus changed for 2026-27, so an older sibling's notes or last year's guide may not match. Check which edition the school uses.

What changes by board: CBSE, ICSE and SSC maths

CBSE

Students in Class 10 this year (2026-27) take Mathematics Standard or Mathematics Basic. Both are a 3-hour, 80-mark board paper plus 20 marks of internal assessment, but in CBSE's 2026-27 question paper design Basic puts about 75% of the marks on remembering and understanding, against about 54% for Standard. The choice can affect which maths a student may take in Class 11, and CBSE has relaxed that rule year by year, so ask the school before deciding.

Class 9 is different from 2026-27: CBSE has dropped the Basic and Standard split for new batches. Everyone studies the same Mathematics, with an optional Mathematics Advanced level: an extra 1-hour, 25-mark paper in the Class 10 board exam from 2027-28 that doesn't count towards the total. For a child still filling gaps, the main paper matters far more. Check the board's latest circular before choosing.

Since 2026, CBSE Class 10 also has two board exams: the first, in February and March, is compulsory, and an optional second exam (15 to 21 May in 2026) lets students try to improve up to three of Science, Maths, Social Science and languages. Check the board's latest circular for 2027 dates. Our CBSE Class 10 preparation guide covers the year in detail.

ICSE

ICSE Class 10 maths is one written paper plus internal assessment. CISCE doesn't prescribe a single textbook, so schools choose their own, usually from private publishers - work through every exercise of the book your child's school uses. Questions often run to several steps, so complete, well-laid-out working matters.

Maharashtra State Board (SSC)

By Class 10, SSC maths is split into two Balbharati books and two papers: Mathematics Part I (Algebra) and Part II (Geometry), 40 marks each in recent papers, plus internal assessment. Many children are comfortable in one and weak in the other, so check both separately. Geometry proofs and constructions need regular practice with a proper compass and ruler. More in our SSC board exam guide.

When should you bring in a maths tutor?

Home practice is enough for many children. Consider a tutor when:

• the gap goes back more than a year, and you aren't sure how to teach those topics
• four to six weeks of regular practice at home hasn't changed much
• maths homework ends in an argument most evenings
• your child is in Class 9 or above and the methods are new to you
• a board exam is coming and your child needs a structured plan

A good maths tutor's first job is diagnosis, not homework help. One-to-one home tuition lets a tutor spend two weeks back on Class 6 fractions without the rest of a batch moving on, which is hard in a coaching class. Our guide to the signs your child needs a tutor covers the wider warning signs, and maths home tutors in Pune explains what good maths tuition looks like by class and board.

On TutorUp you can post a maths requirement with your child's board, class, budget and timings, and verified tutors nearby can see it and apply. Tutors are matched by real distance from your home, closest first, which matters in Pune's evening traffic. Before a tutor is visible to families, a person on our team checks their identity on a short call or by reviewing a photo ID and a selfie. It is not a police or background check, so meet the tutor and sit in on the demo (how verification works). TutorUp is free to start for parents, including posting a requirement and seeing who applied.

What should you ask a maths tutor before you start?

• How will you find out where my child's gaps are?
• How will you balance fixing old gaps with keeping up with the school portion?
• Have you taught this board and class recently, and which textbook do you use?
• What practice will you set between sessions, and will it mix in older topics?
• What do you do when my child keeps making the same mistake?
• How often will you tell me about progress, and how?
• Can the demo class be on a topic my child finds hard?

Listen for specifics. “I'll finish the syllabus and give lots of practice” is a weaker answer than “in the first two sessions I'll check Class 7 and 8 algebra, then plan from there”. TutorUp lets you request a demo before you commit, which is the right moment to ask. For a fuller list, see questions to ask a home tutor.

How to improve maths marks: tracking progress over a term

Give any plan, with or without a tutor, about a term (8 to 12 weeks) before you judge it. Unit test marks jump around with the topic, so track these too:

• The 20-minute check, repeated monthly. Use fresh questions on the same earlier-class topics. Fewer wobbles means the foundation is filling in.
• The error notebook. Are the same kinds of mistake coming back? Fewer “method” errors is real progress, even before marks move.
• Independence. Can your child start a problem without asking for help? Is homework taking less time?
• Mood. Is your child less tense when maths comes up? Confidence usually moves before marks do.

Be wary of anyone who promises a fixed jump in marks. Steady improvement is realistic; a promised number isn't. For a weekly plan in a board year, see the Class 10 study timetable.