Model Drawing 2

I had the children sit for a surprise Mathematics test last week. There was, of course, plenty of groans and objections from the children. I explained that it was purely a diagnostic test on model drawing so that I could identify the children who needed help. The paper had a mix of part-whole and comparison questions and they were given 20 minutes to complete four problem sums. And here is the diagnosis: (1) The children did not read the question stem carefully. They have been taught two step word problems but treated the problem as a one step word problem. They did not check if their answer " answered" the question. (2) Many children were confused with the part-whole and comparsion model drawing. I have taught them to read the question and identify the key words. If the problem asks for what is left, then it is a(subtraction) whole-part question. If they ask for "altogether", then they must draw a part-whole( addition) model. Comparison questions are usually accompanied by more/less than in their question stem.