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Maths · Identifying Transformations

Which Card Was Played?

The move has already happened. Play each card on the outline and find the one that lands on the ghost exactly.

Free to use and free to share. There is no sign-up, no score, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. What you may do with it, in full.

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Why this works

The move was “Turn 90° anticlockwise about (-4, 2)”. The card beside it, “Turn 90° clockwise about (4, 3)”, is the same kind of move, so calling it a turn settles nothing: what has to be read is which way round it turns, and which point it turns about. It comes down to one corner. A starts at (-1, -3) and the ghost has it at (1, 5); the other card sends it to (-2, 8) instead. That card does get one corner exactly right, which is why one corner is never enough on its own. That is the exam-safe method: settle what is different about the two cards, then pin it down with a single corner.

Helping a child through Which Card Was Played?

It runs in 2 steps

  1. 1. Look at it. Drag the track to play a card and watch where the outline goes. Scrub back to try another.
  2. 2. Name the move. Which card was played? Pick the one that lands the outline exactly on the ghost.

Hints, least revealing first

  1. Both cards play the same kind of move, so deciding it was a turn does not choose between them. What is different is which way round it turns, and which point it turns about.
  2. Follow one corner. A starts at (-1, -3) and the ghost has it at (1, 5), so the right card has to send it exactly there.
  3. Check a second corner before you lock in. The wrong card here lands one corner exactly where the ghost has it and every other corner somewhere else.

When they finish it: “Case closed!”

3 11+ skills this exercise practises

Each of these has its own page, with a worked example on it. 1 of the 3 names the mistake that skill attracts.

All maths 11+ skills

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One exercise is a start, not a plan

A free diagnostic across all four subjects shows which maths skills to practise next, and in what order.

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