[notmyuserlogin]

My youngest is in honors algebra. Can't multiply or divide to save himself. My wife and I are both teachers. No amount of flashcards, extra work, summer tutoring can get it to stick.

But Algebra he can do. If you ask him to multiply or divide by hand he gets derailed loses the big picture and can't move forward.

So I don't know what percentage of students have this kind of problem. But they are certainly out there.

[colanderman]

Exactly. They're different skills, and mental "scar tissue" can build up in one subject if someone repeatedly has trouble with it even for reasons unrelated to them as a person.

My experience is somewhat slanted as the context I worked on was a charter high school for students who were being failed by traditional schools for one reason or another. This meant I saw a high percentage of students who (almost by definition) struggled with elementary and middle school subjects, yet were perfectly capable learners when their individual learning styles were accounted for.

[snypher]

I still can't add 43 + 7 that quickly but would say I have a decent grasp of algebra. Maybe I leant too heavily on a calculator at school.