Excellent math tips (math 1.0.1)

There is an excellent page on good habits for young math students here on the regentsprep.org website. You should print it and stick it on a closet door, so that you can use these tips with your kids until they use them efficiently.

My own principal tip is to always write clean clear numbers. Students who are afraid of math tend to make a vague form that the teacher could interpret as the right thing. More often then not, they cannot read their own garbage, so even if they know the answer, they will make mistakes.
To add some remarks to the list on that website:
Tip 1: What is the question? Reading the question too fast is very common: it goes with being emotional. Kids will think "I know I know" and go ahead without being quite aware of what the question is. When they do an exercise, interrupt them and ask:"What is the question again?" You will see what I mean. Give the kids the good habit to re-read the question at the end of the exercise: many times, if the answer is two-step, they will forget to perform the second step. Also the question may be: give the answer in inches (and it does not do to give it in feet).
Tip 6:Pay attention to the units: always perform calculations in the same units. I am used to force kids to write down first the unit equivalences they are going to use. Suppose the problem comes with inches and feet, the first line MUST be 1ft = 12 in.; writing it down themselves help the kids concentrate on the task at hand.
EXAMPLE question Convert the deepest point in the ocean, the Marianas Trench at a depth of 36,000 feet, to meters.
answer I make it mandatory for remediary math students that the first line written is 1 foot = 0.3048 meters even if the information is somewhere on the test: it forces them to think in the right order so that writing this down on more complex problems will come first. Then I want them to write down the reasoning: 36.000 feet is 36,000 times bigger than 1 foot, so I need to multiply 0.3048 by 36.000
Third line is the usual: 36,000 meters x 0.3048 meters = 10,972.8 meters with all the units plainly written down.
Students who give me a number of good answers without mistake can skip line 2. Many students never know if they have to multiply or to divide in a case like this: let them write down their reasoning until they are not afraid of that spot any more.