Math Practice by Topic: Algebra, Geometry, and Mixed Problems

Most people who ask for math practice by topic have a textbook chapter in mind. They want algebra, or geometry, or fractions, and they want a sitting that stays there. My Path can do that. The filter is real. It is also a closed vocabulary, not a search box and not a copy of every school's scheme of work.

The list you can tick is algebra, geometry, statistics, number, fractions, and Mixed Problems. That is the filter. Learners still look for ratios, percentages, equations of a line, probability as its own heading, area and volume as separate from "geometry," and a long tail of chapter titles. Those are fair things to want. They are not extra ticks on the card. If an item does not sit cleanly on a keyword, it is not labelled Unclassified. It shows as Mixed Problems.

That last name is the one that needs explaining. Unclassified sounds like we forgot. Mixed Problems means the item is in the bank, it is maths, and it resists a single-strand tag — often because it is a puzzle, and often because the puzzle is the picture.

A closed list is a feature of the hub

On /education, practice cards expose topic as a multi-pick. You narrow by unticking. The last topic in the row cannot be emptied, because an empty row would have to mean "nothing" or "everything," and neither is what the click asked for. Topic names come from the same label table the mastery grid uses, so the card and the hub never disagree about what a topic is called.

Mastery is per topic: a bar, complexity levels 1–5, streaks. Topic master is 80% mastery. The cards on the hub are not decoration. They are the same closed list you filter with. If algebra is low, drill algebra. If Mixed Problems is the bar that will not move, that is a different kind of practice — not a data error.

Grade still wins. Topic is optional; grade is required. Algebra at band 5–6 and algebra at band 11–12 are not interchangeable. Complexity (easy / medium / hard on the card, levels 1–5 in mastery) does not replace the band. For Kangaroo-shaped items, complexity follows the paper's task-number thirds, which exist in every grade. Filtering "hard geometry" without a grade would still mix ages. The session will not do that. Why grade bands matter in practice is the rule; this article is the topic axis sitting on top of it.

The general math practice test is the whole-subject query. Topic is how you slice it. Math Kangaroo can also be narrowed by topic — contest papers carry real strands — but Kangaroo is still a family pin. General Math is not.

Algebra, as the filter means it

Algebra here is the strand: letters, equations, expressions, the move from arithmetic into structure. It is what a learner usually means when they say they are "behind in algebra." A sitting labelled algebra will draw items tagged algebra in the chosen grade band. It will not silently pad with geometry to fill a 60.

What it will not do is split algebra into a dozen textbook micro-topics. Solving for x, expanding brackets, sequences that are really algebra, and word problems that resolve to an equation can all live under the same tick if that is how they were tagged. If a word problem is algebra in disguise but the disguise is a contest puzzle with a figure, it may live in Mixed Problems instead. Trust the tag you see on the card, not the chapter you remember from year 8.

If algebra is the gap, sit algebra at the right grade band, Medium, 20 questions, review at the end. Retry wrong. Then sit Mixed Problems at the same band and see whether the gap was "I cannot manipulate expressions" or "I cannot find the expression in a story." Those are different.

Geometry, including the items that need a figure

Geometry is shape, space, angle, length, and the diagrams that make those questions possible. Some geometry items are a stem plus KaTeX. Some are diagram-first: the question is the figure, and the text is a short ask. Practising geometry from text-only summaries is how you practise a different item than the one in the bank.

If you guess a topic without the picture, you serve the wrong question. A Kangaroo task that looks like a counting problem in one sentence can be a geometry configuration once the figure loads. Tagging it from the sentence would put it in the wrong drill. That is why Mixed Problems exists, and why word problems on this platform always mean stem plus figure, not stem alone.

When you drill geometry, leave pictures on — there is no "text only" mode that still claims to be the item. Skip and flag are for items you cannot do yet, not for skipping the diagram.

Statistics, number, and fractions

Statistics is data, charts, averages, and the questions that ask you to read a set rather than invent one. Number is the arithmetic and number-sense strand: place value, operations, properties of numbers, the work that is not yet (or not only) algebra. Fractions is fractions: comparison, operations, parts of a whole, and the word problems that stay about parts.

These three are easy to confuse with what a curriculum calls "Number and Algebra" as one mega-strand, or with "Data Handling" as a heading that also ate probability. Our filter is narrower on purpose. If you want probability and it is not a tick, you will find some of it under statistics and some of it under Mixed Problems. Do not invent a seventh tick. Use the two you have.

A useful pattern: fractions at the current band until the bar moves, then Mixed Problems to see whether fraction ideas survive a puzzle. Number, then algebra, is the usual school order and also the order the hub prefers when it sorts topics — curriculum order, not alphabetical, so number does not sit next to geometry because "n" is next to "g."

Mixed Problems is not Unclassified

Unclassified is a warehouse status. It tells an editor "we have not tagged this." Mixed Problems tells a learner "this item does not collapse to one keyword." Many Kangaroo puzzles belong here. They combine strands on purpose. They reward noticing. They often need the picture. Some would be mis-tagged if you forced algebra or geometry from a short stem.

Serving Mixed Problems as a leftover pile would train people to skip them. Serving them as a topic puts them on the mastery grid. You can drill them. You can see whether you are stuck on puzzles rather than on a strand. That is more honest than hiding them behind a grey Unclassified label.

You should still practise them with the actual item: stem, figure, KaTeX. A paraphrase in a blog post is not the question. The sitting is.

If Mixed Problems dominates a child's hub, two reads are possible. One: they need more strand work, and the puzzles are exposing thin algebra or thin geometry. Two: they are fine on strands in isolation and freeze when the item will not say which strand it is. Those need different sittings. Strand drills for the first. Timed Mixed Problems, one band, for the second.

What learners look for, versus what you can tick

People type "linear equations practice," "pythagoras," "percentages," "area of a triangle," "mean median mode." Those are typical school topics. You may search for them. The card still offers the closed list. Linear equations live in algebra. Pythagoras and area live in geometry. Percentages often live in number or in Mixed Problems depending on the item. Mean, median, and mode live in statistics.

That mapping is approximate on purpose. We do not maintain a public taxonomy of twenty-plus micro-tags that would then disagree with the mastery grid. The grid would fragment, every bar would be noisy, and a 10-question sitting of "area of a triangle" would fail to fill at some grades.

So: look for the school topic you care about, then tick the closed label it belongs under, at the right grade. If you are wrong, the review will show you. Retry wrong is cheaper than a fake taxonomy.

Kangaroo papers, across years, carry a richer mix inside those same labels. Drilling "just the geometry ones" across papers is a sensible ask, and the card allows it. It does not add "Kangaroo geometry" as a separate topic. Provenance is the other card.

How a topic sitting should feel

Open General Math or Kangaroo. Tick one grade band if you know it; the default middle three still roll one band at start, they do not mix. Pick one topic, or a short set. Size 10, 20, or 60 — default 20. Medium unless you already know you need easy or hard.

Maths renders as maths. Skip if you do not know. Flag if you want it in the review pile. Immediate feedback is for teaching. Review at the end is for a clean sitting. When you finish: score, correct / wrong / skipped, retry wrong, retry flagged, full retake. AI gap analysis if you have tokens and Education.

Then look at the hub topic cards. The bar should move for the topic you sat, not for a neighbour. If it did not, you sat Mixed Problems while thinking you sat algebra, or you sat the wrong band.

Who can sit this

Education is Student and Monthly only. For Me (€4.99) and Around Me (€9.99) include no Education. Student is €9.99/month, 250 tokens, no trial, unlimited Education, plus For Me personality tests. Monthly is €19.99, 2000 tokens, a short paid trial, unlimited Education, priority support. GBP mirrors EUR; PLN exists at zł24.99 / 49.99 / 99.99. Get Student — €9.99/month — if Education is the reason you are here. Details sit on /premium and in the Student plan article.

Personality tests on My Path are a different product. They do not have algebra bars. Do not buy For Me expecting topic mastery in maths.

A week of topic practice that you can read afterwards

Monday: algebra, one band, 20, medium. Tuesday: geometry, same band, 20. Wednesday: Mixed Problems, same band, 10 or 20 — the puzzles. Thursday: retry wrong from Monday and Tuesday, not a new mixed paper. Friday: fractions or number, whichever bar is lower. Leave 60-question sittings for a weekend block when the band is stable.

Do not rotate bands to "keep it interesting." Interesting is Mixed Problems. Band-hopping is noise.

If Kangaroo is the goal, keep a contest-shaped sitting on the Kangaroo card once or twice a week so pacing does not disappear into topic drills. Topic drills still help the contest. They are not the contest. Kangaroo grade levels is the band guide for that card.

Limits worth saying out loud

We do not offer SAT, GCSE, or other named school-leaving maths exams as live products. Topic practice is not a past paper from a retired family. Polish-language items, if they appear in the bank, come from a retired exam and are not a live Polish eighth-grade product. Do not pick a topic expecting that paper.

We are not affiliated with official Math Kangaroo. Topic filters on Kangaroo items are practice on our bank.

Study advice here is practical: one topic, one band, review the misses. It is not a claim that a bar at 80% gets anyone into a particular school.

Education on My Path places this next to the language drills. Online math practice for students is who the sittings are for. This page is only the topic axis.

Tick a strand, sit the item

Open /education. Pick General Math or Kangaroo. Choose a grade, then algebra, geometry, statistics, number, fractions, or Mixed Problems — not Unclassified, because that is not a topic we show. If you need the plan, Get Student — €9.99/month — at /premium.

The picture is part of the question. The closed list is part of the product. Use both.