Problem Solving Developing your skills
Problem solving is a key skill that can be utilised across university study and beyond. Whether you are analysing data or are organising your household budget, the ability to decipher numerical information can help you in many ways.
Use code ‘PSINTRO’ to get Problem Solving for £80.
Use code ‘CTPSINTRO’ to get both Critical Thinking and Problem Solving for £145.
This course has been designed to help prepare you for successful academic progression into university and will help you gain confidence in approaching mathematical issues. Whether you are going into a STEM course and want to learn how to approach problems in a logical manner, or you are wanting to improve your basic maths skills, NEC’s Problem Solving course will open your mind to a new way of approaching problems.
Applying for Cambridge or Oxford? This course is designed to help students prepare for:
- Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) (Section 1)
- Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) (Section 1)
No matter your university of choice, studying problem solving will enhance your application.
This self-study course includes around 20 hours worth of interactive online learning materials and quizzes designed by subject matter experts. Your enrolment will give you access to the course for 12 months, meaning that you can revisit topics as and when you need a refresher, even if you have completed the course.
Want to develop your essay writing and lateral thinking skills? Learn more about our online Critical Thinking course.
The course is divided into two sections with an online assignment in each to help you track your progress.
Learning outcomes
When you have completed this course you will be able to:
- explain what is meant by problem solving
- understand the various formats in which information may be presented
- select the relevant information to solve the problem from a range of data
- apply basic maths skills to solve problems
- find an appropriate and efficient method or procedure to solve a given problem
- recognise similar data presented in different formats
- make inferences from the available information
- use spatial reasoning to visualise shapes and views and how they may change in two and three dimensions
- work with appropriate models to solve problems
- make choices or decisions based on information or criteria you have selected.
Section 1 Problem solving 1
Topic 1 What is problem solving?
Topic 2 Selecting the relevant information
Topic 3 Applying basic maths to problem solving
Topic 4 Finding a procedure
Topic 5 Searching the data
Online assignment 1
Section 2 Problem solving 2
Topic 1 Identifying similarity
Topic 2 Making an inference from data
Topic 3 Spatial reasoning
Topic 4 Using models and making decisions
Online assignment 2
There are two online assignments in this course which are computer-marked and will give you feedback.
Everyone studies at a different pace but we recommend that the course will take approximately 20 hours to complete. You will have access to the course for 12 months so you can study at your own pace and revisit topics if you need to.
If you gain 50% or more on the two online assignments, you will receive a digital certificate.
This course is designed to help students prepare for:
- Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) (Section 1)
- Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) (Section 1)
These tests are administered by Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing: https://www.admissionstesting.org/
Would you like to talk to our Course Advice Team about the best route for you? Visit our Contact Us page, fill in the form and a member of the team will get back to you!
