Skills taken for granted at the CSEC level.

Its on the syllabus!
The manipulation of exponents more commonly know in the region as indices.

There are seven laws governing the manipulation of indices, we teach them, we test them, but how much emphasis do we really place on them.

Why should we anyway, how much of this skill is tested in the exam?  Students can successfully pass exams without being awfully great in this area, but then comes CAPE.

And at every turn this skill or lack thereof, comes up to haunt us.

But this is not the only skill that continues to be a stumbling block for our students, how about solving simultaneous equations, curve sketching, completing the square, solving quadratic equations, just to mention a few.  So how are we going to bridge the gap with limited time and many many more new concepts to learn?