Train your thinking

This week, a Year 9 student hit me with a question that stopped me in my tracks:

"Why do we even practice maths challenge problems when they don’t even come up at GCSE?"

Cue my face:

While thinking: Did they really just suggest that puzzling over maths problems for fun isn’t worthwhile?!

To me, solving tricky maths problems feels like trying to catch a magician out. No matter how many times I wave my hand dramatically over the card, it never vanishes into my pocket. I know there’s a trick. I know it’s logical. But I can’t see it.

Until suddenly, I do.

That’s maths. Once you spot the trick, it’s easy. And the more tricks you learn, the more of a magician you become. Solving a challenge problem rewards you with that little fist-pump moment you’ll never get from a bog-standard exam question.

Solving problems is hard.

Sure, we all want the easy route.

But the only way it gets easier is with practice: grappling with ideas, sitting next to people who’ve done the reps, training your brain the way you’d train your body.

Think about running. The first time you drag yourself out, you’re red in the face, gasping after 100m and questioning your life choices. By the fifth run, though, you’re in your stride. It’s still a workout, but suddenly you can breathe, and hey—maybe you even enjoy it. Thinking works the same way. The more you wrestle with tricky problems, the easier it gets to enjoy the wrestle.

We’ll happily spend hours training our bodies: running laps, lifting weights, and yes, even scrolling TikTok thumbs into peak Olympic condition.

But our minds?

Too often we leave them on autopilot.

And the thing about autopilot is… your brain will train itself. Left alone, it’ll train itself to love shortcuts—complaining, procrastinating, "why bother?", “meh, too hard.”

Which is why we need challenge problems. They’re the mental equivalent of hill sprints. Annoying in the moment. Transformative in the long run.

So, back to that Year 9 question. Why bother with challenge problems if they don’t appear on the exam paper?

Because exams come and go. Grades fade. But your ability to think creatively, clearly, and with curiosity? That outlasts every syllabus.

For students, that means training your brain is the best long-term investment you can make.
For parents, it means sharing the way you think about problems teaches your kids more than any pep talk you give.
For teachers, it means showing curiosity beats handing out perfect answers every time. Struggle isn’t failure—it’s practice.

And to the kids who are already doing this, give yourself a high five:

Even when you're finding the questions tough, it doesn’t matter how many questions you get right or wrong. What matters is that you’re training your mind, building resilience, and daring to wrestle with the tricky stuff most people avoid.

So, on those impossibly hard questions, where do you start?

You don’t need a workshop, an app, or motivational music in the headphones.

Start small: ask better questions, notice your habits, and reach out for help to find the trick you’re missing.

Every struggle into the depths of geometry, every page of scribbles, every small win is building a brain that sees possibilities where others see obstacles.

Thinking is a muscle, not a miracle.

Keep on training.

Nici