Mencal:Mental Arithmetic Training - App Review

I thought that my mental arithmetic was pretty good but, just to disprove the adage that you cant teach an old dog new tricks, along comes Mencal.

This points you in the direction of masses of shortcuts for working out arithmetic and mathematical calculations, as well as acting as a trainer.

Now for the ACIDS test:

Aesthetics
The home screen gives you access to addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squares and fractions, as well as a settings panel.

Each of the operations gives you basic criteria (such as ab x ac where b+c=10); just pick one that interests you, or go through them in sequence. The shortcut is then explained, together with some worked examples.

You can then either keep exploring, or press the pencil icon and get tested using an objective test with 4 possible answers.

The settings allows you to set the timer for entering a response from 15 to 59 seconds.

There is also a display of your achieved level.

Cost
This is a low cost $1 App.

Indispensability
Mind training is excellent, although maths isn't everyone's cup of tea.

Dependability
The App works fine although the 'my level' doesn't seem to update 'right, wrong and skip(ped)' answers.

Security
No issues detected during testing.

ACIDS Test Rating:

An App you can count on (ouch)

To find out how the ACIDS Test works, click here.

You can get Mencal:Mental Arithmetic Training here and support for the App here.