Using words to describe probability: impossible, unlikely, uncertain, even chance (fifty-fifty), likely, certain, and fair.
Where your child meets this in real life: Weather forecasts, discussing chances of events, understanding risk
SEAGReady breaks probability language into 3 steps, taught in order so each skill builds on the last.
Identify events that are certain (will definitely happen) or impossible (cannot happen)
Distinguish between likely (probably will happen) and unlikely (probably won't happen) events
Identify even chance (fifty-fifty) situations and explain what makes a probability experiment fair
Three free sample questions from our probability language course. Every question comes with a full explanation, and hints that guide without giving the answer away.
Conor has a bag containing 8 blue marbles. There are no other colours in the bag. Is picking a blue marble certain, likely, or impossible?
Answer: B. Certain
Every marble in the bag is blue. There is no way to pick anything except blue. Since it MUST happen every time, picking a blue marble is certain.
Stuck? Start here: Look at all the marbles in the bag. What colours are there?
A spinner has 8 equal sections. Seven sections are red and one section is blue. Is spinning red likely, unlikely, or even chance?
Answer: C. Likely
Red has 7 sections out of 8. Blue has only 1 section out of 8. Red will probably happen, but blue could still come up. Spinning red is likely.
Stuck? Start here: Count how many sections are red and how many are blue.
Aoife flips a fair coin. Is getting heads likely, unlikely, or even chance?
Answer: C. Even chance
A fair coin has 2 sides: heads and tails. Each side has the same chance of landing face up. Since heads and tails are equally likely, getting heads is even chance (fifty-fifty).
Stuck? Start here: How many sides does a coin have, and what are they?
This is the exact interactive worked example your child sees in SEAGReady. Step through it and watch the method build up.
Aoife has a bag containing 10 green marbles. There are no other colours in the bag.
Is picking a green marble certain, likely, or impossible?
10 green, 0 other
Step 1 of 4
Aoife has a bag containing 10 green marbles. There are no other colours in the bag.
Is picking a green marble certain, likely, or impossible?
Picking a green marble is certain because every marble is green.
The key insight: Certain means it will happen every single time, with no exceptions!
Watch out: Saying 'likely' because there are lots of green marbles. Likely means it will probably happen. Certain means it MUST happen. With only green marbles, there is no chance of anything else.
These are the misconceptions we see most often in probability language, including the ones our practice questions are specifically designed to catch.
SEAGReady finds the exact step where your child gets stuck, teaches it with worked examples like the one above, and brings it back for review so it sticks.