About Mathbench
Mathbench is free mathematics practice for the papers that decide university places: complete books for the South African National Benchmark Test — in English and Afrikaans — and the American SAT and ACT, three books and 1 654 questions, each worked through in full. Alongside them: practice sheets for the OMPT, the national matric papers sorted by topic, IEB-style practice for Grade 12, and tools for the arithmetic fluency all of these demand.
Why it is free
Entrance-exam results influence university admission and placement. Commercial preparation courses cost more than many families can spend, and the learners who would gain most from good material are usually the ones who cannot buy it. So the books are given away. A small number of ads cover the hosting; there is no paid tier, and there is nothing behind an email address.
Who makes this
Mathbench is made by Eben Roux, who has been a mathematics tutor for a little over eleven years. At school he was known for exactly one thing, and when the reunion came round nobody was surprised to hear what he had ended up doing for a living.
The site exists because of a gap he kept running into: there is very little free NBT material online. Almost everything worth working through sits behind a course fee, which falls hardest on the learners who need it most.
Memorise the formula first
After sitting a few NBT practice papers himself, one thing stood out above everything else — how much of the test rewards material you have simply committed to memory. Three hours, sixty questions, no calculator. Time spent re-deriving a formula is time you do not have.
So the method this material is built around runs in what looks like the wrong order. When he meets something new, he memorises the formula first — before he understands it, before he can say what a single symbol means — and only then starts learning the mathematics underneath it. The understanding arrives faster that way, because every worked example is now reinforcing something already in place rather than asking you to hold a new rule and a new idea at once.
It sounds backwards, and for eleven years of tutoring it has been the single biggest change he has watched make a difference. It is why the study guide leads with the formula tables, and why every chapter ends with a takeaway short enough to actually remember.
How the material is made
The three books were written with the help of AI tools, under Eben's direction, and nothing in them is published on the strength of the drafting alone. Every question carries a machine check that is run again before each release. In the SAT and ACT books each answer is derived independently by computer algebra, and so is the specific mistake that produces each wrong option — a distractor no named error can produce is rejected before the page is built. Each of the NBT book's 935 questions carries a check of its own: the answer derived, or the facts behind it confirmed, with every wrong option tied to a named mistake. Its English and Afrikaans editions are compared against each other as well.
Those checks find real defects. Among them: a question offering 21/3 and 14/3 as different options when they are the same number, so it had two correct answers; a chapter where one answer letter appeared four times in fifty-seven, which a student could play rather than study; and a rule stated backwards. Those are exactly the defects that survive in hastily-made practice material, and they are worse than useless to someone studying alone.
The OMPT worksheets and the IEB practice are generated by computer programs written for this site, and say so on their own pages. Each IEB answer is worked out by one method and confirmed by a different one at the moment the question is made; a question whose two methods disagree is thrown away. The OMPT programs are checked by a second, independent program that re-derives a sample of their answers before each release.
The matric booklets are the Department of Basic Education's own past-paper questions and marking guidelines, unchanged and arranged by topic so a learner can finish one topic before starting the next. The questions and memoranda are the Department's; Mathbench only sorts them.
The explanations are written in plain language on purpose. A solution that only makes sense to someone who already understood the topic has failed at its job.
Independence
Mathbench is an independent publisher, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any examining body.
It is not connected to the National Benchmark Tests Project, the Centre for Educational Testing for Access and Placement (CETAP), or the University of Cape Town. The names “National Benchmark Test” and “NBT” are used only to identify the examination the material prepares you for.
It is not connected to the College Board. SAT® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this material.
It is not connected to ACT. ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT Education Corp, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this material.
It is not connected to the Department of Basic Education. The matric booklets reproduce the Department's published papers and marking guidelines, which remain its copyright.
It is not connected to the Independent Examinations Board (IEB). No IEB paper is reproduced on this site; the IEB practice is generated to the measured shape of its examinations, and none of its questions has been set by the IEB.
It is not connected to the OMPT or the universities that set it. The name is used only to identify the test the worksheets prepare you for.
Always confirm current test dates, fees and arrangements with the official administration of the examination you are sitting.
Corrections
If you find a mistake, please report it — a wrong answer in a study book is worse than no book. Corrections are folded into the PDF and the online chapters, which is why the licence asks people to link here rather than re-upload the file.
Contact: mathspracticenet@gmail.com