Worded Problems Set A
Worded Problems Set A gives standalone practice at word problems set in everyday contexts, such as shopping, sharing out items and simple measuring, each requiring the child to translate a sentence or short paragraph into the correct number sentence before calculating. 11+ papers rarely ask for a bare calculation; almost every question is dressed in a real-life scenario, so this set drills the skill of extracting the numbers and the operation from the words themselves.
Method
- Read the whole problem once for meaning before picking out any numbers, so you understand what is actually being asked.
- Underline or note the key numbers and the key words that signal the operation: 'altogether' or 'in total' often signals addition, 'left' or 'remaining' often signals subtraction, and 'each' or 'share' often signals division or multiplication.
- Decide whether the problem needs one calculation or several steps chained together, and plan the order before starting to calculate.
- Carry out each calculation carefully, writing down enough working to check it, even under time pressure.
- Answer the actual question asked, including the correct units such as pounds, cm or minutes, not just the last number you calculated.
- Reread the question once more to check the answer makes sense in context, for example that a number of 'people' should be a whole number.
Worked example
Amir has 3 pounds 60. He buys a notebook for 1 pound 25 and a pen for 85p. How much money does he have left?
- Convert everything to the same unit: 3 pounds 60 = 360p, 1 pound 25 = 125p, and the pen costs 85p.
- Add the two costs together: 125 + 85 = 210p.
- Subtract the total cost from the amount Amir started with: 360 - 210 = 150p.
- Convert back to pounds and pence: 150p = 1 pound 50.
Practice questions
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Q1A baker makes 84 muffins and packs them into boxes of 6. How many boxes does she fill?Show answer
Answer: 14 boxes
Q2Tickets cost 4 pounds each. How much do 7 tickets cost?Show answer
Answer: 28 pounds
Q3A jug contains 2 litres of water. 650 ml is poured out. How much water is left, in ml?Show answer
Answer: 1,350 ml
Q4A class of 30 pupils is split into groups of 5. How many groups are there?Show answer
Answer: 6 groups
Q5Layla saves 3 pounds a week. How much has she saved after 8 weeks?Show answer
Answer: 24 pounds
Q6A box of 24 chocolates is shared equally between 4 children. How many chocolates does each child get?Show answer
Answer: 6 chocolates
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
A cinema sells adult tickets for 8 pounds and child tickets for 5 pounds. A family buys 2 adult tickets and 3 child tickets. What is the total cost?
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A water tank holds 500 litres when full. It is currently 3/5 full. How many litres of water are in the tank, and how many more litres are needed to fill it completely?
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Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the worded problems set a worksheet pack - 10 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
This topic is chapter 3 of 11+ Maths Workbook 4, the whole course as one free printable PDF.
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