MATHS
Examples of word problems across year groups
Year 1
Solve problems involving time
It is 9 o’clock. Samantha got up three hours ago. What time did she get up?
The time is half past three. What time will it be in 2 hours?
It is 4 o’clock. Rebecca is having dinner in three hours time. What time does she have her
dinner?
Ibrahim went out at 3 o’clock. He got back at 8 o’clock. How long was he out for?
The Summer Fair begins at half past one and finishes at half past five. How long does the Fair
last?
Year 2
Recognise and use symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p); combine amounts to make a
particular value.
Kyle has a 20p, a 10p and a 5p. He buys a lolly for 15p. Which coins should he use to pay?
On the table, there are 5 coins: £1, 20p, 2p, 1p and another 2p. Which 4 coins make up 25p?
Martha has these 5 coins in her purse- 10p, 5p, 2p, 20p and £1.
Which coins could Martha use to buy a chocolate bar for 30p?
Which three coins could she use to make 17p?
Martha spends £1.15. Which coins did she use to pay?
If Martha spends £1.05, how much money does she have left?
Year 3
Count from 0 in multiples of 4, 8, 50 and 100
James is counting in multiples of 4. The first number he says is 0. What is the third number he
says?
Ayesha is making an apple pie. She already has 4 apples and then buys 4 more. Her grandma also
gives her 4 apples. How many apples does she have altogether?
Ella counts eight birds in the sky. She then sees 8 more. How many birds has she counted
altogether?
Mrs Brown asked her class to count in multiples of 8. The first number they said was 8. What
was the fourth number they said?
Mollie and Paul are counting in multiples of 50. They start counting at 0. What are the next two
numbers they count?
Aimee and Angus counted the cows in 3 fields. Each field had 100 cows eating grass. How many
cows were there altogether?
Year 4
Multiply three numbers together
Marshall was asked to double three and then multiply the answer by 4. What was his answer?
Charlotte drew a line 3 cm long. Then she made the line 3 times longer. How long would 6 of
these longer lines be, drawn end to end?
Asif’s teacher asked him to multiply 9 by 2 by 3. What was Asif’s answer?
In one layer of the box of chocolates, there are 5 x 6 chocolates. How many chocolates are
there in 6 layers?
In one carriage on the big wheel, there are 4 double seats. How many people could fit in 7
carriages?
In one coach there are 26 seats. Each seat holds 2 people. How many people could 4 similar
coaches carry?
Year 5
Solve problems involving multiplication and division, including using knowledge of factors and
multiples, squares and cubes
Jameel said he had 5² trading cards. How many trading cards did he have?
What number, between 33 and 38, is a multiple of 4?
What number, between 20 and 30, is a cube number?
In Mr Pott’s garden, there are 7 rows of tomato plants. Each row has 435 tomato plants. How
many tomato plants are in the garden altogether?
There are 386 apples that need to be put into boxes containing 5 apples per box. How many full
boxes of apples can be made altogether? How many apples are left?
Adnan has forgotten what a prime number is. Can you explain this to him, using an example?
Thomas cuts 10 pieces of string from a ball. Each piece is 1.7 metres long. What would be the
total length of the string if the pieces were laid end to end?
Use your knowledge of 7 x 9 to work out 700 x 90.
Year 6
Enumerate possibilities of combinations of two variables
There were five chocolates in a bag. Some were plain (p) and some were nutty (n). Use the
equation p + n = 5 and list all the possible combinations of plain and nutty chocolates in the box.
Year 6 had been learning about factors and multiples. They had the equation a x b = 36. What
could a x b represent? List all the possibilities.
The next equation said 30 ÷ x = y. What could x and y represent? List all the possibilities.
Manny’s class had thirty children. The number of girls (g) was between ten and fifteen and the
number of boys (b) was between fifteen and twenty. Use the equation g + b = 30 to find all the
possible combinations of boys and girls.
There were some salt and vinegar (v) and cheese and onion (o) crisps in a box. The shopkeeper
said that v x o = 42. List all the possible combinations of salt and vinegar and cheese and onion
crisps in the box.
Zac was given this equation: A x B + 3 = 27. His teacher asked him to list all the possible
combinations for A and B. What should his answer have been?