Year 4 probing questions
These questions can be used to check understanding and/or support the assessment of progress towards the end of year
expectations. In term 6 they can be supplemented with the ncetm Exemplification questions.
NUMBER
Number and
place value
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Addition and
subtraction
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Multiplication and
division
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Which number is 199 more than 418?
What is the difference between 1999 and 4003?
What is the value of the 3 in the number 235 107
How many hundreds are there in two thousand four hundred?
What does the 8 digit represent in these? £2.08 8.35.cm £ 0.83 8.80 Kg 187.47 m
A number rounded to the nearest 10 is 340. What could that number be?
What is the smallest number that would round to 700 when rounded to the nearest 100?
Make up a sequence with 7 and -3 in it. Explain your rule.
I think of a number. When I decrease my number by 34 it is even. When I decrease my number by 37 is
it a multiple of 5. What could my number be?
The local paper says 800 people attended the match. This was given to the nearest 100. What is the
smallest number that could have attended?
What is the largest number you can make with digit cards 3, 0, 6 and 5?
Kate says 62-37 is 35? Where has she gone wrong?
7_+_8=1_ _. How many different ways can you complete this equation? What is the largest / smallest
possible total?
_ _ -65=_7. How many different ways could you complete this equation. What is the smallest/largest
possible difference?
Jim says the sum of three numbers is always odd. Do you agree?
Which of these pairs of numbers have a difference of 60? 190 30 70 130 90 How did you
work it out?
Using a set of digits cards 1-9, complete the number sentence to make a total that is a multiple of 5.
How many ways can you do it?
+
=
9-3=6 What is 90-30 or 900-600? How do you know?
I multiply two numbers. The product is a multiple of 3 that is one more than a multiple of 4. What could my
two numbers have been?
Tell me some numbers that will divide exactly by 2, by 5, by 10. How do you know?
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Year 4 probing questions
These questions can be used to check understanding and/or support the assessment of progress towards the end of year
expectations. In term 6 they can be supplemented with the ncetm Exemplification questions.
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Fractions (including
decimals)
Tell me a number that will divide exactly by 4. How do you know that a number will divide exactly by 4?
Make up some division questions with a remainder of 1.
One orange costs 15p. How much would 5 oranges cost?
The product is 40. What two numbers could have been multiplied together?
Four pineapples cost £3.40. How much would one cost?
Tim says 1.2 divided by 6 is 2. Draw a diagram to show him why he is wrong.
Sam says multiples of 7 are all even. Do you agree? Explain why.
Pat says all multiples of 6 end in 2, 4 or 6. Is she right? Explain your thinking.
_x 100 =2_00. What is the largest/smallest product you can make?
When I divide my number by 5 there is a remainder of 2. What could my number be?
Double my number is greater than 30. Three times my number is less than 60. What could my number be?
420 biscuits have to be packed in to boxes. There must be the same number of biscuits in each box. How
could the biscuits be packed?
- Jim says all multiples of 6 are multiples of three so all multiples of three are multiple of six? Is he right?
- Why do square numbers have an odd number of factors?
- How can I pay for 51p postage using only 5p and 12p stamps?
FRACTIONS
- Show me some fractions equivalent to ½ , ¼ ,1/3 ¾
- Tell me some fractions greater than ¼
- Tell me some fraction less than ½
- Make a 3 by 4 array. Now use it to show me two fractions that add up to 1 whole.
- How many ways can you find to shade a 2 by 6 grid to show 2/3?
- When can ¼ be larger than ½?
DECIMALS
- Multiply 0.9 by 9
- Subtract 1.9 from 2.7
- Find the total of 0.2,0.4 and 0.6
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Year 4 probing questions
These questions can be used to check understanding and/or support the assessment of progress towards the end of year
expectations. In term 6 they can be supplemented with the ncetm Exemplification questions.
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MEASUREMENT
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What is half of 3.6?
Suggest a number between 3 and 4.
How many tenths can be made from 8.4?
Find the missing number 10.8 ? 11, 11.2
Order these numbers 0.2 1.6, 0.1, 0.6
Mum bought pizza. I ate more than ½ and less than ¾. What fraction of the pizza could I have eaten?
There are two bags of flour in the cupboard. The smaller bag is ½ the size of the larger bag. How much flour
could be in each?
Using digits 1-9, complete the number sentence: ½ = 0.5. How many other fractions can you find that are
equivalent to 0.5? What if the fraction had to be equivalent to 0.25?
We write six tenths as a decimal as 0.6. How do we write eleven tenths?
What is the interval worth on this scale? How do you know?
Use this apple to work out how many apples you would get in a 1 Kg bag.
A bottle holds 1 litre of lemonade. Pat fills 5 glasses with lemonade. She puts 150 ml in each glass. How
much is left in the bottle?
How many centimetres in ¾ of a metre?
Write these lengths in order: 47 cm, 1.14 m, 3.6 m, 250 cm, 0.85 m.
Which is the shortest? How do you know?
I bought 1 Kg of carrots. I cooked 400 g of them. How many have I got left?
My brother is 8 cm taller than me. Both our heights round to 160 cm How tall could he be?
A filled mug will always weigh the same whatever the contents? – Always true, sometimes true or never
true?
The tallest bottle holds the most. - Always true, sometimes true or never true?
MONEY
- How many cartons of juice costing 30 p each can I buy with £2?
- What is the total cost of 33.86 and £8.57?
- A packet of crisps costs 32p. Josh buys three packets. How much change does he get from a pound?
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Year 4 probing questions
These questions can be used to check understanding and/or support the assessment of progress towards the end of year
expectations. In term 6 they can be supplemented with the ncetm Exemplification questions.
TIME
GEOMETRY
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Ryan buys a hat for £4.69 and a lolly for 99p. How much change does he get from a £10 note?
I buy four things. I pay with a £5 note and get £3.56 in change. What could each item have cost?
Tickets cost £8. Mum has enough money for 7 tickets but not for 8. She has only silver coins in her purse.
How much money could she have?
Buns cost 29 p and cakes cost 45 p. How many of each can I buy with £3?
Nick has eleven £1 coins. Joe has one hundred and ten 10 p coins. Who has the most money?
I am saving for a CD that cost £12.99. If I save my £2 pocket money each week, how long will it take me to
save up for the CD?
Jo spent half of her savings. She has £21.60 left. How much did she have to start with?
How many days in 18 weeks?
“87 days to Christmas”…. .how many weeks is that
My programme starts at 14.45 and finishes at twenty five past five. How long is the programme?
My cake took 75 minutes to cook. I put it in the oven before midday and it was ready before I went out at
1pm. What times could it have gone in and come out of the oven?
The perimeter of my rectangle is between 30 cm and 40 cm. The area is between 40 cm squared and 50
cms squared. What dimensions could my rectangle have?
The perimeter of the shape is always larger than the area of the shape-do you agree?.
Use these triangular tiles to make a symmetrical shape. Can you take one tile away and keep your shape
symmetrical? Can you change one or more tiles so it is no longer symmetrical?
This is half a symmetrical shape. Tell me how you would complete it. How did you use the line of symmetry
to complete the shape?
How many different shapes can be made by placing two identical equilateral triangles edge to edge? What
about 3, 4, 5, identical equilateral triangles?
Place eight squares together (edge to edge) to make a shape with two lines of symmetry. How many
different shapes can you make?
Investigate the line symmetry of regular polygons and suggest a general statement based on their findings
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Year 4 probing questions
These questions can be used to check understanding and/or support the assessment of progress towards the end of year
expectations. In term 6 they can be supplemented with the ncetm Exemplification questions.
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Position and direction
STATISTICS
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(8, 10) and (10, 8) are two vertices of a right-angled triangle. What are the coordinates of the third vertex?
Are there any other possibilities?
(6, 5) and (8, 5) are two vertices of a square, they find all three possibilities for the pair of missing vertices.
Show me where this shape would be if we reflected it in this mirror line.
Where would it be if we translated it two units to the right parallel to the x-axis?
This grid is made of hexagons. Draw the reflection of the shaded shape on the grid
How can we best show this information?
Why do we need a scale that goes up in steps other than 1?
Add some information to this chart.
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Year 4 probing questions
These questions can be used to check understanding and/or support the assessment of progress towards the end of year
expectations. In term 6 they can be supplemented with the ncetm Exemplification questions.
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