Multistep Word Problems

Before calculating anything, list what you need to work out and in what order.

Label every answer

Write what each number means. "48 pencils" is useful; a bare 48 is not.

Estimate the final answer

A rough answer at the start tells you whether the final one is believable.

Read the question again at the end

Multistep problems are easy to solve correctly and still answer the wrong question.

Write the plan before the arithmetic

A multistep problem is easier if you first list the questions in order: "How many altogether? Then how many each? Then how many left?" Fixing the sequence before calculating stops you combining numbers in whatever order they appeared in the text.

Label every intermediate number

Write "total apples = 96" rather than just 96. With three or four steps, unlabelled numbers become impossible to keep straight, and you end up dividing the wrong one. A label costs two words and saves whole restarts.

Judge each answer as you go

After each step, ask whether the number makes sense. If sharing 96 apples between 4 classes gives 384, you multiplied when you should have divided — and catching it at step two is much cheaper than discovering it at step four.

Answer the question that was asked

The final calculation is not always the final answer. Reread the question at the end and check that your number is the thing it asked for, in the right units. A perfect calculation answering the wrong question scores nothing and, worse, feels correct.