Year 6 Order of operations worksheet

“Multiply before you add” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 6 maths unit “Order of operations”, for children aged 10 to 11, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 34 to 35 of the year, 5 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Multiply before you add

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 6 · Maths · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can use the order of operations when multiplication is combined with addition or subtraction.

A Look back3 min

1.
6 × 7 =
2.
A bar has 84 squares. 39 are red. How many are blue?
3.
48 ÷ 6 =

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ravi has 4 stickers. He buys 3 packs with 5 stickers in each pack. How many stickers does he have now?

Watch me

Multiply first: 3 × 5 = 15.

Then add the 4 stickers Ravi already had.

4 + 15 = 19, so Ravi has 19 stickers.

Now you

1.
2 + 4 × 6 =

C Your turn6 min

1.
3 + 4 × 2 =
2.
3 + 5 × 2 =
3.
3 + 5 × 4 =
4.
23 − 5 × 4 =

Say it out loud: Which part of each sum did you do first, and why? What changed from one row to the next?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Ali says: “4 + 3 × 5 = 35, because you work from left to right.”

1.
What does 4 + 3 × 5 really equal?

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Put one pair of brackets into 2 + 3 × 4 so the answer is 20. Write your equation.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Multiply before you add · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 42

2. 45

3. 8

B

1. 26 your child has got 36 by working left to right: 2 + 4 = 6 first, then 6 × 6. Multiply 4 × 6 = 24 first, then add 2 to get 26.

C

1. 11 your child has got 14 by adding 3 + 4 = 7 first, then multiplying by 2. Do 4 × 2 = 8 first, then add 3 to get 11.

2. 13 your child has got 16 by adding 3 + 5 = 8 first, then multiplying by 2. Multiply 5 × 2 = 10 first, then add 3 to get 13.

3. 23

4. 3

D

1. 19 your child has got 35 by adding 4 + 3 = 7 first, then multiplying by 5. Multiplication comes first even when it sits to the right. Do 3 × 5 = 15, then add 4 to get 19.

E

1. (2 + 3) × 4 = 20 your child has left the brackets out, so 3 × 4 is done first and the answer is 14. Put the brackets round 2 + 3, so those are added first.

Words to use

Say“Which multiplication must be done before you add or take away?”

Instead of“Work from left to right, the way you read.”

After the sheet

Lay out 3 piles of 5 coins and 4 more loose coins. Ask which pile to count first, then add the loose coins.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

4 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Shortcuts with groups(with a plan)
Divide first, then add(with a plan)
Sharing with the same divisor(with a plan)
Solving with the right order(with a plan)

Every Year 6 maths worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

The full StudyDen plan adds the lessons themselves, marked as your child works, with the worksheets included. It is 7 days free, then £29.99 a month.

Get the worksheets Try the full plan free

Both start with a free account; you choose the plan when you sign up.