Word problems: practise with pictures

Every problem has a picture, a hint if you get stuck, and the working in four steps. You won’t get the same problem twice. Read one step, play with it, then tap “I understand this”.

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The plan for every word problem

A word problem is a story with a sum inside. The arithmetic is seldom the hard part; the skill is turning the story into a sum.

Look at the picture and read the story twice.
What do we know? Write down the numbers and their units.
What are we looking for? Underline the question.
Choose the operation, calculate and check: does the answer make sense?

Want to learn the bar model and the clue words first? See the class Word problems explained.

Tap when you could explain it to someone else.

Practise: one problem at a time

Choose a kind of problem, or “Mixed” for a bit of everything. Stuck? Tap “Hint”. After every answer you see the working.

Game

Word problems

Type your answer with the buttons and press “Check”.

Meerkat tip

Write every problem in your book with the four steps: what we know, what we are looking for, the sum and the answer with its unit.

Tap when you could explain it to someone else.

Check yourself

Quiz

Quick questions

Tap an answer. If you get one wrong, read why and go back to that step. You get new questions every time.

You ticked all 2 steps! Now you are ready for the quiz.

Free PDF to downloadPrint the practice sheet and practise on paper. The memo is on page 2: try on your own first.

Practice sheet for this classQuestions + memo · 2 A4 pagesPractice sheet
Paper 17 pages · PDFPaper Memo
Practice exam 18 pages · PDFPaper Memo

All 14 free Grade 6 maths papers →

Ready for more? The Grade 6 word problems quiz gives you new problems every time.

Start the quiz All Grade 6 classes

For parents

One step a day is enough. Ten calm minutes work better than an hour the night before the test.
Let your child retell the story aloud in their own words before calculating. Once they understand the story, the sum is easy.
Do one or two problems a day. The numbers are new every time, so you can never practise ‘too much’.
Ask your child to tell you the rule in their own words. If they can explain it, they understand it.
The ticks (“I understand this”) are saved on this device only. We never ask for names or emails.

Follows CAPS for Grade 6 Maths. Always check your teacher’s notes and textbook too.