The idea in brief. Find one thing at a time. Ask what the question needs first, write that step on its own line with its unit, and only then use its answer in the next step. The order is the whole difficulty: the step you can do first is not always the step the question wants first. Each step goes on its own line, with its unit, before the next begins, and both quantities are put in the same unit before dividing. In the lesson. You can already solve a story in one step: add, subtract, multiply or divide. Some stories need two steps: find one answer first, then use it in the next step. Find one step at a time, and use its answer in the next step.
Lesson video, with the working
Two steps and equal groups
3 min 34 s
The film teaches 3 questions in turn. Each question shows first; its working is written as the film explains it.
How do P3 children decide which step comes first in two-step word problems?
These are the most common Primary 3 word problems: two operations, one after the other, usually with equal groups.
What your child learns here
These are the most common Primary 3 word problems: two operations, one after the other, usually with equal groups. The page applies the syllabus work on multiplying and dividing within the tables, division with remainder and the 3-digit by 1-digit algorithms to everyday stories. The skill being practised is choosing the order of the two steps.
Say what the question asks for before writing any working.
Find what must be known first, such as the total from all the packets, and write that step on its own line.
Use multiplication for equal groups put together, and division for sharing or grouping.
Remove a fixed amount kept aside before sharing the rest equally.
Read a remainder sensibly: count only complete groups when the question asks how many can be finished.
Does the answer make sense?
When something is kept aside first, such as the strips for labels or the noticeboard's price, each share must come out below an equal split of the full starting amount. For packing, your child can check that the full packs times the pack size never pass the number of usable tags.
How to practise these questions
The Basic questions practise two-step stories that join equal groups with adding or subtracting. The Intermediate questions add stories where the order of the two steps must be worked out first. The Challenge questions carry more information, so your child must decide which numbers each step uses. If a two-step story stalls, play its solution film and come back to it later from Revision.
Questions parents ask
What are two-step word problems in Primary 3? They are questions that need two calculations, where the answer to the first is used in the second. At P3 the calculations come from the syllabus: addition and subtraction up to 4 digits, multiplying and dividing within the tables, division with remainder, and multiplying or dividing up to 3 digits by 1 digit.
How do I know whether my child should multiply or divide in a word problem? Multiply when equal groups are put together and the total is unknown. Divide when a total is shared equally, or split into groups of a known size. Asking your child to draw the groups as boxes usually makes the choice clear.
What should my child do with a remainder in a word problem? It depends on the question. If it asks how many full packs can be made, the leftover items are left out. If it asks how many boxes are needed to hold everything, one more box is needed for the leftovers.
