How do you solve sharing in a ratio questions in P6?
Sharing in a ratio is the core skill of the Primary 6 Ratio chapter: a total is split unequally, but in a fixed pattern.
What your child learns here
Sharing in a ratio is the core skill of the Primary 6 Ratio chapter: a total is split unequally, but in a fixed pattern. The method is always to find the value of one unit first.
Divide a quantity in a given ratio of two or three parts.
Count every unit in the ratio before dividing the total.
Use the value of 1 unit to find any share, the difference between two shares, or the total from one share.
Apply the method to money, objects and measures in word problems.
Does the answer make sense?
A share can never be more than the amount being shared, and whoever has the larger number in the ratio must end up with more. If your child works out the whole prize from one person's share, the prize must come out larger than that share.
How to practise these questions
Basic questions train sharing a whole across all the units of a ratio. Intermediate questions apply the same sharing to longer stories. Challenge questions link two ratios, or attach a value to each repeated group. If sharing in a ratio stalls, read the written step-by-step solution together.
Questions parents ask
Is sharing in a ratio in the PSLE syllabus? Yes. 'Dividing a quantity in a given ratio' is outcome 1.3 of the Primary 6 Ratio sub-strand in the MOE syllabus. The word problems on this page apply it to money, objects and measures.
Does my child have to draw a bar model for ratio sharing? A bar model is not required, but it shows why the total is divided by all the units. Once the step is secure, many children write only the unit lines: total units, 1 unit, then the share asked for.
What if the total does not divide evenly by the number of units? With whole objects, an uneven division is a signal to recount the units, in case one person's share was left out. With money or measures, a share can come out in dollars and cents or as a decimal.
