Year 5 · Autumn term · Addition and subtraction · Step 7
Year 5 Comparing calculations worksheets
Compare calculations without working out the answers. A free editable Word sheet with eight fluency and six reasoning questions. The answers follow the questions: the same sheet again with every answer in red.
Download the worksheets
Print on A4 portrait: every page carries the sheet twice, side by side, so you can cut down the middle and two pupils each get a half to stick in their books. Every question sits in its own box and pupils write their answers in their book. The answers follow the questions in the file: the same sheet again with every answer in red. It opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages and LibreOffice, so you can change numbers, delete questions or add your own. There is no scaffolded version of this step yet.
Not scaffolded sheet
The same questions without the extra support. For pupils working at the expected standard: eight fluency questions first, then the reasoning questions.
Sample questions from this step
These are real questions from the first set of the sheet (two from the fluency page, two from the reasoning page). Open each one to see the answer.
- Which calculation has the greater answer? You do not need to work out the answers.a) A 3,388 + 536 B 3,388 + 426 ____b) A 3,237 + 240 B 3,237 + 1,040 ____c) A 8,676 + 1,477 B 8,676 + 667 ____
Show the answer
A; B; A
- Write <, > or = to compare the calculations. You do not need to work out the answers.a) 58,741 + 1,900 ____ 58,941 + 1,900b) 65,741 + 1,900 ____ 65,741 + 900c) 78,741 − 1,900 ____ 78,741 − 3,280d) 158,741 − 1,900 ____ 157,741 − 1,900
Show the answer
<; >; >; >
- Which calculation has the greater answer? Do not work out the answers. Explain how you know.A 6,318 − 714 B 6,318 − 914The greater answer is calculation ____
Show the answer
A; 6,318 is in both subtractions. 714 is smaller than 914, so less is taken away in A and A is greater.
- A = 156,904 − 25,049 B = 159,7?4 − 27,889The ? is a missing digit. What could the missing digit be if:a) A is greater than B ____b) A is less than B ____c) A is equal to B ____
Show the answer
0, 1, 2, 3; 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; 4
What is on each sheet
- Fluency: eight questions that start easy and get harder, with the key skill of the step practised in different ways.
- Reasoning: questions with pictures, tables and number lines (spot the mistake, true or false and explain, puzzles with one answer, an open-ended task).
- Answers in the same file: the sheet again with every answer in red, so there is only one file to download.
- Boba characters give the instructions in speech bubbles. They are decoration only.
Why one set of questions?
- Everyone works on the same content, and support comes from scaffolds instead of different, easier tasks. This follows the mastery approach described by the NCETM and the thinking in Ofsted's 2021 mathematics research review.
- Worked examples and visual representations lighten the load for pupils who need it, as the Education Endowment Foundation describes.