Apply operation order to a supplied numerical expression.
Free to use and free to share. There is no sign-up, no score, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere.
Practise it now
Work the expression out one operation at a time. Tap the operation that has to happen next.
Loading the interactive exercise. Nothing you do here is saved or scored.
A worked example
One question of the kind this skill is tested with, worked all the way through: the reasoning, and what the wrong answers are there to catch.
Deciding what comes first
Points R, P and C are marked on the number line. Work out R + P ÷ C.
Each small step on this line is worth 1, and every labelled tick is ten steps on.
4
17
30
22
Answer: 30
How you get there
Reading the line gives R is 26, P is 8 and C is 2, so R + P ÷ C comes to 30, because division is worked out before addition. Working straight across from left to right gives a different number, which is why the order has to be decided before any of it is calculated.
Why the other answers tempt
A calculation is not worked out in the order it is written; the order of operations decides it.
If they are stuck, say this
Read all three points off the line first, then decide which part of R + P ÷ C has to be worked out before the rest.
Work the expression out one operation at a time. Tap the operation that has to happen next.
Brackets come first, so before anything else happens. That leaves the rest of the line to finish, and comes to 81. Reading it straight from left to right gives 144 instead, which is why the order is the whole question.
What to say if they get stuck
Anything inside brackets is a parcel. It has to be opened before the rest of the line can move.
Multiplying and dividing happen before adding and subtracting, however far along the line they sit.
Reading straight from left to right gives 144, which is not the same thing.
This is the wrong answer 11+ papers are built to offer, so it is worth watching for directly: a child who does this will look confident and still lose the mark. If it keeps happening on evaluate a mixed expression, the fix is the misunderstanding rather than more questions.
How evaluate a mixed expression differs from the skills beside it
The same exercise practises one other skill, and telling them apart is often the difficulty rather than the exercise itself. On this page the skill is: apply operation order to a supplied numerical expression, and it stops where no unknown quantity.
Questions parents ask about evaluate a mixed expression
Answered from what the skill map records about this skill, not from a template. Every answer here is on the page, and the same questions are the page's FAQ structured data.
Apply operation order to a supplied numerical expression. It is one of 55 named maths skills in the 11+, in the number strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.
There is a specific mistake recorded against this skill: evaluates every operation from left to right. 11+ papers are written to offer exactly that answer, so a child can be confident and still lose the mark. When it keeps happening, the fix is the misunderstanding rather than more questions.
Point at the next move rather than explaining the whole rule. Read all three points off the line first, then decide which part of R + P ÷ C has to be worked out before the rest.
The skill map draws the line here: No unknown quantity. A question past that line is testing a different named maths skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.
The number strand holds 13 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to evaluate a mixed expression are find a sequence term, multiply whole numbers or decimals and read place value. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.
Use BIDMAS Machine, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to evaluate a mixed expression, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.
One wrong answer is a slip, the same wrong answer every time is a habit
A free diagnostic looks at which mistakes repeat across all four subjects, not just whether evaluate a mixed expression was right on the day.
