Decimals in the 11+ — Questions, Worked Answers and Practice Papers

What examiners actually ask

Decimals appears in 97 of our 338 ready papers (199 tagged questions). It averages 2.1 questions a paper worth about 1.55 marks each. The typical question allows around 41 sec. It appears in 2 CSSE papers we hold.

Decimals test place-value confidence as much as calculation skill. Papers ask children to order decimals, add and subtract carefully, multiply and divide by 10, 100 or 1000, and convert between decimals and fractions. Mistakes cluster around lining up decimal points and around trailing zeros that change perceived size — for example ranking 0.45 above 0.5 because it “looks longer”. Because money and measurement questions are decimals in disguise, weak place value shows up across the whole paper, not only in the decimals section. Grammar and independent papers both use these ideas under time pressure. Practise with pure decimal arithmetic and with applied contexts (money, length, mass) so the skill transfers when the wording changes. Always write the place-value headings (tenths, hundredths) when comparing, and check the final answer against a sensible estimate.

Common mistakes

• Misaligning decimal points when adding or subtracting in columns.
• Thinking a longer decimal is always larger (e.g. ranking 0.45 above 0.5).
• Shifting the point the wrong way when multiplying or dividing by 10, 100 or 1000.
• Forgetting that money answers usually need two decimal places.

Papers with the most Decimals questions

Ranked from our tagged catalogue — open a paper to practise the questions that actually test this topic.

Related topics

• Fractions
• Percentages
• Money
• Word Problems
• Algebra
• Area and Perimeter