As we come towards the end of the school year the mental arithmetic questions for each year group have been getting harder. The questions for Year 4 are all quite 'wordy'  and include fractions, division and shape. Questions such as, 'Which is bigger, one half of thirty or a third of sixty?' require skills of working out fractions of numbers and comparing answers. The first four questions in the Year 5 sets look at addition and subtraction of decimals. When adding mentally two numbers such as 2.4 add 4.7 I tend to add the units first and then the tenths - the opposite of the standard written method, and it is well worthwhile asking children how they set about doing these. In Year 5 children will be coming to grips with simple percentages, knowing that 50% is equivalent to a half and 25% is equivalent to a quarter. The year 6 questions include finding products (by multiplying, not adding) and some quite hard addition and subtraction of decimals. Adding two numbers such as 0.08 and 0.1 requires a good understanding of place value. Go to Year 4 mental arithmetic Go to Year 5 mental arithmetic Go to Year 6 mental arithmetic