Grade 3 Word Problems (Mixed Operations)
Eight grade 3 story problems spanning all four operations, each one asking which operation the situation calls for. Printable PDF with answers.
Download
Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Read each problem carefully. Show your work and write your answer.
- 1.Maria has 24 stickers. She gives 9 to her friend. How many stickers does she have left?
- 2.A box holds 6 crayons. How many crayons are in 7 boxes?
- 3.There are 32 students split evenly into 4 groups. How many students are in each group?
- 4.Jake read 18 pages on Monday and 27 pages on Tuesday. How many pages did he read in all?
- 5.A baker made 45 muffins and sold 28. How many muffins are left?
- 6.Each table seats 5 people. How many people can sit at 9 tables?
- 7.Sam has 3 bags with 8 marbles each. How many marbles does he have?
- 8.A class of 28 students needs 2 pencils each. How many pencils are needed in total?
What this worksheet covers
There are eight story problems here — one page to work, one page of answers to check against — and Sets B and C repeat the layout with different numbers. Within that, each problem arrives as a few sentences of context rather than a bare expression and answers carry units, and a number without its unit is only half an answer. Problems 3 and 6, for instance, are "There are 32 students split evenly into 4 groups. How many…" and "Each table seats 5 people. How many people can sit at 9…". The sheet sits inside Common Core 3.OA.8, in the grade 3 Operations & Algebraic Thinking strand.
Skills practised
The grade 3 mixed operations sequence covers all four operations, with two-step expressions introduced; this page sits inside it. What a student is asked to do here is grade 3 Word Problems (Mixed Operations). To finish it, a student has to read a situation and choose an operation before computing.
About the word problems format
The 8 story problems each get a full line and an answer rule; problem 3, "There are 32 students split evenly into 4 groups. How many…" is one, and the answer key writes the unit with every answer. The whole job in a mixed word problem is choosing the operation, which is exactly what a one-operation page never asks.
Set A, Set B and Set C
Set A is the sheet as it was first published on MathSheetLab, and Sets B and C were derived from it problem by problem: each number became a slot redrawn with the same shape, and every answer was recomputed exactly. Where Set A's problem 5 is "A baker made 45 muffins and sold 28. How many muffins are…", Set B's is "A bus starts with 28 riders and picks up 16 more at the…".
8 story problem(s) drawn from the /custom word-problem bank (grade 2 ranges, ops add/sub/mul/div) — parameters inferred from 3.OA.8
How to use this worksheet
By grade 3 a student should take all eight mixed operations problems in one sitting. If the page takes more than about fifteen minutes, the underlying facts are probably not automatic yet, and that is worth fixing before more mixed operations practice piles on. Print Set B of this mixed operations word problems before writing on Set A; the same skill worked twice a week apart tells you far more than once.
One mistake to watch for
Two-step expressions are evaluated left to right: 3 + 4 × 5 gives 35. Problem 6 on this grade 3 word problems page, "Each table seats 5 people. How many people can sit at 9…", is where to look for it.
The convention that multiplication comes first has not been taught, or is not yet automatic.
Box the multiplication or division first on every problem, then evaluate, and only then add or subtract.
Other grade 3 mixed operations formats
The same skill in the other formats available at this grade.
- Drill — Grade 3 Mixed Operations Practice, 20 problems
- Timed Drill — Grade 3 Mixed Operations Timed Drill, 72 problems
- Missing Number — Grade 3 Mixed Operations Missing Number, 24 problems
- Mixed Review — Grade 3 Mixed Operations Mixed Review, 30 problems
A step either side
The same format one grade down and one grade up — the easier sheet is often the faster fix when this one is not landing.
- Grade 2 Equal Groups and Halving — grade 2, 16 problems
- Grade 4 Mixed Operations Word Problems — grade 4, 10 problems
Word Problems sheets in other grade 3 topics
No paywall and no account — download any set of this grade 3 mixed operations word problems, and the answers for all eight problems are in the matching key.