Column addition for the 11 plus

Line up the columns first: units under units, tens under tens. Add from the right. If a column makes ten or more, write the units digit and carry the ten across, small, above the next column. Carrying is just regrouping: ten units become one ten.

Units: 6 and 8 is 14. Write 4, carry 1. Tens: 7, 5 and the carried 1 is 13. Write 3, carry 1. Hundreds: 8, 9 and 1 is 18. Write 8, carry 1. Thousands: 4, 3 and 1 is 8. Answer: 8,834.

The trap is forgetting one carry. Miss the hundreds carry and you get 8,734, exactly a hundred short. When an answer is neatly out by a ten or a hundred, a carry went missing.

Part of the Arithmetic topics for the 11+.

• 2.1Mental addition and subtractionRound to a friendly number, then adjust
• 2.3Column subtractionHow to borrow from a zero
• 2.4Multiplication tablesBuild the facts you cannot remember
• 2.5Short multiplicationMultiply first, then add the carry
• 2.6Long multiplicationTwo small jobs and one zero
• 2.7DivisionEvery digit needs an answer above it
• 2.8Order of operationsOne sum, one agreed order

Every 11 plus maths topic