10 Step Strategy for Solving Word Problems:
Step
Explanation
1. Read the problem for clarity.
(Do you understand what’ s going on in
the problem?)
2. Identify the unknown.
(What is the problem asking you to find?
Be specific.)
3. Identify the information that
the problem gives you.
4. Begin organizing your
information.
5. Make note of any formulas
that could be useful based on
the situation.
6. Identify what you don’t know
but still need to know to solve
the problem.
7. Come up with a strategy to get
from what you know to what
the problem is asking for.
(What do you know?)
(Use a graph, picture, table, etc.)
(Is it a geometry problem, interest,
temperature, etc.?)
(Additional formulas, definitions, etc.)
(How can you use what you know to
solve for what you don’t know?)
8. Execute the strategy.
(To death.)
9. Ask yourself, “Does my
(Is it way too big/small for the situation,
etc.?)
answer make sense?”
10. Check your answer.
(Plug it into the original problem to
double check your work.)