Grade 4 Spot the First Step Worksheets
Say which part of the line you would work out first — you never finish the sum.
Every sheet below is generated fresh with a matching answer key. Pick one of the three levels, preview it, and print or download the PDF — no account, no watermark. For the other grade 4 order of operations skills, see all order of operations worksheets.
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Order of Operations · Grade 4
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Grade 4 · 3 pages · A4What each level generates
Grade 4 spot the first step — the exact skill behind each difficulty setting, straight from the generator.
- Level 1One step outranks the rest
- Level 2Every step ranks the same
- Level 3Two steps outrank the rest
Grade levels follow the progression common to most English-language curricula — not one specific national curriculum. Every level shows exactly what it generates, so you can check the fit with your own program. See the full scope & sequence →
More Grade 4 order of operations skills
Each one generates a different kind of question, with its own three levels and answer key.
- Two OperationsNo brackets: decide whether to multiply, divide, add or subtract first.
- Right or WrongAn answer is already written in. Work the line out yourself and say whether it is right.
- Find the first wrong step (HOTQ)A worked answer with one wrong step in it. Find the first step that breaks the rule and write the step that belongs there.
Frequently asked questions
▸Is the order of operations a Grade 4 topic?
Not formally. Most curricula, including the Common Core and the UK National Curriculum, introduce the rule and its brackets in Grade 5. These sheets are the run-up to that year: they practise the priority of × and ÷ over + and −, and the left-to-right rule for equal steps, with no brackets and no powers at all.
▸Why are there no brackets on these Grade 4 worksheets?
Because brackets are the Grade 5 half of the rule, and a bracket changes what comes first — which is the very thing this grade is still settling. Adding them here would ask a student to learn the priority and its exception at once. The Grade 5 sheets open on brackets, and four more of their cards use them.
▸What is the Right or Wrong card for?
It is a marking exercise rather than a working one. Each line comes with an answer already written in, and the student says whether it is right — writing the correct answer instead when it is not. The wrong ones are not random: each is the number you get by making one of the two mistakes this grade makes, so a line cannot be dismissed on sight and a student who has not got the rule yet will disagree with the key on every single question. It is the quickest of these sheets to mark and the most useful to talk about afterwards.
▸What do the three difficulty levels do?
On the Two Operations sheet this page opens with, Multiply, then add or subtract gives two operations with no division in them, Bring in division always includes one exact division, and Three operations stretches the line to four numbers. Left to Right, Spot the First Step, Right or Wrong and Find the first wrong step each have their own three levels, and the difficulty control moves within whichever card you are on. On Find the first wrong step the three are cut by how many of the line's steps are × or ÷ — one, then two, then none at all.
▸How big do the numbers get?
Nothing you are given to work with goes above 8, and nothing below 2. Answers and part-answers are a different matter and always have been — 7 × 7 + 8 asks a Grade 4 child to hold 49 on the way through, and Right or Wrong prints totals into the nineties. Find the first wrong step is the one card that shows those part-answers rather than leaving them in your head, and none of them goes above 48. Every division lands on a whole number and no step ever takes the running total below zero, so a Grade 4 student can work any line on this page without meeting a fraction or a negative.
▸How many problems should a Grade 4 sheet have?
Ten to twelve is plenty. Each line takes two or three deliberate steps, and a short accurate set is worth more here than a long one — the point is the habit, not the volume. Use the question-count stepper to size the sheet to your session.
▸Can I print an answer key?
Yes — tick the answer key box and the answers print on their own page at the end, numbered to match the questions, so you can hand out the worksheet and keep the key aside. The key answers whatever the card actually asks: on Spot the First Step it gives the step rather than the total, on Right or Wrong it gives Yes, or No together with the answer that should have been there, and on Find the first wrong step it gives the number of the wrong line and the step that belonged there — Step 2, 6 × 4 = 24.