Equations solved in a single move — add, subtract, multiply or divide — with whole-number solutions by construction, so no answer ever comes out as a fraction.
Grade 5–Grade 8 · every refresh draws a new set · answer key included
One step equations worksheets
Solve each equation.
One step equations worksheets — answer key
Solve each equation.
20 problems · US Letter · answer key — 2 sheets, page breaks marked in the preview
A one step equation asks for one move: whatever is being done to the letter, undo it. That sounds trivial and is the moment a lot of pupils quietly lose algebra, because they solve by inspection — reading the answer off the page — and never learn the method that later equations require. Every equation on this page is built from its own solution, so the answer is always a whole number and the practice stays on the method rather than on awkward arithmetic.
Grade 5 to Grade 8, ages ten to fourteen. Addition and subtraction equations come first, usually in Grade 5 or 6; multiplication and division follow. Negative numbers belong once integers have been taught, which is Grade 7 in most curricula.
Keep the largest solution small at first — the size of the numbers is not the skill being practised, and a page of two-digit answers hides whether the pupil is using inverse operations or guessing. Turn on negatives only after integers are secure; the equation x + 8 = 3 is a different lesson from x + 3 = 8. Working space is worth adding here even though the arithmetic is short, because writing the inverse operation under both sides is the habit that makes two step equations possible.
The commonest fault is applying the inverse to one side only, which produces an answer that satisfies nothing. The second is subtracting when the equation needs division: pupils read 4x = 12 as four plus x. Both are invisible on a page a pupil solves by inspection, which is the argument for larger numbers once the method is understood — inspection stops working and the method has to take over.