What does a child have to do to round to a stated place in the 11+?

Round one integer or decimal to the stated place value. It is one of 55 named maths skills in the 11+, in the number strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.

What should my child be able to do before working on round to a stated place?

The skill map puts read place value first. Rounding depends on locating the rounding digit and adjacent place. If round to a stated place keeps going wrong, that is the thing to check before doing more of this one.

Why does my child keep getting round to a stated place questions wrong?

There is a specific mistake recorded against this skill: uses the wrong adjacent digit to decide rounding. 11+ papers are written to offer exactly that answer, so a child can be confident and still lose the mark. When it keeps happening, the fix is the misunderstanding rather than more questions.

What can I say if my child is stuck on round to a stated place?

Point at the next move rather than explaining the whole rule. Find the two labelled ticks that B sits between, then decide which of the two it is closer to.

What is not part of round to a stated place in the 11+?

The skill map draws the line here: The rounding place is explicit. A question past that line is testing a different named maths skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.

Which other 11+ skills should we practise alongside round to a stated place?

The number strand holds 13 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to round to a stated place are scale by a power of ten, solve a one-step number problem and subtract whole numbers or decimals. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.

How can my child practise round to a stated place for free?

Use Roughly Right, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to round to a stated place, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

Maths · Number

Round to a stated place

Round one integer or decimal to the stated place value.

Practise it now

Do not work it out exactly. Slide the marker to where you think the answer lands, then lock it in.

It covers most of this skill rather than all of it.

Loading the interactive exercise. Nothing you do here is saved or scored.

A worked example

One question of the kind this skill is tested with, worked all the way through: the reasoning, and what the wrong answers are there to catch.

Rounding to the nearest 10

Point B is marked on the number line. What is the value at B rounded to the nearest 10?

The labelled ticks are the multiples of 10, and each small step is 1.

Answer: 130

How you get there

B sits at 128, which is between 120 and 130, and it is 2 away from 130 but 8 away from 120, so 130 is the nearer multiple of 10.

Why the other answers tempt

Not every number ending in a smaller digit rounds down - the distance to each labelled tick is what decides it.

If they are stuck, say this

Find the two labelled ticks that B sits between, then decide which of the two it is closer to.

Now do it live in Roughly Right

Kitchen-table script for parents

Try this together

A friendly mini script for the breakfast table, school run or a quiet two minutes. Read it aloud as written, or make it your own.

Ready? Let's have a go at Round to a stated place together. Take a look at the picture. Here is what matters: Number line from 110 to 150 in steps of 1 with major steps of 10. Here comes the question: Point B is marked on the number line. What is the value at B rounded to the nearest 10? Before we race ahead, let us choose one good first step. Here is a helpful clue: Find the two labelled ticks that B sits between, then decide which of the two it is closer to. Nice work. Now let us follow the thinking: B sits at 128, which is between 120 and 130, and it is 2 away from 130 but 8 away from 120, so 130 is the nearer multiple of 10. So our answer is: 130. There is one sneaky trap to watch for: Not every number ending in a smaller digit rounds down - the distance to each labelled tick is what decides it. Can you show me that first move again in your own words? Brilliant. No rush; we are practising a method you can reuse, not trying to win a speed contest.

What this exercise is doing

Roughly Right

Do not work it out exactly. Slide the marker to where you think the answer lands, then lock it in.

Estimating is a skill in its own right, and in the 11+ it is your safety net: it tells you instantly whether an answer you have calculated is believable. The trick is to round each number to the nearest ten (or hundred) FIRST, multiply the easy numbers, then nudge. 49 rounds up to 50 and 21 rounds down to 20, so $50 \times 20 = 1000$ . The real answer is 1029, and you got within a whisker of it without doing any long multiplication. Notice the two roundings pulled in opposite directions, which is why the estimate lands so close.

What to say if they get stuck

Round both numbers to something friendly before you slide.
49 is nearly 50, and 21 is nearly 20. Those two are much easier to multiply.
$50 \times 20 = 1000$ , so the marker belongs just above the halfway mark of this line.

Open Roughly Right on its own page to share it

What usually goes wrong here

Uses the wrong adjacent digit to decide rounding.

This is the wrong answer 11+ papers are built to offer, so it is worth watching for directly: a child who does this will look confident and still lose the mark. If it keeps happening on round to a stated place, the fix is the misunderstanding rather than more questions.

Where round to a stated place sits in the 11+

The 11+ does not test these skills in isolation, and practising one in the wrong order wastes the practice. These are the skills the curriculum map connects this one to.

Secure this first: Read place value
Rounding depends on locating the rounding digit and adjacent place.

How round to a stated place differs from the skills beside it

The same exercise practises one other skill, and telling them apart is often the difficulty rather than the exercise itself. On this page the skill is: round one integer or decimal to the stated place value, and it stops where the rounding place is explicit.

Multiply whole numbers or decimals
Calculate one multiplication using place-value reasoning or a written method. Excludes selecting multiplication from context.

Related maths skills

Add whole numbers or decimalsCalculate one addition with aligned place values.
Calculate a whole-number operationCalculate one stated addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
Compare and order numbersOrder or compare a bounded set of integers or decimals.
Continue a number sequenceInfer and apply one arithmetic sequence rule.
Divide whole numbers or decimalsCalculate one division and interpret any remainder as stated.
Evaluate a mixed expressionApply operation order to a supplied numerical expression.
Find a sequence termUse a stated or inferred linear rule to find a named term.
Scale by a power of tenMultiply or divide a number by 10, 100, or 1000 using place value.
Solve a one-step number problemChoose and perform one operation in a short context.
Subtract whole numbers or decimalsCalculate one subtraction with aligned place values.

All maths 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about round to a stated place

Answered from what the skill map records about this skill, not from a template. Every answer here is on the page, and the same questions are the page's FAQ structured data.

: Round one integer or decimal to the stated place value. It is one of 55 named maths skills in the 11+, in the number strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.
: The skill map puts read place value first. Rounding depends on locating the rounding digit and adjacent place. If round to a stated place keeps going wrong, that is the thing to check before doing more of this one.
: There is a specific mistake recorded against this skill: uses the wrong adjacent digit to decide rounding. 11+ papers are written to offer exactly that answer, so a child can be confident and still lose the mark. When it keeps happening, the fix is the misunderstanding rather than more questions.
: Point at the next move rather than explaining the whole rule. Find the two labelled ticks that B sits between, then decide which of the two it is closer to.
: The skill map draws the line here: The rounding place is explicit. A question past that line is testing a different named maths skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.
: The number strand holds 13 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to round to a stated place are scale by a power of ten, solve a one-step number problem and subtract whole numbers or decimals. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.
: Use Roughly Right, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to round to a stated place, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

Round to a stated place rests on something else being secure first

This skill depends on read place value. A free diagnostic checks those alongside every other maths skill, so you find out whether the problem is here or underneath it.

Start the free 11+ diagnostic