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Order of Operations gives you an expression like 3 + 4 × 2 and asks for the answer. Read left to right you get 14; done correctly you get 11. The drill exists because that single habit — multiplying before adding, brackets before everything — is the most common source of arithmetic errors among people whose arithmetic is otherwise fine. Sixty seconds, one expression at a time.
Choose a level: two operations, brackets, or brackets with powers.
Read the expression and apply the operations in the correct order.
Type the answer; a correct one advances immediately.
A miss shows the order the expression should have been worked in.
Your score is expressions solved inside the minute.
Applying precedence rules under time pressure. Knowing the rule and using it reliably when you are hurrying are different things, and the gap between them is where most careless arithmetic mistakes live.
Brackets first, then powers, then multiply and divide left to right, then add and subtract left to right.
Multiplication and division rank equally — work them left to right rather than doing all the multiplying first.
The same goes for addition and subtraction. 10 − 3 + 2 is 9, not 5.
Underline the part you will do first before you start. One second of marking prevents most of the errors.
Brackets, then exponents, then multiplication and division from left to right, then addition and subtraction from left to right. It is taught as BODMAS or BIDMAS in the UK and PEMDAS in the US — the same rule with different initials.
Because multiplication is done before addition. 4 × 2 = 8 first, then 3 + 8 = 11. Working left to right would give 14, which is the classic mistake.
Yes, and so do addition and subtraction. Within each pair you work from left to right, which is why 12 ÷ 3 × 2 is 8 rather than 2.
Yes. Every expression in the drill is constructed so the correct order produces a whole number, which also means a fractional answer is a reliable sign you took the wrong route.