Equations Unknown Both Sides Worksheet GCSE

Solve equations with the unknown on both sides using a balance. 16 questions, full answers included.

Worksheet (1 page): the first questions show a balance with x tiles on both pans. Students take the smaller number of x from both sides first, which leaves a two-step equation they already know how to solve. That step is written out at first, then left for students to fill in, then the balance goes and they solve on their own, including two expressions that are equal and the sides of a square.

Further practice (1 page): graded by difficulty, with a negative answer and equations with more x on the right, then contexts such as bags of sweets, a square and a rectangle with the same perimeter, and two tanks draining at different rates. It finishes by finding the mistake in a student’s first line of working.

Answers to all 16 questions are included as a separate file.

Suitable for GCSE Foundation (AQA A17) and for Key Stage 3 classes working on solving equations.

AI was used to help create this resource, working from my own lesson design.