Ratio, Scale Factor and Sharing Worksheets

Year 6 maths worksheets on ratio, scale factors and sharing in a ratio: 36 questions in three levels (All, Most, Some) with answers. Free PDF.

7-page A4 PDF from the Tiger Shark Education question bank. All: Use a ratio to find a missing amount. Most: Find and use scale factors. Some: Share an amount in a given ratio. Each level is two pages of six questions, each with a squared working area, and the last page has every answer, with short working for multi-step questions. Each level is also available as its own 3-page PDF. Example questions from the Some level: Two friends share some beads in the ratio 1:2. The smaller share is 2. How many beads are there altogether? (8, 4, 6, 2) / 35 conkers are shared in the ratio 2:3. How many more are in the larger share than the smaller share? (21, 35, 14, 7).

What are ratio, scale factor and sharing? A ratio compares two quantities (for every 2 red beads there are 3 blue). A scale factor tells you how many times larger or smaller something is. Sharing in a ratio means dividing an amount into unequal parts. Year 6 pupils solve problems involving the relative sizes of two quantities, scale drawings and unequal sharing.

Common mistakes and tips: Children often confuse the parts of a ratio with the total (sharing £30 in the ratio 2:3 means 5 parts in total, so each part is £6). Bar models are the most effective tool for ratio problems. With scale factors, pupils may add instead of multiply, so discuss whether the result should be bigger or smaller.

Questions on this topic appear year after year in the KS2 maths SATs. Because each sheet starts with the core skill and builds to test-style problems, it works both for teaching the topic and for spotting gaps during revision.

Teaching ideas: use the All level to check prerequisite knowledge at the start of a lesson, then move children onto Most or Some when they are ready. Squared working space encourages neat written methods. The answer page includes short working for multi-step questions, so pupils can self-mark and see where they went wrong.

Spotting misconceptions: the mistakes children make on this topic are usually consistent, so look for patterns across their answers rather than marking each question in isolation. A short follow-up on the specific misconception, using concrete resources or diagrams, is often more effective than setting more of the same questions.

Use All for children working towards the expected standard, Most for secure Year 5 skills and Some for SATs-standard practice: three entry points to the same lesson. Suits whole-class differentiation, intervention groups, homework and SATs revision, and upper KS2 generally.

Part of a set of 42 Year 6 maths topics.