Equations with Unknowns on Both Sides — Free KS3 Worksheet
A free, printable KS3 worksheet on solving equations with unknowns on both sides and with brackets, with a full worked answer key. 15 questions graded easy to hard for Years 7, 8 and 9, from an x on both sides up to a bracket on each side.
When there is an x on both sides, take the smaller one off both sides. That is allowed for the same reason taking a number off both sides is allowed: every x is worth the same, so a balance with one x lifted off each pan stays level. After that it is an equation you already know how to solve. The rule the sheet practises is letters one side, numbers the other.
What is on the sheet
Five equations with an x on both sides and nothing but plus signs, so the first step is the only new thing. Then four with a minus sign in them, the last of which leaves the letters on the right, which is fine. Then four with a bracket to multiply out first. Fifteen questions in total. Question 14 gives someone else's working to check, and the last question has a bracket on each side.
Marking it
The unknowns on both sides lesson does the first equation on a set of scales, with clams standing in for x, so the reason the method works is on screen before the method is.
Keep going
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One PDF, 30 questions, every answer key included, in teaching order. Every sheet in it is free on its own page too. The pack just saves you collecting them one at a time.