Algebra mistakes worksheets
Not sure what comes next? Start with the first sheet that feels comfortable.
Distributing
Grade 7–10
Spot the term a bracket never reached when it was multiplied out
Customize this sheet
Nothing matches that. Try a skill, a number, or a grade.
In teaching order
Algebra mistakes worksheets, easiest first
Each sheet assumes the one above it is comfortable. Start where your child is, not at the top.- Distributing
Print 3(x + 4) + 2(x + 5) = 5x + 9 - Dividing and signs
Print 6(x + 4) − (x − 7) = 5x + 17 - Exponent laws
Print x⁵ · x² ÷ x³ = x¹⁰ - Negative powers
Print x⁷ · x⁻² = x⁹ - Squaring a binomial
Print (x + 5)² − 25 = x² + 25 - Multiplying two brackets
Print (x + 5)(x + 3) − x² = 15x + 8 - Simplifying roots
Print √(4x²) + √(36x²) = 40x - Algebraic fractions
Print (x² − 81) ÷ (x − 9) − x = x + 9 - Logarithm laws
Print log(15x) − log 15 = 15 log x
A simple way through algebra mistakes
Finding somebody else's mistake is a harder skill than avoiding your own, and it is the one that transfers. A student checking their own work reads what they meant to write; a student checking a friend's has to hold two lines of reasoning at once and find where they part. That is also what an examiner is testing when a question says "explain the error".
Why this order works
The wrong answers on every sheet are named mistakes, not near-misses. A distributing question offers the four things people actually do with a bracket; an exponent question offers the two laws confused in both directions. Choosing between them means naming what went wrong, which is a sentence a child can be asked for out loud even though the sheet only needs a circle.