Which value is equal to 20 − (6 × 2)?
Choose an answer to see the worked solution.
Worked solutionGrouping first: 6 × 2 = 12. Then 20 − 12 = 8.
Grade 6 ILEARN Math Checkpoint 1 Practice
What Checkpoint 1 covers in grade 6, items to try, the mistakes students make most, and the practice that goes with it.
Designed, reviewed, and checked by Greg · 25+ years in the classroom · Updated for 2026-27 · Window Sept 14 – Nov 13, 20266standards
120practice items
22item mock form
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What Checkpoint 1 covers
6 standards, 4 marked essential. Short names in our own words.
- 6.NS.1Signed numbers in context; meaning of 0Essential
- 6.NS.3Compare and order rational numbers
- 6.NS.4Real-world fraction and decimal problemsEssential
- 6.NS.5Order of operations and propertiesEssential
- 6.NS.6GCF, LCM, distributive property
- 6.RP.1Fraction, decimal, percent conversionEssential
Try three items
Pick an answer to see the worked solution.
What is the greatest common factor of 91 and 65?
Choose an answer to see the worked solution.
Worked solution91 = 7 × 13 and 65 = 5 × 13. The only shared prime factor is 13.
Three bank transactions are recorded as −12.50, 8.75, and −12.05. Which transaction represents the largest withdrawal?
Choose an answer to see the worked solution.
Worked solutionWithdrawals are the negative values: −12.50 and −12.05. The larger withdrawal is the one farther from 0, which is −12.50.
Where students go wrong
The most common mistake on each standard, and what to do about it, from the teacher pages in the Checkpoint 1 intervention.
Reading a negative by its digits
- What it looks like
- −20°F called warmer than −5°F, because 20 is bigger than 5. The student compares the numerals and ignores the sign, so every negative comparison comes out backwards — and it looks like a careless slip rather than a rule being applied consistently.
- What to do
- Ask “which one would you rather stand in?” before any symbol is written. Then put both on a line with 0 marked. Colder, lower, further in debt all mean further LEFT, and left is always less.
Ordering negatives by distance from zero
- What it looks like
- −7, −6.55, −6.5 written in the order −6.5, −6.55, −7. The student orders the digits as if the numbers were positive, so the list comes out exactly reversed.
- What to do
- For negatives, further from zero is SMALLER. Order the numbers as positives first, then flip the whole list. Doing it in two deliberate steps beats trying to hold the reversal in your head while comparing.
Dividing must make it smaller
- What it looks like
- 412 ÷ 34 answered as about 3, or the student multiplies instead because the answer “should” be less than 412. Dividing by a number below 1 produces MORE pieces, which contradicts the rule they carried up from whole numbers.
- What to do
- Ask what the question counts: how many 34-yard pieces fit in 412 yards? Pieces smaller than a yard means more than 412 of them. Estimate the count BEFORE computing, so an answer of 3 is rejected on sight.
Working strictly left to right
- What it looks like
- 4 + 3 × (9 − 5) answered as 28: the student does 4 + 3 first, then multiplies by 4. The grouping symbols were handled correctly, which is what makes this look like a computation slip instead of an ordering error.
- What to do
- Number the steps on the page before computing any of them — grouping, then exponents, then all multiply and divide left to right, then all add and subtract. Writing 1, 2, 3 above the operations costs five seconds and removes the guess.
Swapping greatest common factor and least common multiple
- What it looks like
- The least common multiple of 4 and 6 answered as 2, or the GCF of 12 and 18 answered as 36. The student computes carefully and reports the other quantity; the arithmetic is right and the question was misread.
- What to do
- Factors go INTO the number and are never bigger than it; multiples come OUT of it and are never smaller. Ask “am I looking for something that fits inside, or something both can reach?” before starting.
Moving the decimal point without knowing which way
- What it looks like
- 0.23 written as 0.0023%, or 45% as 450. The student has learned “two places” without attaching a direction to it, so half the conversions come out right by luck.
- What to do
- Anchor on one fact instead of a rule: 0.5 is 50%. Check every conversion against it. Percent numbers are the bigger-looking ones, because a percent counts hundredths.
Get the Checkpoint 1 practice
142 items · 39 pagesCheckpoint 1 Practice + Mock Form
120 practice items at three levels, plus a 22-item mock form.
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72 items · 46 pagesCheckpoint 1 Intervention & Reteach
A teacher page, reteach page, practice, error analysis and exit ticket for each standard.
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See inside the Checkpoint 1 practice
Press play for a 20-second look at the real pages.
Grade 6, window by window
Independent practiceIndependent practice for the Indiana ILEARN Math assessment. Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the Indiana Department of Education. Standard names are short summaries in our own words; see IDOE for the official text.