Converting units
Multiply to change into a smaller unit (3 h = 3 × 60 = 180 min) and divide to change into a larger one. In Grades 5 and 6, two steps in a row and hours with decimals (1.5 h = 90 min).
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Teaching guide: how to practise units of time
Time is measured in units that are not decimal: 60 seconds make a minute, 60 minutes an hour, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week; on the calendar, 12 months make a year, 10 years a decade and 100 years a century. This free units of time worksheet generator builds A4 worksheets to convert between units, write times in their smallest unit and back in larger units, compare durations, add and subtract times in columns and solve timetable problems, from Grade 3 to Grade 6, with an answer key that shows the working.
Student worksheet 
Answer key Into the smallest unit
2 h 15 min is 2 × 60 + 15 = 135 min: change each part into the smallest unit and add. With h, min and s, into seconds.
Into larger units
7,384 s ÷ 60 = 123 min remainder 4 s; 123 min ÷ 60 = 2 h remainder 3 min. Dividing step by step gives 2 h 3 min 4 s, and the answer key writes every division.
Comparing durations
Which is longer, 2 h 10 min or 125 min? Both are changed into the same unit before comparing, and the differences are small so pupils have to work them out.
Adding and subtracting in columns
Hours, minutes and seconds in columns: when a column reaches 60 it carries into the next, and when it cannot be subtracted 1 h becomes 60 min or 1 min becomes 60 s.
Timetable problems
What time the train arrives, how long the match lasted, how much of the audiobook is left: everyday problems with the working in the answer key.
Frequently asked questions about units of time worksheets
Which grades are these worksheets for?
Grades 3 to 6 (Years 4 to 7). Grade 3 works on hours, minutes and seconds, days and weeks and times with two units; Grade 4 converts both ways, adds centuries and millennia and adds and subtracts hours and minutes; Grades 5 and 6 work with h, min and s, dividing step by step and timetable problems.
Why is time not decimal?
Seconds and minutes are counted in sixties, not in tens as in the metric system. So when adding times, 75 min becomes 1 h 15 min, and when subtracting, 1 h is changed into 60 min if the minutes cannot be taken away.
How do I change a time into larger units?
Divide step by step: 7,384 s ÷ 60 = 123 min remainder 4 s, then 123 min ÷ 60 = 2 h remainder 3 min, so 7,384 s = 2 h 3 min 4 s. To go back, multiply each part and add: 2 × 3,600 + 3 × 60 + 4 = 7,384 s.
How many days are in a year and a month on the worksheets?
A year has 365 days (not a leap year), and the worksheet says so among the equivalences. Months are never changed into days, because they do not all have the same number of days, and years are never changed into weeks, because a year is not a whole number of weeks.
What is in the answer key?
Every answer with its working: the multiplications and divisions of each conversion, the divisions with their remainders, both durations in the same unit before comparing, the column that carries or is changed in additions and subtractions, and the calculation and answer of every problem.
How are these different from telling the time?
These worksheets practise units of time and calculating with durations. To read and draw times on clocks, use the telling time worksheet generator.
What other worksheets go well with these?
The metric units worksheets, the centuries and chronology worksheets for placing dates and the column operations for the multiplications and divisions. Find every resource under maths worksheets.
Is any pupil data sent anywhere?
No. Worksheets are generated in your browser and templates are saved in your browser's memory.
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