Ratios Worksheet and Explanation

We’ve structured this information to help children with their education. It is targeted at children in years 5 and 6 and the questions for the worksheet have been stripped from past papers. Having an understanding of ratios is part of the primary school curriculum and children will deal with ratios in both KS1 and KS2.

The Information below will give an overview of the topic and we have included a detailed worksheet with full answers. The worksheet includes 18 ratio questions and is relevant for KS2 pupils approaching their SATS test.

Download Free Ratios Worksheet – Questions

Download Free Ratios Worksheet – Answers

If you are not ready to download the worksheets yet, then read on for some information about ratios. This has provided to introduce the topics covered in the worksheet for those that might be unfamiliar but also as a quick revision tool for those that would like a quick refresher before accessing the worksheet.

Ratios Explanation

Ratio Explained

Ratio is an expression of values in reference to one another. This tells us how much of one thing we have compared to another thing. An example of this would be if I had 4 blue counters and 6 pink counters the ratio of pink counters to blue counters is 4:6. This can be simplified to 2:3.

Ratio is often expressed in the form a:b. It is important that this is not rearranged as b:a, in this case, would change the ratio of one thing to another. When writing a ratio it is important that we describe what a is and what b is otherwise things can become confusing.

Proportion Explained

Proportion tells us how a value relates to a whole. For example, if I have 36 cards out of a deck of 52 cards, then my proportion is a half. This relates to ratio as a ratio expressed in the form a:b tell us the proportion of a or b since a + b equals the whole amount.

Where We Use Ratio and Proportion

We use ratios every day in the form of currency exchange (how much £1 is worth in euros for example), maps (through the use of a scale, 1cm:1km) and cooking (the ratio of ingredients in a recipe). We also use the language of ratio often without thinking about: twice of that, half of this, the total of those, scale that up etc.

Ratio in KS2

Similarly, with many other subjects in maths, ratio builds on many of the other fundamentals learnt across the course. In this case, we can convert between ratios and decimals, fractions and percentages through turning a ratio into a proportion of a whole and therefore a percentage. It is therefore important that children understand their fundamentals and conversion between decimals, percentages and fractions. Ratio is a topic only covered at the end of KS2 in the current curriculum.

Please feel free to download the ratios worksheet and answers. No registration is necessary.