Time and money
Times between two clocks, end times, the 24-hour clock, totals and change: what each question asks, the quick way to work it out, and the traps the wrong answers set.
Chapter 1
What are time and money questions?
Each one is a short sum about clocks or money: how long from one time to another, what time something ends, a total, or the change from a note.
Clocks count in 60s. 60 minutes make an hour, so after 8:59 comes 9:00, not 8:60.
Money counts in 100s. 100p make £1. The pence go after the point, always as two digits: £3.50, and 5p is £0.05.
Rush’s Money & Time game asks about clocks, the 24‑hour clock, time zones, speed, totals, change and prices. This page covers all of them, and the timetables, best buys and coins the exam adds.
3:30 to 5:05 = ? minutes
The options
- Option 1: 175
- Option 2: 90
- Option 3: 95
- Option 4: 105
A Maths question from Rush, level 2.
Chapter 2
Solve it in 3 steps.
Here’s the question, one step at a time.
The question
3:30 to 5:05 = ? minutes
The options
- Option 1: 175
- Option 2: 90
- Option 3: 95
- Option 4: 105
A Maths question from Rush, level 2.
-
Step 1
Hop to the next o’clock.
Don’t take 330 from 505: an hour has 60 minutes, not 100, so times aren’t ordinary numbers. Hop instead. From 3:30, the long hand goes from the 6 round to the 12. That’s 30 minutes, to 4:00.
3:30 to 4:00 is 30 minutes.
-
Step 2
Jump the hours, then the minutes left.
4:00 to 5:00 is a whole hour: 60 minutes. Then 5:00 to 5:05 is 5 more. Add the hops: 30 + 60 + 5 = 95.
30 + 60 + 5 = 95 minutes.
-
Step 3
Count on to check.
Start at 3:30 and add your answer. 95 minutes is an hour, which takes you to 4:30, and 35 minutes more, which lands exactly on 5:05. So 95 is right.
1 hour and 35 minutes: 60 + 35 = 95.
Three traps it sets
| The mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Taking the times away like numbers. 505 − 330 = 175. That counts each hour as 100 minutes, so it’s 40 too big for every o’clock it crosses. | Crossing an o’clock? Never take away. Hop to it. |
| Stopping at the o’clock. 90 is 30 + 60, which only gets you to 5:00. | Hop all the way to the end time: 5 more, to 5:05. |
| A hop too big. 105 minutes after 3:30 is 5:15, ten minutes past the end. | Count on from the start, and check you land exactly on the end. |
So it’s 95 minutes. That’s 1 hour and 35 minutes. In more than half of Rush’s questions that cross an o’clock, the 100-minute answer is one of the options, so expect it.
Remember: Crossing an o’clock? Hop, don’t take away.
Chapter 3
Everything else Rush asks.
Each card is one kind of question: the rule, one worked example, and the trap.
-
Reading a clock
Long hand: the minutes. Short hand: the hour it has passed.
Each number is 5 minutes, so the long hand on 11 means 55. The short hand is nearly at 9 but hasn’t reached it, so it’s 8:55. Trap: 9:55, the hour it’s heading for. Some ask the time a little later: read the clock, then hop.
-
Adding on, and going back
Add the whole hours, then hop through the o’clock.
9:45 am + 1 hour 40 minutes: an hour makes 10:45, 15 minutes makes 11:00, and 25 more makes 11:25 am. Going back works the same way: half an hour before 2:25 pm is 25 back to 2:00, then 5 more, 1:55 pm. Trap: 10:25 am, which forgets that 45 + 40 passes the o’clock.
-
- 3:30 pm→15:30
- 8:15 am→08:15
- 12:45 pm→12:45
- 12:20 am→00:20
am, pm and the 24‑hour clock
pm adds 12 to the hour, except in the 12 o’clock hour.
am is before midday, pm is after. So 3:30 pm is 15:30, and morning times keep their hour, with a 0 in front. To go back, take 12 away: 22:10 is 10:10 pm. Across midday, hop as usual: 11:25 am to 1:00 pm is 35 + 60 = 95 minutes. Trap: 24:45, a time that doesn’t exist.
-
¾ of an hour: 45 minutes.
Parts of an hour
A quarter is 15 minutes, never 25.
¼ hour is 15 minutes, ½ is 30, ¾ is 45 and ⅓ is 20. So 2¼ hours is 120 + 15 = 135 minutes. Trap: 125, from a quarter of 100. And 1.5 hours is 1 hour 30 minutes, not 1 hour 50.
-
London18:45+7 hoursBangkok01:45
Time zones
Ahead: add the hours. Behind: take them away.
In January, Bangkok is 7 hours ahead of London. When it’s 18:45 in London, add 7 hours. Past midnight the clock starts again at 00:00, so it’s 01:45 in Bangkok. Trap: 11:45, going the wrong way.
-
- speed = distance ÷ time
- distance = speed × time
- time = distance ÷ speed
Speed, distance and time
Speed is how far you go in one hour.
60 miles in 2 hours is 60 ÷ 2 = 30 miles per hour (mph). Watch for minutes: 10 miles in 20 minutes is 30 miles in a whole hour (three lots of 20 minutes), so 30 mph. Trap: 10, which is how far it goes in 20 minutes, not in an hour.
Money
-
£0.50+£1.20£1.70
Adding money
Line up the points. Pence first, then pounds.
Write 50p as £0.50 so the points line up: £1.70. Pence past 100 make another £1: 95p + 80p = £1.75. Trap: £6.20, from putting the 5 under the 1.
-
- £7.06 to £8 is 94p
- £8 to £10 is £2
- £2 + 94p = £2.94
Change from a note
Count up from the price.
£10 − £7.06: hop 94p to the next pound, then £2 to £10, so £2.94. Check: £7.06 + £2.94 = £10. Trap: £3.94, counting the pounds from £7 instead of £8.
-
- 3 × £4 = £12
- 3 × 70p = £2.10
- £12 + £2.10 = £14.10
A price times a number
Pounds and pence apart, then add.
£4.70 × 3 is £14.10. Just under a pound? Round up: £1.95 × 5 is £10 take away five lots of 5p, so £9.75. Trap: £10.75. Five lots of less than £2 must be less than £10.
Learn these by heart
Rush doesn’t ask the calendar, but the exam can. April, June, September and November have 30 days. February has 28, or 29 in a leap year, which comes every 4 years. The rest have 31.
- 60 seconds1 minute
- 60 minutes1 hour
- 24 hours1 day
- 7 days1 week
- 365 days1 year
- 366 daysa leap year
- 12 months1 year
- 100 yearsa century
Chapter 4: In the exam
Reading a timetable.
The exam’s longest time questions use a timetable. Rush asks simple ones in its Data & Chance game; the exam’s take a few more steps.
The questionAli gets to the Station at 10:10 and catches the next bus. How many minutes does his ride to the Park take?
| Stop | Bus A | Bus B | Bus C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Station | 09:45 | 10:20 | 11:05 |
| Market | 10:01 | 10:38 | 11:21 |
| School | 10:14 | 10:51 | 11:36 |
| Park | 10:30 | 11:12 | 11:58 |
-
Step 1
Find the right bus.
Ali arrives at 10:10. Bus A left the Station at 09:45, before he got there. The next one is Bus B, at 10:20.
Bus A 09:45Bus B 10:20
Bus A has gone. Bus B is the next.
-
Step 2
Read down its column.
Follow Bus B down to the Park row: it gets there at 11:12. So the ride is from 10:20 to 11:12.
10:20to11:12
Station to Park on Bus B.
-
Step 3
Hop between the times.
10:20 to 11:00 is 40 minutes, and 11:00 to 11:12 is 12 more. 40 + 12 = 52.
40 + 12 = 52 minutes.
Three traps it sets
| The mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Catching a bus that’s gone. Bus A’s ride is 45 minutes, but it left at 09:45, before Ali arrived. | Find the first bus at or after his time. |
| Counting the wait. 62 minutes runs from 10:10, when he arrived. His ride starts at 10:20. | Answer what it asks: the ride, not the whole trip. |
| Taking the times away. 1112 − 1020 = 92 counts the hour as 100 minutes. | Hop: 40 to 11:00, then 12. |
So it’s 52 minutes. Bus B, from 10:20 at the Station to 11:12 at the Park: 40 + 12.
Remember: Find the bus. Then hop.
Other ways the exam asks it
-
- 4 for £2.40: 60p each
- 6 for £3.30: 55p each
Best buy
Which is better value? Find the price of one: £2.40 ÷ 4 = 60p and £3.30 ÷ 6 = 55p, so the pack of 6 wins. Trap: the cheaper pack. It costs less, but more for each one.
-
Coins
For the fewest coins, take the biggest coin that fits, again and again: £3.80 is £2, £1, 50p, 20p and 10p, so 5 coins. How many 10p coins make £1.80? Change to pence first: 180p ÷ 10 = 18. Trap: 180.
-
7:40
Twenty to eight.
Times in words
“Past” counts on from the hour. “To” counts back from the next one. Twenty to eight is 7:40, and quarter past 6 is 6:15. The exam may show the answers as clocks. Trap: 8:40, from writing the hour you hear.
-
Across midnight
After 23:59 comes 00:00, so hop to midnight first. 23:40 to 01:15 is 20 minutes, then 1 hour 15 minutes: 1 hour 35 minutes in all. In hours and minutes, the minutes stay under 60: 95 minutes is 1 hour 35, never 1 hour 95.
Chapter 5
Try it yourself.
Six real questions from Rush, easy to hard, 60 seconds on the clock.
Use the steps
- Hop to the next o’clock.
- Jump the hours, then the minutes left.
- Count on to check.
Remember: Crossing an o’clock? Hop, don’t take away.
For parents.
What parents ask us about time and money.
Questions parents ask
Why does my child get time questions wrong when their subtraction is fine?
Because a column take-away exchanges 1 hour for 100 minutes, and an hour is only 60. Worked in columns, 5:05 − 3:30 gives 1 hour 75 minutes, which looks like an answer but isn't one. Hopping to the o'clock means there's nothing to exchange.
How do you work out the time between two times?
Count on in hops. From 8:55 to 10:20: 5 minutes to 9:00, 60 minutes to 10:00, 20 minutes to 10:20. Add the hops: 85 minutes. Then count on from 8:55 by 1 hour 25 to check you land on 10:20.
Does my child need the 24-hour clock?
Yes. Timetables use it, and questions ask children to change between the two. Hours from 1 pm onwards add 12 (3 pm is 15:00). Morning hours stay the same, with a 0 in front before 10 am (7 am is 07:00). The hour after midnight is 00 (12:40 am is 00:40).
What's the quickest way to add amounts of money?
Add the pence first, then the pounds. For £2.30 + £2.90: 30p + 90p = £1.20, then £2 + £2 + £1.20 = £5.20. Doing the pence first means the extra pound is never forgotten.
Rush: 11+ Practice & KS2 SATsPractise time and money in Rush.
- Money & Time as 100-second games, easy at first and harder as your child improves
- Every miss kept with the right answer and why
- Money & Time is in Premium, and six other games are free
On the App Store for iPhone and iPad
Six other games are free, plus a new family game every day. Money & Time is in Premium: all 41 games are £24.99 a year after a free week1, or £3.99 a month.