Elapsed Time Word Problems Worksheets
Distinguish a clock time from an amount of elapsed time.
Teaching notes for parents and teachers
How to teach it
Mark the start and finish on a timeline. Model useful jumps through the next hour, or work backward when the start is unknown.
Example to work through together
Use the model below as you explain the example. Have your student point to the quantities as you discuss them.
8:45 → 9:00 → 9:12
+15 minutes, then +12 minutes
Elapsed time: 27 minutes
The hour has 60 minutes, not 100. Subtracting the clock digits as ordinary whole numbers would not measure the time correctly.
Ask your student
Are we finding a time on the clock or a number of minutes?
If your student needs help
If the student treats time as base ten, mark the sixty minutes in an hour.
Choosing and using the worksheet
Each sheet reuses six original word problems: two ask for elapsed minutes, two for the finishing time, and two for the starting time. Starts are between 8:00 and 9:59 a.m., and durations are 1 through 89 minutes. All events remain in the same morning.
Make a practice set
Select the worksheet, answer key, or both. When both are selected, the answer key prints after the questions. Keep it separate if you want your student to work independently.
After your student finishes
Choose one answer and check it in the opposite direction. Ask whether the answer describes a moment or a number of minutes.
Picture activityTelling Time: Hours and Half Hours
Read analog clocks and write the time to the hour or half hour.
6 problems · Answer key included
Picture activityTelling Time to Five Minutes
Count minutes in fives and check the hour hand.
6 problems · Answer key included
More about measurement · Grade 3 worksheets
Grade 3 selected skill connection: 3.MD.A.1. See the Common Core standards for this grade. This worksheet does not cover every requirement in the standard.