Find start and end times: multi-step word problems
Learn with an example
📢 At basketball practice, Marcy’s team practiced defense for 1 hour and 55 minutes and offense for 35 minutes.
If the practice ended at 6:15 P.M., what time did it start?
- 6:20 P.M.
- 6:00 P.M.
- 3:45 P.M.
- 6:25 P.M.
Add the times to find the total elapsed time.
1 h 55 min + 35 min = 2 h 30 min
Now find 2 hours and 30 minutes before 6:15 P.M.
Count back by hours to find 2 hours before 6:15 P.M. This is 4:15 P.M.
Now subtract 30 minutes from 4:15 P.M. This is 3:45 P.M.
Marcy’s basketball practice started at 3:45 P.M.
📢 Manny works as a teller at a bank downtown. On Monday morning, Manny left his house at 7:35 A.M. It took Manny 5 minutes to walk to the subway station. The subway ride to the bank took 30 minutes.
What time did Manny arrive at the bank?
- 7:40 A.M.
- 7:35 A.M.
- 8:10 A.M.
- 9:10 A.M.
Add the times to find the total elapsed time.
5 min + 30 min = 35 min
Now find 35 minutes after 7:35 A.M.
Add 35 minutes to 7:35 A.M. This is 8:10 A.M.
Manny arrived at the bank at 8:10 A.M.
📢 Mateo started making oatmeal biscuits at 10:25 A.M. It took him 20 minutes to make the dough and 1 hour and 45 minutes to bake all of the biscuits.
What time was it when Mateo finished making biscuits?
- 12:30 P.M.
- 12:20 P.M.
- 12:45 P.M.
- 12:15 P.M.
Add the times to find the total elapsed time.
20 min + 1 h 45 min = 2 h 5 min
Now find 2 hours and 5 minutes after 10:25 A.M.
Add 2 hours to 10:25 A.M. This is 12:25 P.M.
Now add 5 minutes to 12:25 P.M. This is 12:30 P.M.
It was 12:30 P.M. when Mateo finished making biscuits.
let’s practice!
