Rounding up and down cheat sheet (11+ exam prep)

A quick reminder of how to round whole numbers and decimals. Ideal for place value and estimation questions.

How to use this cheat sheet

Ask your child to say the rounding rule out loud before answering.
Use the examples as a quick check when they are unsure.
After a mock, highlight any questions they lost marks on because of rounding.

Core rounding rules

The simple rules that answer most questions.

0–4 round down

346 → nearest 10 is 350? No: 346 → 340 (because 6 ≥ 5). 342 → 340.

5–9 round up

3.78 → nearest tenth = 3.8

Look at the next digit only

Round 4,392 to nearest hundred → look at 9 (tens place) → 4,400.

Common 11+ rounding mistakes

Easy slips to avoid.

Looking at the wrong digit (e.g. rounding to nearest 100 but checking the units).
Rounding in the wrong direction when the digit is 5.
Changing more digits than needed (instead of leaving the rest as zeros).
Forgetting that negative numbers round in the opposite direction on a number line.

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