PART 2 Story Detective - the four story plots

You know the words. Now learn the PLOTS. Every maths story ever written follows one of four plots. A detective names the plot BEFORE touching a single number - because the plot, not any word, decides the operation.

Plot	How to spot it	The question asks for...
CHANGE	Something starts, an ACTION happens, there is a new result. (spent, gave, poured, got more, leaked out)	the start, the change, or the result
PART-PART-WHOLE	Two or more parts sit together to make a whole. NO action - nothing moves. (red apples and green apples; snacks + books + savings)	the whole, or one missing part
COMPARE	Two things are held side by side. (taller than, more than, difference, the same amount as)	the Big, the Small, or the Gap
EQUAL GROUPS	Groups of the SAME size. (each, every, per, times as many, $180 each)	the total, the group size, or the number of groups

Four tiny stories, one of each plot - no numbers, of course:

Tom had some marbles. He gave a few to his brother. (CHANGE - an action happened)

A basket holds red apples and green apples. (PART-PART-WHOLE - nothing moves)

Sita is taller than Meena. (COMPARE - side by side)

Every bag holds the same number of oranges. (EQUAL GROUPS - same size groups)

Try one together - circle the plot:

Ria saved $500. Her brother saved $200. How much do they have in total?

The plot is

No action happened - nobody gave money away or spent any. Two parts sit together to make a whole: Part-Part-Whole.

THE MASTER DETECTIVE - the Missing Start:

Sometimes a CHANGE story plays in REVERSE. You know the end, but the beginning is missing.

Ravi spent $500 on a book. Now he has $200 left in his pocket. How much did he have at the start?

Most readers see 'spent' and subtract (500 - 200). But the detective knows: the START, before the money was spent, must be BIGGER than the end. To go backwards in time you ADD: 500 + 200 = $700.

Circle the missing piece:

i. A minibus drops off 5 people. There are 10 people left on it. How many were on the bus at first?

ii. Maya had 12 stickers. She gave some away. Now she has 7.

W. Worksheet: name the plot - DO NOT SOLVE

STOP — NO MATHS ALLOWED
read only, think only. There are no numbers, so you cannot calculate. That is the game.

Write C (Change), P (Part-Part-Whole), CO (Compare) or E (Equal Groups) beside each story. You are naming plots, not calculating - the numbers are decoration.

#	Story	Plot
1	Ravi had 15 marbles. He gave 6 to his brother. How many does he have now?
2	A basket has 8 red apples and 7 green apples. How many apples in the basket?
3	Sita is 12 cm taller than Meena.
4	There are 5 bags with 6 oranges in each bag.
5	Tom saved $500. Then his aunt gave him $300 more.
6	A 24 m rope is cut into pieces of the same length.
7	Class A has 27 pupils. Class B has 19. How many more pupils are in Class A?
8	John spent 2/5 of his allowance on snacks and 1/3 on books. The rest he saved.
9	A tank was full of water. Some water leaked out during the night.
10	Cakes cost $180 each. Nadia buys 6 cakes.

Detective bonus - these three are all COMPARE stories. Circle which part is MISSING:

11. Ann has 24 stickers - 6 more than Ben. How many has Ben?

12. A mango costs $500 and cherries cost $800. How much more do the cherries cost?

13. Ken has 9 marbles. Pam has 5 more than Ken. How many has Pam?

◆ FROM THE REAL PAPERS open these in your past-paper booklet

– NGSA 2025 Paper 2, Q3(b) - CHANGE: 'Jenny pours 5 glasses from the bottle... how many ml will remain?'

– NGSA 2025 Paper 1, Q22 - PART-PART-WHOLE: fractions of the day (homework + cricket + sleep)

– NGSA 2025 Paper 1, Q31 - COMPARE: 'so that it has the same amount as Container A'

– NGSA 2025 Paper 1, Q32 - EQUAL GROUPS: 'a machine squeezes 3 oranges every minute'

I CAN… tick each box when it is true

I can name a story's plot without solving it. I can say which part of a Compare story is missing. I can spot Equal Groups from 'each' and 'per'.

REFLECT: What fooled me? Which clue did I nearly miss?

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