How we got there
Read this like a teacher at the board. We go slowly, name every number, and say why we take each step.
Explain in another language · 11
1. What is the question asking?
Read the question twice. Circle the unknown. Underline every number and unit. The paper is asking: A tariff charges R2 per unit for the first 100 units and R4 per unit after that. A household uses 130 units. Find the cost.
Before any working — hunt first
Given
Numbers and units already in the sentence: R2 per · 100 units · R4 per · 130 units. Copy each one into a column. A name without a number is not given.
Missing
After you copy the given, the letter that still has no number is missing. The paper is pointing at: the cost. Circle that word — that is the missing variable.
Find
We are required to find: the cost. Write that as a symbol on the left, with a question mark, before you touch a formula.
Calculate
Write R200 with empty letters. Cross out every letter that already has a number. Calculate the letter that is still standing — that gives the cost.
In other words — as if you have never seen this before
If you have never seen this before: Split the usage at the block. Do not charge every unit at the higher rate, and do not charge the first block at the higher rate. We will name a method in words, write the formula with no numbers, then substitute one line at a time.
2. What do we already know?
First 100 at R2, then R4. Usage 130.
3. Which method — and why this one?
Split the usage at the block. Do not charge every unit at the higher rate, and do not charge the first block at the higher rate.
4. Step-by-step working
01 / 06
Multiply
First block: 100×2=R200.
R200Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
02 / 06
Multiply
Extra units: 30×4=R120.
R120Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
03 / 06
Add
Total=200+120=R320.
R320Why this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
04 / 06
Step G — Sense-check the size
Ask: is this the kind of number a Grade 10–12 paper would want? A speed of 3 000 ms for a learner walking, or a probability bigger than 1, means a unit or algebra slip. Estimate first: round the numbers and do the sum in your head.
Why this step: Markers write ‘unrealistic’ in the margin when the method is right but the size is wild. A 10-second head check often finds a missing 10² or a unit that never changed.
05 / 06
Step F — Box the answer with its unit
R320
Why this step: A number without a unit is half a mark on a Physics paper, and a marker can miss a Maths answer that is buried in working.
06 / 06
Step H — What the marker is looking for
On an NSC memo you usually earn: (1) a method mark for naming the right formula or idea in words, (2) an accuracy mark for substituting the given numbers with units, (3) an accuracy mark for the boxed answer with its unit. Write those three lines even if you are unsure of the arithmetic — blank pages score zero.
Why this step: First-timers chase the final number and leave the method blank. The memo still pays out for the idea and the substitution even when the last line is wrong.
5. The answer
R320
Copy onto your answer sheet — in this order
Formula: R200
Answer: R320
6. Check it like a marker
Charging all the units at the second rate ignores the cheaper block the tariff promised.
7. A trap first-timers fall into
First-timers often grab the first formula they remember, mix units (cm with m, minutes with seconds), or drop a minus sign. Write the formula in words first: “this equals that, because…”