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 fridge has a cash price of R12000. Hire purchase asks for a deposit of R2000 and then R500 a month for 24 months. Find the total paid, and how much more that is than the cash price.
In other words — as if you have never seen this before
If you have never seen this before: Total paid is the deposit plus every monthly payment. The extra cost is that total minus the cash price. 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?
Cash R12000. Deposit R2000. 24 payments of R500.
3. Which method — and why this one?
Total paid is the deposit plus every monthly payment. The extra cost is that total minus the cash price.
4. Step-by-step working
01 / 06
Multiply
Monthly payments = 500 × 24 = R12000.
R12000Why 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
Add
Total paid=2000+12000=R14000.
R14000Why 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
Subtract
Extra=14000−12000=R2000.
R2000Why 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
Total paid R14000. Extra cost R2000.
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
Total paid R14000. Extra cost R2000.
Copy onto your answer sheet — in this order
Formula: R12000
Answer: Total paid R14000. Extra cost R2000.
6. Check it like a marker
The cash price is not a payment on top of the deposit. Subtract it at the end, do not add it.
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…”