Emma drives 150 km in 3 hours. What is her average speed?
Show worked explanation
Speed = Distance ÷ Time. Speed = 150 ÷ 3 = 50 km/h. ✓
11+ Speed, Distance & Time Practice
(GL Assessment)
Speed, distance and time usually appears as just one to three questions on a GL Assessment 11+ maths paper, and occasionally none at all, yet it is one of the most worthwhile topics to prepare. It tests three linked formulas (speed = distance / time, plus the rearrangements for distance and time), almost always wrapped in a real-life word problem about a car, train, cyclist or school trip. GL never asks a bare formula on its own.
The GL maths paper is 50 multiple-choice questions in 50 minutes, with five options (A to E) per question. Speed questions tend to sit in the middle or later part of the paper because they often need two or three steps, especially a unit conversion.
The encouraging news is that the formulas never change. Once a child can confidently turn minutes into hours and choose the right formula, these become some of the most dependable marks on the whole paper.
What the GL 11+ Tests on Speed, Distance & Time
Every question is multiple-choice with five options (A to E), set as a real-world word problem. In rough order of frequency, GL tests:
- Calculating speed (speed = distance / time), given a distance and a time.
- Calculating distance (distance = speed x time).
- Calculating time (time = distance / speed).
- Unit conversion: minutes to hours, metres to kilometres, and km/h to m/s, usually needed before or after the formula.
- Multi-part journeys and average speed: total distance divided by total time across two legs.
- Timetable and schedule reading (less common): working out journey durations or arrival times.
Difficulty ranges from one clean division with whole numbers (easy) up to two-leg average-speed problems with awkward fractions of an hour (hard). Worth flagging: pure distance-time graph interpretation is rare at 11+ because it is formally a KS3 (Year 7 to 8) topic, so do not over-prepare it.
Sample Speed, Distance & Time Questions
Five questions drawn from PrepStep’s speed, distance & time bank, spanning Foundation to Challenging. Tap “Show worked explanation” to see the full method after you’ve had a go. The correct answer is highlighted on each question so you can check immediately.
Sophie travels 240 km at a speed of 80 km/h. How long does the journey take?
Show worked explanation
Time = Distance ÷ Speed. Time = 240 ÷ 80 = 3 hours. ✓
Tom cycles at 20 km/h for 2.5 hours. How far does he travel?
Show worked explanation
Distance = Speed × Time. Distance = 20 × 2.5 = 50 km. ✓
Jake cycles 12 km in 20 minutes. What is his speed in km/h?
Show worked explanation
First convert 20 minutes to hours: 20 ÷ 60 = 1/3 hour. Speed = 12 ÷ 1/3 = 12 × 3 = 36 km/h. ✓
Noah jogs 1500 metres in 5 minutes. What is his speed in km/h?
Show worked explanation
Convert to km and hours: 1500 m = 1.5 km, 5 minutes = 5 ÷ 60 = 1/12 hour. Speed = 1.5 ÷ 1/12 = 1.5 × 12 = 18 km/h. ✓
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Common mistake 1 of 4
Treating minutes as decimals of an hour.
Tip: Children write 30 minutes as 0.3 hours instead of 0.5, or 15 minutes as 0.15 instead of 0.25. Learn the key fractions cold (15 min = 1/4, 20 min = 1/3, 30 min = 1/2, 45 min = 3/4).
Common mistake 2 of 4
Averaging the two speeds on a multi-part journey.
Tip: Driving at 60 then 40 km/h is not 50 km/h. Average speed is always total distance divided by total time, never the mean of the speeds.
Common mistake 3 of 4
Forgetting to convert the answer to the unit asked for.
Tip: The question wants minutes but the child gives hours, or wants km/h but calculates m/s. Underline the required unit before starting.
Common mistake 4 of 4
Mixing units within the problem.
Tip: Distance in metres but speed needed in km/h. Convert everything to matching units before touching the formula.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is speed, distance and time in the 11+ maths exam?
It is a measurement topic in the GL 11+ maths paper that links how fast, how far and how long. Children use speed = distance / time and its two rearrangements to solve real-life word problems about journeys. Questions are multiple-choice with five options and often need a unit conversion.
How do you work out speed, distance and time for the 11+?
Use the formula triangle. Speed = distance / time, distance = speed x time, and time = distance / speed. Cover the value you want to find and read off the other two. The key extra skill is converting time correctly, for example treating 20 minutes as one third of an hour.
How many speed, distance and time questions are in the GL 11+ maths paper?
Usually one to three per paper, and sometimes none. It is a minor topic within the wider measurement strand, but it is high value: children who can handle it tend to be strong mathematicians and score well across the whole paper.
Why does my child keep getting speed, distance and time questions wrong?
The most common cause is time conversion: writing 30 minutes as 0.3 hours instead of 0.5. The second is averaging two speeds instead of using total distance over total time. Both are predictable traps that GL builds into the wrong answers, so targeted practice fixes them quickly.
How can my child practise speed, distance and time for the GL 11+?
Practise with five-option word problems that mirror the exam. Master the formula triangle first, then drill minutes-to-hours conversions until they are automatic, then move on to two-leg average-speed questions. Always check the answer is in the unit the question asks for, and sense-check it (500 km/h is not a sensible cycling speed).
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