Don't panic at the wall of text. A word problem is just someone telling you a story and asking you to find the numbers. Your job is to translate the story into maths language.

Look for the question mark or phrases like "how many," "what is," or "find." This tells you what you're solving for. Circle it or underline it so you don't lose track.

Go through the problem and highlight or circle every number you see. Don't worry about what they mean yet—just find them all. This prevents you from missing important information.

Certain words tell you what operation to use:

• Add/Sum/Total/More/Plus = Addition
• Subtract/Difference/Less/Remaining = Subtraction
• Multiply/Times/Product/Each = Multiplication
• Divide/Quotient/Per/Each = Division

Even if you're not artistic, sketch what's happening. If it's about people, draw stick figures. If it's about money, draw coins or notes. Visualising helps your brain organise the information.

Turn the story into maths symbols. If the problem says "John has 5 apples and buys 3 more," write: 5 + 3 = ? Don't solve it yet—just get it into equation form.

Make sure all your numbers are in the same units. If you're mixing pounds and pence, or metres and centimetres, convert them first. This is where most mistakes happen.

Don't try to do everything at once. Break it into smaller steps. If you need to find the total cost, first find the cost per item, then multiply by the number of items. Write each step down.

Before you're done, ask yourself: "Does this answer make sense?" If you're finding the cost of 3 apples and get £150, that's probably wrong. Trust your gut feeling.

Start with simple word problems and work your way up. Each one you solve makes the next one easier. Don't rush to the hard ones—build your confidence first.