Is PEMDAS taught in 3rd grade?

Formal order of operations with parentheses usually appears in 5th grade, but 3rd and 4th graders meet it earlier through multi-step word problems and expressions like 6 + 2 × 3. Sessions match whatever notation the student's class is using, including BODMAS or BIDMAS.

Why does my child get the right answer sometimes and not others?

Most often they are computing left to right and it happens to agree with the rule. Expressions like 10 - 2 × 3 separate the two methods, and those are the ones used to check whether the rule is genuinely being applied.

Does this cover exponents?

Only briefly, if the student has already seen them. In grades 3-5 the focus is parentheses and the two tiers of arithmetic operations; exponents belong to middle school work.

How many sessions until this sticks?

It varies. The rule itself is short, but replacing the left-to-right habit takes repeated practice on mixed expressions, usually spread over several sessions rather than one long one.

Order of Operations

Elementary (3-5) · Mathematics

Order of operations is the agreed rule for deciding what to do first when an expression has more than one operation, like 4 + 3 × 2 or 12 ÷ (5 - 2). In grades 3-5 this usually starts with parentheses and simple two- or three-step expressions, then grows into writing and interpreting numerical expressions without evaluating them. Sessions work through expressions out loud, one step at a time, with the student saying which operation comes next and why before computing it.

Start a session on Order of Operations

What this covers

Evaluating expressions with parentheses first, then multiplication and division, then addition and subtraction
Working left to right when two operations have equal priority, such as 20 - 6 + 3 or 24 ÷ 4 × 2
Rewriting an expression one line at a time instead of doing several steps mentally at once
Placing parentheses to make a given expression equal a target value, and seeing how moving them changes the answer
Translating phrases like 'three times the sum of 5 and 4' into 3 × (5 + 4)
Comparing two expressions such as 3 × (18 + 7) and 18 + 7 without calculating the total

Where learners get stuck

Believing multiplication always comes before division, and addition always before subtraction, because of how PEMDAS or BODMAS is chanted: The mnemonic lists four letters in a row, so students read it as four separate ranks instead of two pairs that are handled left to right. This shows up as 24 ÷ 4 × 2 being answered as 3 instead of 12.
Solving strictly left to right and ignoring operation priority, giving 4 + 3 × 2 = 14: Everything else in earlier grades is read and computed left to right, so the habit is strong. It also often looks correct because many practice problems accidentally give the same answer either way.
Treating parentheses as decoration, so (5 + 3) × 2 and 5 + 3 × 2 feel like the same problem: Students have mostly seen parentheses used for grouping in text, not as an instruction that changes the order. Comparing the two answers side by side is usually what makes the difference land.

What a session looks like

A typical 20-30 minute session starts with two or three warm-up expressions the student evaluates aloud, naming the operation before doing it. Evelyn then works through harder cases, often ones designed to give different answers depending on the order used, and asks the student to explain the disagreement. Later in the session the student may be given a target number and asked where the parentheses go, or asked to turn a spoken phrase into an expression. Errors are handled by rewinding to the step where the order changed, not by giving the answer.

Helpful to know first

Fluent addition and subtraction within 1,000
Multiplication and division facts through 10 × 10, or reliable access to them
Comfort reading a number sentence left to right and knowing the symbols +, -, ×, ÷

Questions

Is PEMDAS taught in 3rd grade?: Formal order of operations with parentheses usually appears in 5th grade, but 3rd and 4th graders meet it earlier through multi-step word problems and expressions like 6 + 2 × 3. Sessions match whatever notation the student's class is using, including BODMAS or BIDMAS.
Why does my child get the right answer sometimes and not others?: Most often they are computing left to right and it happens to agree with the rule. Expressions like 10 - 2 × 3 separate the two methods, and those are the ones used to check whether the rule is genuinely being applied.
Does this cover exponents?: Only briefly, if the student has already seen them. In grades 3-5 the focus is parentheses and the two tiers of arithmetic operations; exponents belong to middle school work.
How many sessions until this sticks?: It varies. The rule itself is short, but replacing the left-to-right habit takes repeated practice on mixed expressions, usually spread over several sessions rather than one long one.