Place value test online: what each digit is worth

36 short questions about what the digits in a number stand for. You pick one answer each time, and your result is the share you get right, overall and for each of the 3 question types.

Start the Place Value test

36 questions · about 2 min · tap or click

Your accuracy appears after question 36, and a free account keeps it with your other results.

5 4 8 7 4 40 400 4000
The 4 in 5487 is worth 400Digit value · 1 of 3 question types

How it works

A practice with one question of each type comes first, then 36 scored questions in a random mix. No question has a time limit, and the whole test takes about 2 minutes.

  1. 1 · Practice

    One of each type

    3 practice questions, one per type. The screen tints briefly after each answer to show whether it was right, then a 3-second countdown opens the scored part.

  2. 2 · Type 1

    Digit value

    A 3- or 4-digit number appears with one digit highlighted and underlined. Choose what that digit is worth from 4 buttons, for example 5, 50, 500 or 5000.

  3. 3 · Type 2

    Decomposition

    A number such as 2,300 appears, with a comma between the thousands and the hundreds. Pick the sum that matches each digit's worth: 2000 + 300, not 2000 + 30.

  4. 4 · Type 3

    Which is larger

    2 numbers appear as buttons and you tap the larger one. The practice pair is 98 against 101, and the scored pairs are built the same way to mislead a quick look.

Each type has 12 questions, and the 36 are shuffled together, so the type changes from one screen to the next. A small label names the type above each question, a counter shows your place, and a thin bar along the top fills as you go. Once the practice is over, nothing tells you whether an answer was right.

These three kinds of question are the usual ways to check place value: say what a digit is worth, break a number down by position, and compare numbers whose digits pull against their size. Number processing batteries for adults include tasks of this kind; one of them, by Delazer and colleagues (2003), was normed on 282 healthy adults.

What it measures

Every question rests on one rule: a digit's worth depends on where it stands. The three types look at that rule from different sides.

Digit value and decomposition

  • Reading positional notation: knowing that the 4 in 5487 stands for 4 hundreds, not 4.
  • Zeros that hold a place, as in 6,047, where the 0 keeps the 4 in the tens.
  • Matching a number to its parts, the step that carrying and borrowing rely on in written sums.

Comparison

  • Judging size by the count of digits and the leading digit rather than by how big the digits look.
  • Holding your ground against a misleading pair: in every scored pair the larger number either starts with a smaller digit or has smaller digits after the first one.
  • The time you take on correct comparisons is also recorded, as a median, but only accuracy feeds the score.

For practised readers of numbers, place value is partly automatic. People asked only to judge which of two four-digit numbers was printed larger were still swayed by their numerical size, though the effect depended on which digits the numbers held (García-Orza et al., 2017). Comparing numbers of different lengths, such as 995 and 1000, is slower when the longer number starts with the smaller digit (García-Orza et al., 2023).

Place value also leans on language. Children with cochlear implants, whose early language develops on a different path, had specific trouble with place value, for example in subtraction that needs borrowing (Pixner et al., 2014). In a sample of Spanish primary school pupils, those with a mathematical learning disability scored lower than other low achievers on place value comprehension (Iglesias-Sarmiento and Deaño, 2016).

A test, not a diagnosis.

A percentage from 36 questions describes one sitting. It cannot confirm or rule out a learning difference or any other diagnosis.

What you get

Your accuracy is on screen as soon as you answer question 36.

On the result screen

  • A headline and a short paragraph chosen by your overall accuracy, with fixed bands at 90% or more, 70 to 89% and below 70%.
  • Your overall accuracy and the number you got right out of 36.
  • Accuracy for each question type and, when overall accuracy is under 90%, a note on the type that went least well.
  • A data panel with correct answers, accuracy and median response time per type, plus a CSV download of every scored question.

If you keep it

  • Saved with a free account, so the result is waiting on any device you sign in from.
  • Filed under number sense in your results, beside Number Dictation and the other number tasks you try.
  • A button on the result screen leads on to a next test.

How this version is scored

For each scored question the test stores the option you chose, whether it was right and how long you took. The result screen is computed from that record.

Correct answer
The one option that gives the digit's true worth, the sum that matches the number, or the larger of the 2 numbers. There is no partial credit and no clock on your answer.
Accuracy
accuracy = correct answers ÷ 36 × 100, rounded to a whole percentage. Each type gets the same calculation over its own 12 questions.
Correct count
How many of the 36 you got right. This count is the score saved with your result, next to the accuracy.
Median response time
For each type, the middle value of your times on correct answers, in milliseconds, from the moment the question appears to your tap or click. Wrong answers are left out.
Weakest type
The question type with the lowest accuracy. On a tie, the one named first in the order digit value, decomposition, comparison is shown.

Why there is no percentile. No published adult norms match this task, so the result stays a raw percentage. In clinical batteries healthy adults make few errors on place value items (Delazer et al., 2003), so scores bunch near the top and small differences there carry little meaning.

Practice is left out. The 3 practice questions do not count toward any figure on the result screen and are not in the CSV.

Same questions, new order. Every attempt uses the same 36 items in a fresh random order. A second attempt is therefore partly a memory of the first.

Before you start

The questions are quick, but a careless tap costs as much as a real mistake.

For a cleaner attempt

  • Use a screen where the number and all the buttons fit without scrolling; a phone held upright is enough.
  • Glance at the label above each question, because the type keeps changing.
  • Take the moment you need: there is no time limit, and the score counts right answers only.
  • Treat the practice with care, since it is the only time you learn whether an answer was right.

Interpret cautiously when

  • You have low vision or find small digits hard to tell apart.
  • You learned to group thousands with a point or a space rather than a comma.
  • You were tired, rushed or interrupted while answering.
  • You took this test recently and remember some of the items.

Questions

What does a place value test measure?

It checks whether you read multi-digit numbers by position: what each digit is worth, how a number splits into thousands, hundreds, tens and ones, and which of two numbers is larger when the digits suggest the opposite. These skills sit underneath written arithmetic, such as carrying and borrowing.

What is a good score on a place value test?

There is no published cut-off for this version. The result screen uses fixed bands: 90% or more reads as a secure grasp, 70 to 89% as some trouble with certain question types, and below 70% as an area that needs support. Healthy adults make few errors on place value items in clinical batteries, though those items differ from these.

Can I take the place value test on my phone?

Yes. The questions are short, every answer is a large button and there is nothing to type. Hold the phone upright so the number and all of its options stay in view.

Is the place value test part of the dyscalculia check?

No. The dyscalculia check uses 4 other tasks: Dot Comparison, Magnitude Comparison, Arithmetic Verification and Number Line. Place value is one of the wider set of number tests, and you can take it on its own from the tests hub. No single task can confirm or rule out dyscalculia.

Sources

By Cristian Dominguez Rein-Loring, Creative Technology Lead · Updated October 12, 2026