About This Worksheet
This worksheet helps seventh-grade students test whether given values satisfy an inequality. Each problem presents a real-world situation, a written inequality, and several possible values to check. Students substitute each value into the inequality and circle the ones that make the statement true. This gives them a concrete way to understand that an inequality can have many solutions instead of just one. The real-life settings also help students see what each acceptable value means in context.
What Students Practice
Students substitute numbers into one-step and multi-step inequalities involving membership limits, point goals, delivery costs, hiking distance, carnival spending, team scores, weight limits, and rental budgets. They calculate each side and decide whether the comparison is true or false. Some values fall exactly on the boundary, which helps students practice the difference between strict symbols and inclusive symbols. This repeated testing strengthens both arithmetic accuracy and inequality interpretation. Students also begin to see solution sets as groups of values that all satisfy the same condition.
Why This Matters
Students often think that solving an inequality should produce one answer the way an equation does. Testing several values helps show that inequalities usually describe a range of possible solutions. It also reinforces why ≤ and ≥ include the boundary while < and > do not. This understanding is important before students move on to graphing solutions on number lines. The skill also helps students check their own work after solving an inequality.
Teaching Tips
Have students substitute one value at a time and write the resulting number sentence before deciding whether it is true. Pay special attention to values that are equal to the boundary because those are where symbol mistakes often show up. Encourage students to say “this value works” or “this value does not work” instead of only circling answers. You can also ask them to predict which values will work before calculating and then check the prediction.
Curriculum Standards
This worksheet supports CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.EE.B.4.B, which asks students to solve word problems leading to inequalities and interpret the solution set in context. It also strengthens the idea of solution sets by having students verify which values make an inequality true. The substitution practice prepares students for graphing solutions and checking algebraic work. The activity is well suited for independent practice, homework, intervention, or a quick formative assessment during a Grade 7 inequalities unit.