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What It Gains, What It Costs is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on comparing the benefits and costs of a choice, aligned to Common Core standard D2.Eco.1.3-5. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 20 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

What It Gains, What It Costs

D2.Eco.1.3-5

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.A traveller pays 2 shillings for first class. What is the benefit?
  • A.He is not open to the weather on the journey
  • B.He pays no fare
  • C.He arrives sooner
2.A traveller pays 6 pence for third class. What is the cost?
  • A.He must walk
  • B.He travels open to the weather
  • C.He arrives later
3.A boatman retrains as a railway porter. What is the cost?
  • A.The weeks he spends earning nothing while he learns
  • B.Porters wear uniforms
  • C.The railway is loud
4.The canal company cuts its charges. What is the cost to the company?
  • A.Barges get slower
  • B.The canal dries up
  • C.It earns less on every ton it carries
5.A farmer sends milk by train instead of by cart. What is the cost?
  • A.The fare he pays the railway company every day
  • B.The milk goes sour
  • C.The cart is stolen
6.The county builds a school in a village. What is the cost?
  • A.The rates every household must pay towards it
  • B.The village grows
  • C.Children get older
7.A farmer sends milk by train instead of by cart. What is the benefit?
  • A.The horse eats less hay
  • B.The cart lasts longer
  • C.The milk reaches the town fresh in one hour
8.The county builds a school in a village. What is the benefit?
  • A.Rates fall
  • B.Children no longer walk four miles to lessons
  • C.Roads improve

LessonPrint · D2.Eco.1.3-5 · Set 20 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — What It Gains, What It Costs

Set 20. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.He is not open to the weather on the journey
  2. 2.He travels open to the weather
  3. 3.The weeks he spends earning nothing while he learns
  4. 4.It earns less on every ton it carries
  5. 5.The fare he pays the railway company every day
  6. 6.The rates every household must pay towards it
  7. 7.The milk reaches the town fresh in one hour
  8. 8.Children no longer walk four miles to lessons

More practice for D2.Eco.1.3-5

Weigh up what a choice gains against what it costs.

Teaching this next? Gains on One Side, Costs on the Other is the 45-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Eco.1.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.