Skip to content
LessonPrint

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

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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 boatman retrains as a railway porter. What is the cost?
  • A.Porters wear uniforms
  • B.The railway is loud
  • C.The weeks he spends earning nothing while he learns
2.A traveller pays 6 pence for third class. What is the cost?
  • A.He travels open to the weather
  • B.He arrives later
  • C.He must walk
3.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
4.A farmer sends milk by train instead of by cart. What is the cost?
  • A.The milk goes sour
  • B.The fare he pays the railway company every day
  • C.The cart is stolen
5.The canal company cuts its charges. What is the cost to the company?
  • A.Barges get slower
  • B.It earns less on every ton it carries
  • C.The canal dries up
6.The county builds a school in a village. What is the cost?
  • A.Children get older
  • B.The village grows
  • C.The rates every household must pay towards it
7.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
8.The county builds a school in a village. What is the benefit?
  • A.Rates fall
  • B.Roads improve
  • C.Children no longer walk four miles to lessons

LessonPrint · D2.Eco.1.3-5 · Set 6 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — What It Gains, What It Costs

Set 6. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.The weeks he spends earning nothing while he learns
  2. 2.He travels open to the weather
  3. 3.The milk reaches the town fresh in one hour
  4. 4.The fare he pays the railway company every day
  5. 5.It earns less on every ton it carries
  6. 6.The rates every household must pay towards it
  7. 7.He is not open to the weather on the journey
  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.