The minute hand on a clock points to the 4. A student says the time is 'something:4' — meaning 4 minutes past the hour. What error did the student make, and what is the correct number of minutes?
ANo error — the minute hand at 4 means exactly 4 minutes past the hour
BThe student forgot to multiply by 5; the minute hand at 4 means 20 minutes past the hour
CThe student should use the hour hand, not the minute hand, to count the minutes
DThe student should count by 2s from 12 to the minute hand's position
Each number on the clock face marks a 5-minute interval, not a 1-minute mark. To find the minutes, skip count by 5s from 12 to where the minute hand points: 5 (at 1), 10 (at 2), 15 (at 3), 20 (at 4). Reading the clock number directly as minutes is the most common error when learning 5-minute interval time.
Question 2 Multiple Choice
The hour hand is just past the 7, and the minute hand points to the 9. What time is it?
A7:09
B7:90
C7:45
D9:07
Skip count by 5s from 12 to the 9: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 — that's 45 minutes. The hour hand just past 7 tells you it's in the 7 o'clock hour. So the time is 7:45. Option A (7:09) is the classic error of reading the number 9 directly as '9 minutes' rather than skip-counting to get 45.
Question 3 True / False
When the minute hand points to the 6, it means 6 minutes have passed in that hour.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
The minute hand at 6 means 30 minutes have passed (6 × 5 = 30), not 6 minutes. The 6 is the halfway mark — 'half past' the hour. Every number on the clock represents a 5-minute gap, so the number the minute hand points to must always be multiplied by 5 to get the actual minutes.
Question 4 True / False
Skip counting by 5s is useful for reading the minute hand because each number on the clock face represents a 5-minute interval.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: True
This is exactly the connection between skip counting and clock reading. There are 12 numbers on the clock, and each gap between consecutive numbers is 5 minutes. 12 × 5 = 60 minutes in one full hour. Because the clock is built on 5-minute intervals, skip counting by 5s from 12 to the minute hand's position gives the exact number of minutes.
Question 5 Short Answer
How do you find the number of minutes shown on an analog clock? Why can't you just read the number the minute hand is pointing to?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: You find the minutes by skip counting by 5s, starting from 12, up to the number the minute hand is pointing at. You can't read the number directly because each number on the clock represents 5 minutes, not 1 minute. For example, the minute hand at 3 means 15 minutes (5 + 5 + 5), not 3 minutes.
The clock face is designed with only 12 numbers to represent 60 minutes, so each number must stand for 5 minutes. The minute hand's position tells you how many 5-minute intervals have passed, which is why skip counting by 5s — a skill learned separately — is exactly the right tool for reading it.