The CUBES strategy can be used to solve math word problems. This strategy helps students focus on what the question is asking. In addition, it helps students eliminate miscellaneous information and focus on the critical content. Often times, students become lost in the wordiness of the word problems and have difficulty figuring out how to solve it.

Using active reading strategies helps students attend to pertinent details, numbers, and content-specific vocabulary. Students often have difficulty solving math word problems due to difficulties with reading comprehension. Transferring reading comprehension strategies across content areas helps students understand word problems and helps them determine which operation(s) to use.

To promote generalization, the teacher can write the acronym “CUBES” on the top right-hand corner of their math tests. This will help students remember and implement the steps of the strategy while taking the test. Over time, the teacher can fade this prompt and encourage students to write the acronym independently on their test prior to beginning assessments.