Year 8 - Area and perimeter - Free practice
Year 8 Area & Perimeter Worksheets
Irregular and composite shapes - the trickier Year 8 problems.
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10 questions — 4 Foundation, 4 Standard, 2 Extension — with full worked solutions, calibrated to the Victorian Curriculum.
About this worksheet
Why we built it
Year 8 takes area and perimeter past simple rectangles into composite and irregular shapes. The trick is splitting the shape sensibly. These worksheets give your student exposure to lots of split-it-up-then-add problems so they get fast at choosing a clean strategy.
What's covered
Sub-skills your student will practise
- ✓Composite rectangle problems (L-shapes, T-shapes)
- ✓Triangles and parallelograms inside composite shapes
- ✓Perimeter where some sides need calculating first
- ✓Subtraction method (whole shape minus the cut-out)
- ✓Word problems involving floor area, paving, fencing
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Frequently asked
Questions parents ask about area and perimeter
What changes about area and perimeter in Year 8?
The shapes get harder - composite L-shapes, T-shapes, irregular polygons, shapes with cut-outs. The Year 7 formulas still apply but students have to split or subtract shapes themselves.
What's the cleanest strategy for a composite shape?
Split it into rectangles and triangles where each piece has all dimensions visible. Calculate each piece's area, then add. For shapes with cut-outs, do the whole rectangle minus the cut-out.
What do students often miss on composite perimeter problems?
Some side lengths aren't directly labelled - students have to work them out from the other dimensions. Missing one of these is the most common Year 8 perimeter error.
What units do answers go in?
Same as Year 7: perimeter in linear units (cm, m), area in squared units (cm^2, m^2). Capacity (mL, L) is for volume only.
Want a real plan for the term?
Worksheets are great for repetition. A Tuterly tutor can spot the specific moves your student keeps getting wrong and fix them in one or two sessions.
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Talk to us about Year 8 area and perimeter.
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