–Student does not understand that when finding fractions of amounts, lengths, or areas, the parts need to be equal in size. Some students would say that 1/ 4 of the square has been shaded (Ashton & Vincent, 2007).

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–Students may believe that the bigger the denominator the bigger the fraction for example some students would think 1/5 is bigger than 1/3 (Ashton & Vincent, 2007).

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–Students may see the numerator and the denominator as two separate whole numbers rather than a single number. For example, students may state this as 3/5 has been shaded. They have counted the shaded part as 3 and the not shaded as 5 (Ashton & Vincent, 2007).

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–When adding, or subtracting fractions students can often get confused and add/subtract the numerator and the denominators of two fractions. For example, if it is an addition, 2/4 + 5/4 = 7/8 or if it is a subtraction the students could go 3/5 – 1 /2 = 2/3. If this is what the student is doing, they are failing to understand the relationship the at denominator has with the numerator (Educational Research Newsletter and Webinars, 2017).

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Failing to find a common denominator when adding or subtracting fraction with unlike denominators. Students often fail to convert fractions to a common, equivalent denominator before adding or subtracting them and instead students just use the larger denominator in their answer. For example, (3/5 + 3/10 = 6/10) (Educational Research Newsletter and Webinars, 2017).

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