The aim of this study is to investigate whether the model method is effective to assist primary students to solve word problems. The model method not only provides students with an opportunity to interpret the problem by drawing the rectangular bar but also helps students to visually represent problem situations and relevant relationships on the bar and choose the correct operations to solve the problem. Three Year 4 classes participated in a two week trial of the method. Comparing pre-test with post-test results showed that performance improved on every question. The findings suggest that drawing a bar to make a model assists primary students to solve word problems. Practical suggestions for using the model method are included.