The majority of research investigating gender-related differences in problem-solving ability has focused on the product of word problem solving--the problem solution. This paper reports an investigation of potential gender-related effects on sixth-graders of an explicitly stated problem-solving plan. Two versions of the test were given: the formatted form, containing the seven steps of a problem-solving plan on each of the pages, with space for student work; and the unformatted form, containing only the word problems. Three classes of students (n=73) were administered the formatted test first, followed by the unformatted version. The remaining three classes of students (n=82) were administered the unformatted version first, followed by the formatted version. Females and males did equally well on both forms of a four-item problem-solving test. Students scored significantly higher on posttests that included the problem-solving plan. It was concluded that females benefited from free exploration of problem situations followed by an organized exploration. Contains 24 references. (MKR)