This study aims to make a comparative analysis of the curricula documents put into practice during the Turkish Republican period in terms of exercises as part of instructional arrangements. The data set for the study was the main official curricula documents published during the Republican period. The study employed document analysis method and the documents were examined with content analysis technique. The analysis of the data yields three main categories with regard to exercises: objectives, features and teaching arrangements. The comparative analysis pointed out that there was an increasing emphasis on and importance attached to the exercises until 1990’s. However, after then, there appeared a gradual and steady decrease in the emphasis placed on exercises. These findings were considered in the light of three main movements, whose effects were all too apparent in mathematics education: behaviourist learning, meaningful arithmetic and constructivism. We argue that these movements contributed to the interpretation of the relative importance of exercises for teaching mathematics and this, in turn, affected the curricular arrangements through the years. The paper concludes that exercises and relevant arrangements are a greatly neglected area of the curricula developed especially after 2000 and that the future program development efforts should pay attention to eliminate this deficiency with the incorporation of carefully designed and planned practice work.