A worked solution evaluates |-3 + 8| as 11 by taking the absolute value of -3 before adding. What is the correct value?

Explication

Everything between the bars is combined first, and adding 8 to -3 leaves a positive result five steps from zero. Applying the bars to -3 on its own rewrites the expression before it has been worked out and turns a partly cancelling sum into a growing one, while dropping the -3 altogether reports the 8 and combining both terms under one minus sign reports -11.