Numerical Reasoning

Thanks for this test. Trying to recall enough basic maths to pass one of these things and the help is much appreciated.

Quick query, though: the answer to one of the questions confuses me. The question is worded:

'If the number of cars that are greater than 6 years old has grown by 30% between 1994 and 2001, how many cars were less than 6 years old in 1994'?

The answer given by the test works for a 30% *decrease* from the 2001 figure, *NOT* for a 30% *increase* from the 1994 figure - take the given answer and multiply up to 130%, and you won't find 25,000,000 cars on the road in 2001 any more. The wording of the question seems to be asking for 30% *growth from 1994 to 2001*, which isn't the same thing as lopping 30% off the 2001 figure. Or am I getting something wrong here (very likely!).

Thanks,

J

You are missing something I'm afraid. You can't calculate up from the 1994 figure because you aren't given it- you have to deduce it from the 2001 figre.

Remember, it's 25 million car in 2001, not 1994.

So,

1. Take 25m * 51%
2. Reduce this by 30% (i.e. multiply by 70%) to get the number of cars >6 years old on the road in 1994.
3. That's only 45% of the cars, so the total number of cars on the road in 1994 was 100/45 times this figure.
4. Finally, we're interested in the cars less than 6 years old, so multiply that by 55%.

In other words,
25million x 0.51 x 0.7 x 100/45 * 0.55 = 10908333.33

Hope this helps!

I thought the same as jjphiggs

Surely this question is phrased wrong, for instance "'If the number of cars that are greater than 6 years old has grown by 30% between 1994 and 2001, how many cars were less than 6 years old in 1994'?"

This will not work if the qeustion said "grown by 100% between 1994 and 2001" ....as then per ojitsu's logic, our starting value for cars in 1994 would be 0 and hence any percentage increase for 2001 does not make sense, mathematically or logically.

Are the inventors of this test sure the phrasing should not be changed or the answer changed to reflect this ?

I thought I'd chip in here, seeing as I wrote the test.... critisism noted- and you are quite right, I believe that's an error. Instead of multiplying by 0.7, you should divide by 1.3- and the answers at present don't reflect that.

Can someone confirm my thinking and I'll get the test changed!

Hi chrism2671 .... yes, my method was the divide by 1.3 etc ..... I would think that the two possible modifications would be

(1) rephrase the question emphasising the 30% in its correct form( i.e say "the sales in 1994 are 30 % less than 2001 values" so you do not mention "grow" which indicates you need to reference the 1994 figure hence the confusion) so you still retain the original answer of 10million etc

or

(2) change the answer to reflect the 1.30

others should confirm there thoughts on this which should sort it out ?

Hi chrism,
I would just like to confirm that i agree that the current answer is wrong... you need to divide by 1.30 rather than multiply by 0.70.

Great, I've changed the test to reflect that. The answer is now 11,987,179. Let me know if you think that's wrong!

Thanks for all the help!

Chris.

Hi

I was just wondering if someone could help me out with understanding questions that have inflation index and rebasing in them. I actually have no idea and the help would really be appreciated.

Hello again,

Gosh - so many responses!

Thanks, chrism, for fixing that, and thanks again for the whole test, which was very helpful.

On a side note - like dinojan, I'd also be interested in an idiot's guide to inflation indices and rebasing. It looks like the actual test I need to take doesn't include them, happily - but, as some do, and as they are magic voodoo foreign-speak to me, I'd love to learn.

Anyway, thanks again, again,

J

is it possible to have an explanation as to why the answer is what it is. i have encountered this frustration on other practice tests and think that is the only way to learn. thanks!

To use ojitsu's workings from above:

1. Take 25m * 51%
2. Scale this down by 30% (i.e. divide by 1.3) to get the number of cars >6 years old on the road in 1994.
3. That's only 45% of the cars, so the total number of cars on the road in 1994 was 100/45 times this figure.
4. Finally, we're interested in the cars less than 6 years old, so multiply that by 55%.

In other words,
25million * 0.51 / 1.3 * 100/45 * 0.55 = 11987179.49

Does that help?

i'm sorry i didn't make myself clear! i meant for all the questions. that way if we are to encounter a similar scenario we know what format to apply. with maths subjects at uni and even at school there are tutors and structured books on hand to fill this gap. whereas i think the set-up for practice psychometric tests is lacking in this.

When they say "the biggest change", they mean the absolute change or the relative change? Like in the food/water/... cost question?

And, "gained the least number of employees", is "gain" used in the mathematical sense? Can lose be described as gain a negative amount?

I've done a few online tests with the big four and I'll be honest, this one doesn't seem very similar (I've passed the tests by the way!). I've never seen the inflation base thing come up. I agree with whoever it was that said worked answers should be provided at the end, learning how to approach these questions is the hardest part. I'm sure we can all do these if we had all the time in the world but learning shortcuts and how to approximate from the data is as important as being able to do the calculations. Perhaps that's just my view!

Hey,
Thanks for writing the test. Just want to comment on the question below.

UK GDP
Year Gross domestic product/$m US dollar exchange Inflation index(2000=100)
1980 230,695 £0.42 43
1985 354,952 £0.77 60
1990 557,300 £0.56 76
1995 718,383 £0.63 92
2000 953,576 £0.65 100
2005 1,209,334 £0.54 107

Question:

What was the GDP/million of the UK in 2005?

---

In the table, GDP/$m should really be GDP/£m since it is referring to GDP of UK.

Cheers.

Great practice test, thanks!

One question on this problem:

Major Currencies
..................Rupee/unit..........Ringit/unit
Dollar..........42.275...............3.25
Yen..............0.39..................0.03
Sterling...........83.4................6.42
Euro..............66.09.................5.08

Question:

If the euro fell in value by 11%, how many euros could you buy for 1500 Ringit?

My answer is 327.76 Euro, but the answer key states "331.77"

Here's my math:

5.08 (current rate for Ringit) / 1.11 (decrease by 11%) = new Euro exchange rate for Ringit 4.5766

Now, take the 1500 Ringits and divide by the new exchange rate (4.5766) = 327.76

What's wrong with my math??

Thanks!

1500/(5.08*0.89) = 331.77 Euro I reckon - what do you think?

GDP is normally reported in millions of US dollars no matter what country it is.

To use ojitsu's workings from above:

Take 25m * 51%
Scale this down by 30% (i.e. divide by 1.3) to get the number of cars >6 years old on the road in 1994.
That's only 45% of the cars, so the total number of cars on the road in 1994 was 100/45 times this figure.
Finally, we're interested in the cars less than 6 years old, so multiply that by 55%.
In other words,
25million * 0.51 / 1.3 * 100/45 * 0.55 = 11987179.49

Does that help?

===================

[Edit]
Guys i dun think this is right ....
25 *0.51/1.3=> the no. of cars that > 6 yrs age
I dun think you should do 100/45.... i dun get the rationale behind this. it should be that number/0.45=> gives you the total no. of cars in 94, then you time that by 0.55 which gives you something around 15xxx....

correct me if i am wrong

siyaosan

I agree with chrism2671..
the detailed math is here:
let ring/euro be x for the new price
x-5.08/5.08=-0.11 you get x= 4.5212 then u use 1500/4.5212=331.77

becuz 5.08 is essentially the per unit price for euro... so you don't need to do any adjustment ...

These questions are NOT of the standard of I banks, they are way too easy. So no one be placed under any illusions or false pretenses that this test represents an accurate measure of their numerical aptitude.

.

No I think the phrasing is fine.

What you have to do is calculate the number of cars greater than 6 years old in '2001' by doing
51 % * 25,000,000 = 12,750,000.

NOW, if we say 'X' is the number of cars greater than 6 years old in '1994', we would get a formula like:

130 % * X = 12,750,000 or 130 / 100 * X = 12,750,000.

If we do the subject of formula to have 'X' as subject, we would get

X = 12,750,000 / 130%
= 12,750,000 * 100 / 130
= 9,807,692

Then to get the number of cars less than 6 years is easy...

Hope that this helps...

If anyone can provide screenshots of their actual test it will be of great benefit in constructing new tests of a similar standard. Any help much appreciated!

Hey this is very embarrassing but could some point in the direction of a place where I can revises all of the maths skills I will need for these types of test.

OK kids, I've put up a new test, written by the nice guys at http://www.assessmentday.co.uk/ - have a go and let us know what you think, and if there's any issues!

Chris.

Chris
The following sites can help you to revise the math.
http://www.mathwithlarry.com/
http://helpingwithmath.com
hope it could help

Can someone explain to me why the answer of question 22 on Numerical Practice Test 1 is Cannot say rather than 6%? I am really baffled.

Hi,

I just finished the 1st test. 54% score looks not good.

Thank you!!!

Hi everyone,
Need a little help with practice test one. Can people please give explanations for questions 3, 4 (why water), 25 and 28? thanks a lot. has anyone here done any tests for real and if yes, how does this one compare? had a look at the barcap eg's someone's put on here and they look really hard!

Barcap and KPMG are amongst the hardest - harder than these tests. PwC, E&Y, etc are about this standard.

After completing these tests and barely acheiving over 50%, i am now seriously worried! These tests seem too difficult especially the inflation and exchange rate questions, i'm almost certain the information is decetively presented! I have both numerical and verbal reasoning testS for KPMG, should i worry if i dont understand the majority of the test i have just completed??? An advice is welcome!

It would have really helped if the soltions to the questions is Numerical Test 1 were provided, I am especially frustated by the questions on GDP which involve rebasing. Has anybody managed to get round them? If somebody can post the solutions to the GDP questions, I would greatly appreciate it.

Paddy77: If you are struggling you need to do more practice. These tests are of a similar standard to KPMG and the rest of the Big 4.

Hi,
I did yesterday tests to BT. The numerical was really much more difficult that I expected and then both Numerical Tests provided on this webside ;-(

Can you give example questions?

UK GDP
Year Gross domestic product/$m US dollar exchange Inflation index(2000=100)
1980 230,695 £0.42 43
1985 354,952 £0.77 60
1990 557,300 £0.56 76
1995 718,383 £0.63 92
2000 953,576 £0.65 100
2005 1,209,334 £0.54 107

Question:

What was the increase in GDP/million from 1980 to 2005 in real terms?

Choose one correct answer from the following -

$1,315,018
$593,719
$2,435,218
$393,285

In that case i'll keep at it untill i do/hopefully undrstand! Think someone may have mentioned this already but where are the answers to the first test?

Heres an awesum example for those still struggling with the rebasing and inflation rates:-

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081019060809AAhfbcF

Thanks guys, these tests helped!!

Eureka!! I got it

All one needs to do is to find the Real GDP for 1980 and 2005 and then calculate the difference between them.

The formula for Real GDP is:- GDP (for year x) x Consumer Price Index (for base year)/ Consumer Price Index (for year X)
Note that the Base Year for the above case is 2000
So in the case of 1980 Real GDP = 230695 x 100/43 = 536499.97
similarly Real GDP for 2005 = 1209334 x 100/107 = 1130218.6
Hence the difference betweeen the two is 593718.7, which when rounded up becomes 593719

hey. just wondering whether anyone has sat a test where they haven't been allowed to use a calculator? did anyone manage to do this one without one? thanks.

Hi!

Great tests for practising although i must say test 2 is harder! Just a question though (on test 2), for question 12 (i think) on the transrapid Maglev and PV, is this related to the graph being presented? I got that answer wrong but I think there is a problem with the question. Am I right? I have a test to take with E&Y... which would be a better representative of the actual tests? Anyone took the E&Y tests before? Please help!!! i only got about 60+% for both test (first try) :((((

Sorry in advance for my stupidity. But in the first paper, there's a question: "What was the GDP/million of the UK in 2005?"

Been trying for ages to work it out but no joy as of yet, would appreciate some clarity.

Cheers

Hhaha - sorry no need, i am truly an idiot lol

Hi Sundave911, just curious as to why you use 100 in your calculation?

100 is the Inflation index for the base year which is year 2000, refer to my earlier thread where I have written the formula for calculating Real GDP. Cheers!

79%, still got a lot to improve...

Anyway, thanks for the test and it really help me to prepare.

Test one has been very usefull. I recentlly joined this forum. can anyone tell me where I can get practice material for shl's advanced numerical critical reasoning test?