The arithmetic section: one table, one missing number

What the questions look like

The guide's Test Task says the questions "present numeric information in a table, with some values missing, and ask candidates to calculate the missing value(s) using basic arithmetic functions". Its worked sample is a table of counts by category and year with a total row, and two missing values marked with letters.

One of the sample questions recovers a cell from the total of its own column; the other recovers a total by adding a column up. That is the whole shape of the section — nothing about fractions, percentages, rates or geometry appears in it.

The calculator, and what it does not do for you

The guide states twice that candidates should bring a quiet, hand-held, battery- or solar-powered calculator, and that devices with typewriter keyboards and cell phone calculators are prohibited. Dutchess County's announcement repeats the same rule and adds that spell checkers, translators and similar devices are not allowed either.

Because the arithmetic is allowed to be done on a calculator, the part you can still get wrong is deciding which arithmetic to do. A missing cell comes from the total of the line it sits in; a missing total comes from adding that line up. Reading the right line is what this section actually measures.

How to check yourself

This is the one section where you can verify an answer rather than trust it. Put your number back into the table and re-add the line it belongs to. If the line does not come to the printed total, the answer is wrong, and you will know before you move on.

Write the running sum down rather than holding it. Most errors in a section like this come from losing a term partway through a column, not from the arithmetic itself.

Related guides

• The four subject areas on the New York firefighter written test
• The training lesson section, and why it is not a memory test
• The reading comprehension section