Numbers
Practical mathematics
Arithmetic, fractions, decimals, percentages, rates, angles, area and volume applied to quantities that arise in the work rather than as abstract exercises.
Exams on RankHigh that test this
What follows is our approach, not an official rule. What each question type measures is set by the body that runs the examination. How to work one is RankHigh’s method — it is what a good tutor would tell you, and there is more than one way to be right. Where an examination publishes its own instructions, those govern on the day.
Mathematical Problems
Practical arithmetic — fractions, decimals, percentages, rates, angles, area and volume — applied to the kind of quantities that turn up on the job.
Where people lose it
Answering in the wrong unit. The arithmetic is usually right and the answer is in feet when the question asked for inches, or in gallons when it asked for a rate. Every wrong option is built to catch exactly that.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Underline what the answer is a measure of before you calculate anything.
- Convert units at the start, not at the end. A conversion left to the last line is a conversion that gets forgotten.
- Estimate to one significant figure first, so a misplaced decimal point cannot survive.
- Check the answer against common sense: a total cannot be smaller than one of its parts, and an area cannot be smaller than one of its sides.
No calculator. Keep the numbers small by simplifying before you multiply.
Practice it on your own exam
Method only sticks against real questions. Every exam in the catalog opens with a free twelve-question diagnostic — in your browser, with a worked explanation for every answer, and no signup.
Find your exam