Introduction

This booklet is aimed at students applying for graduate jobs at large nancial institutions. The application process for these jobs typically includes a numerical reasoning test. The maths used on these tests is generally high school level material, such as fractions, ratios, percentages, and basic arithmetic. However, the questions on these tests can be quite complicated, and the tests themselves have restrictive time limits. The purpose of this booklet is to give students practical advice on how to approach these questions, and to give students practice working on questions similar to those found on these tests. The rst thing to remember is that you are not expected to answer all the questions. Some questions will take a great deal longer to answer than others, so it may be better to leave dicult questions, and come back to them at the end if you have time. Also, look out for possible shortcuts in questions, such as the one below.

Example. Which factory had the highest yield? Solution. We could solve this problem by calculating the yield for each factory, and checking which is the highest. However, this would take a long time, so instead we take a rough estimate. Factory A made around 120 thousand chips, and 24 thousand of them were shipped, so this is a yield of about 20% Factory B made 230 thousand chips, and 26 thousand were shipped, 10% would be 23 thousand, so this is a little over 10% Factory C made around 600 thousand chips, and around 60 thousand were shipped, so this is around 10% Factory D made around 300 thousand chips, and 35 thousand were shipped, so this is a little over 10% Factory E made 350 thousand chips, and around 35 thousand were shipped, to this is around 10% We can see that Factory A had a yield of around 20%, whereas Factories BE had yields of around 10%, so wed answer A to this question. Example. Which factory has the highest total running cost. Solution. On this example, although we cant avoid doing calculations entirely, we can reduce the number of calculations we have to do. We can see that it costs most of the factories around $30 to make a chip, except Factory D, where it costs about $50. The variation in the number of chips produced dwarfs the variation in cost for the $30 factories, so wed expect the most expensive factory to run would either be

the $30 factory making the most chips (Factory C), or Factory D, because of its high production costs, so we just look at these two. 568 29 = 16, 472, so Factory C costs $16,472,000 to run. 310 49 = 15, 190, so Factory D costs $15,190,000 to run, so Factory C costs most to run.

Carbon Emissions
Last Year

15%

10%

20%

25%

30%
Power Generation Transport Industrial Commercial Residential

This Year

15%

15%

25%

20%

25%

Example. If transport emitted 8 millions tons this year, and industrial emissions are the same as last year, what were commercial emissions last year? A. 4 million tons B. 5 million tons C. 6 million tons D. 7 million tons E. 8 million tons Solution. Although you are allowed a calculator in tests, its not always a good idea to reach for the calculator, particularly if you are good at mental arithmetic. First, we notice that the ratio of transport to industrial is 20:25, which is 4:5, which is 8:10, so emissions by industry this year were 10 million tons. This is the same as last year, and last year commercial emissions were half industrial emissions, so commercial emissions were 5 million tons. Therefore, the answer is B.

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Exercises

1. In what month were most barrels of oil sold? A. Jan B. Feb C. Mar D. Apr E. May 2. What, approximately, was the percentage increase in sales from February to March? A. 10% B. 13% C. 17% D. 20% E. 24% 3. Approximately how many barrels of oil were sold in April? A. 1.3 million B. 1.34 million C. 1.4 million D. 1.45 million E. 1.48 million 4. Tax fell by $0.05 a barrel in May. How much did this lower the tax bill by? A. $73,034 B. $75,876 C. $76,792 D. $78,112 E. $78,998 5. Oil sales rose by 25% from December to January, what were the sales for December? A. $85 million B. $88 million C. $90 million D. $96 million E. $100 million

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6. This year, 40,000 was spent on fuel, and spending on wages doubled since last year. How much was spent on advertising last year? A. 4,000 B. 5,000 C. 7,500 D. 10,000 E. 20,000 7. If 25,000 was spent on wages this year, how much was spent on advertising? A. 18,500 B. 18,600 C. 18,750 D. 19,050 E. 19,500 8. If the amount spent on fuel this year is the same as it was last year, by what percentage did spending on advertising increase? A. 5% B. 6% C. 6.5% D. 8% E. 10% 9. If the total spent on tax and administration last year was 10,000, how much was spent on fuel? A. 12,020 B. 12,166 C. 12,333 D. 12,500 E. 12,727

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10. What, approximately, was the average total daily Calorie intake for London in year 20? A. 25 billion Calories B. 28 billion Calories C. 33 billion Calories D. 38 billion Calories E. 42 billion Calories 11. Which city saw the largest percentage increase in average Calorie consumption from Year 10 to Year 20? A. London B. Detroit C. Guangzhou D. Nairobi E. Mumbai 12. If population and Calorie consumption continue to grow at the current rate, roughly how many Calories will the city of Mumbai consume per day in year 30? A. 80 billion B. 85 billion C. 90 billion D. 95 billion E. 100 billion 13. If population growth continues at the current rate, roughly how many people will live in Guangzhou in year 70? A. 26 million B. 28 million C. 30 million D. 32 million E. 34 million

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14. What is the ratio of Chris sales to Alans sales for week 4? A. 2:1 B. 3:2 C. 1:1 D. 2:3 E. 1:2 15. By what percentage did Chris improve from week 3 to week 5? A. 25% B. 33% C. 50% D. 60% E. 75% 16. The target is 3 sales a week. Employees receive a 100 bonus for every sale after this, and an additional 200 bonus if they make 7 or more sales in a week. What was Chris bonus? A. 700 B. 800 C. 900 D. 1,000 E. 1,200 17. On average, how many sales did Bill make a week? A. 2.8 B. 3 C. 3.2 D. 3.6 E. 4

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18. Which school had the lowest pass rate? A. Inner City B. Suburbs C. Rural D. Coastal E. Mountains 19. Which school had most exam candidates? A. Inner City B. Suburbs C. Rural D. Coastal E. Mountains 20. Roughly what percentage of rural students attained grades BA*? A. 26% B. 28% C. 30% D. 32% E. 34% 21. The following year, 64 more students took the exam from the suburban school. How many would need to pass for the pass rate to stay the same? A. 136 B. 143 C. 150 D. 159 E. 168 22. What percentage of students with grades BA* were from the coastal school? A. 21% B. 23% C. 25% D. 27% E. 29%

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Fruit Exports

Last Year

30%

10%

20%

25%

15%

Coconuts Melons Mangoes Pineapples Bananas

This Year

35%

15%

10%

30%

10%

23. If pineapple exports are up 20% on last year, and 20,000 tons of mangoes were exported this year, How many melons were exported last year? A. 44,444 tons B. 50,000 tons C. 62,500 tons D. 75,000 tons E. 83,333 tons 24. The total weight of fruit exported next year will be the same as it was this year, 50,000 tons. If theres no change in the weight of melons and pineapples exported, and the weight of coconuts and mangoes both increase by 50%, how many bananas will be exported? A. 12,500 tons B. 15,000 tons C. 17,500 tons D. 20,000 tons E. 25,000 tons 25. This year, 27,000 tons of fruit were exported, which is 4% more than last year. If this trend continues, and the proportions stay the same, how many years will it take for pineapple exports to reach at least 4,500 tons? A. 1 year B. 2 years C. 3 years D. 4 years E. 5 years 26. This year, 44,000 tons of bananas were exported, and melon exports were up 15% on last year. How many pineapples were exported last year? A. 13,118 tons B. 14,882 tons C. 16,092 tons D. 17,454 tons E. 18,998 tons

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27. Which branch made most prot? A. New York B. Chicago C. Houston D. Los Angeles E. Seattle 28. Which branch pays the highest average wage? A. New York B. Chicago C. Houston D. Los Angeles E. Seattle 29. What, approximately, were the total sales for the year? A. $5.9 million B. $6.5 million C. $7.2 million D. $7.7 million E. $8.1 million 30. If the average employee at the Houston branch worked there for 3 months, and vacancies were quickly lled, how many people were recruited over the course of the year at the Houston branch? A. 121 B. 128 C. 132 D. 144 E. 152

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31. What was the ratio of consumer to non-consumer energy use in London last year? A. 2:1 B. 3:2 C. 1:1 D. 2:3 E. 1:2 32. If business in Paris increases its energy use at the same rate as business in London did from last year to this year, how much energy will business use in Paris next year? A. 35 Megawatts B. 37.5 Megawatts C. 42 Megawatts D. 45 Megawatts E. 47.5 Megawatts 33. What percentage of total energy use by Paris, over the last two years, was by business? A. 22% B. 30% C. 33% D. 35% E. 44% 34. What is the ratio of business energy usage to total energy usage in Paris this year? A. 3:11 B. 5:16 C. 2:9 D. 3:10 E. 6:29

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35. In total, how much was spent on LPG over the course of the year? A. 6,951,071 B. 7,702,214 C. E. 8,551,960 10,776,960 D. 9,869,153

36. Approximately how much money would the average petrol car driver save by switching to a hybrid car, assuming they dont change their driving habits? A. B. C. E. 132 140 145 161

D. 153

37. Roughly what percentage of the total volume of fuel sold (in litres) was diesel? A. 20% B. 22% C. 25% D. 27% E. 30% 38. What was the total distance driven in the city over the course of the year? A. 9.2 billion km B. 10.5 billion km C. 12.8 billion km D. 14.2 billion km E. 15.9 billion km 39. If I put 20 worth of fuel into an average LPG car, how far can I go? A. 272 km B. 281 km C. 305 km D. 321 km E. 340 km

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Solutions
Q1. C Q2. E Q3. B Q4. A Q5. D Q6. B Q7. C Q8. A Q9. E Q10. C Q11. Q12. Q13. Q14. Q15. Q16. Q17. Q18. Q19. Q20. C B D B E D C A B D Q21. Q22. Q23. Q24. Q25. Q26. Q27. Q28. Q29. Q30. D E C A C A C A D E Q31. Q32. Q33. Q34. Q35. Q36. Q37. Q38. Q39. D B B A B A D E C

Please note that all data found in graphs and charts in this booklet is fabricated. Any resemblance to real data is purely coincidental.

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