PRACTICE DRILL 3—RATIOS

Remember to time yourself

during this drill!

1. In a jar of lollipops, the ratio of red lollipops to blue lollipops is 3:5. If only red lollipops and blue lollipops are in the jar and if the total number of lollipops in the
jar is 56, how many blue lollipops are in the jar?

(A) 35
(B) 28
(C) 21
(D) 8
(E) 5

2. At Jed’s Country Hotel, there are three types of rooms: singles, doubles, and triples. If the ratio of singles to doubles to triples is 3:4:5, and the total number of
rooms is 36, how many doubles are there?

(A) 4
(B) 9
(C) 12
(D) 24
(E) 36

3. Matt’s Oak Superstore has exactly three times as many large oak desks as small oak desks in its inventory. If the store only sells these two types of desks,
which could be the total number of desks in stock?

(A) 10
(B) 13
(C) 16
(D) 18
(E) 25

4. In Janice’s tennis club, 8 of the 12 players are right-handed. What is the ratio of right-handed to left-handed players in Janice’s club?

(A) 1:2
(B) 1:6
(C) 2:1
(D) 2:3
(E) 3:4

5. One-half of the 400 students at Booth Junior High School are girls. Of the girls at the school, the ratio of those who ride a school bus to those who walk is 7:3.
What is the total number of girls who walk to school?

(A) 10
(B) 30
(C) 60
(D) 120
(E) 140

6. A pet goat eats 2 pounds of goat food and 1 pound of grass each day. When the goat has eaten a total of 15 pounds, how many pounds of grass will it have
eaten?

(A) 3
(B) 4
(C) 5
(D) 15
(E) 30

Don’t forget to check your

answers on this page.

Averages
There are three parts to every average problem: total, number, and average. Most SSAT problems will give you two of the three
pieces and ask you to find the third. To help organize the information you are given, use the Average Pie.

The Average Pie organizes all of your information visually. It is easy to see all of the relationships between the pieces of the pie.

• TOTAL = (# of items) (Average)

• # of items =

• Average =

For example, if your friend went bowling and bowled three games, scoring 71, 90, and 100, here’s how you would compute her
average score using the Average Pie.

To find the average, you would simply write a fraction that represents , in this case .

The math becomes simple. 261 ÷ 3 = 87. Your friend bowled an average of 87.

Practice working with the Average Pie by using it to solve the following problems.

Average
When you see the word
average, draw an average
pie.
PRACTICE DRILL 4—AVERAGES

Remember to time yourself

during this drill!

1. The average of 3 numbers is 18. What is 2 times the sum of the 3 numbers?

(A) 108
(B) 54
(C) 36
(D) 18
(E) 6

2. If Set M contains 4 positive integers whose average is 7, then what is the largest number that Set M could contain?

(A) 6
(B) 7
(C) 18
(D) 25
(E) 28

3. An art club of 4 boys and 5 girls makes craft projects. If the boys average 2 projects each and the girls average 3 projects each, what is the total number of
projects produced by the club?

(A) 14
(B) 23
(C) 26
(D) 54
(E) 100

4. If a class of 6 students has an average grade of 72 before a seventh student joins the class, then what must the seventh student’s grade be to raise the class
average to 76 ?

(A) 100
(B) 92
(C) 88
(D) 80
(E) 76

5. Catherine scores an 84, 85, and 88 on her first three exams. What must she score on her fourth exam to raise her average to an 89 ?

(A) 99
(B) 97
(C) 93
(D) 91
(E) 89

Don’t forget to check your

answers on this page.

Percent Change—Upper Level Only

There is one special kind of percent question that shows up on the SSAT: percent change. This type of question asks you to find
what percent something has increased or decreased. Instead of taking the part and dividing it by the whole, you will take the
difference between the two numbers and divide it by the original number. Then, to turn the fraction to a percent, divide the
numerator by the denominator and multiply by 100.

For example:

The number of people who watched Empire last year was 3,600,000. This year, only 3,000,000 are watching the show. By approximately what percent has the
audience decreased?