SPECTRUM TUITION YEAR 7-8 SELECTIVE MATHEMATICS

8.2. NUMERICAL REASONING PRACTICE

EXAM
Aim to complete the following exam in 30 minutes. In the actual exam you will be given
30 minutes.

Start time:
End time:
Total time:

Fill in the space by the correct answer.

Question 1
Find the missing number in the following series:

2 24 246 ? 24680

A: 246 B: 2468 C: 2467 D: 246810 E: None of these

To get the next number, consecutive even numbers are added as digits. That is, 4 is added to
Question 2
The numbers in the grid go together in a certain way. Which number should be in the square
marked by the question mark?

18 15 12
15 12 9
12 9 ?

A: 12 B: 9 C: 6 D: 3 E: None of these

Along each row and each column, 3 is subtracted from a number to get the next one. Hence,
Question 3
I have $10 while my sister has $6. How much money should I give her so that we have the
same amount?

A: 2 B: 4 C: 5 D: 6 E: None of these

Total money = 10 + 6 = 16. Equal share will mean that each person should have 16 ÷ 2 = 8.

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Question 4
The numbers and letters in the grid form a pattern and one of the links has been erased.
Which number or letter should be in the square marked by the question mark?

H F I G K J
7 E H F J I
6 4 G E I H
?
4 2 5 3 G F
3 1 4 2 6 E

A: D B: 4 C: E D: 5 E: None of these

Question 5
8 pairs of shoes cost as much as 1 coat, 3pairs of jeans cost as much as 2 pairs of shoes, and 5
pairs of socks cost as much as 1 pair of jeans. How many coats could I exchange for 120
pairs of socks?

A: 16 B: 12 C: 4 D: 2 E: None of these
5 socks = 1 jeans; so, 120 socks = 24 jeans.
3 jeans = 2 shoes; so, 24 jeans = 16 shoes.
Question 6
The number sets given below go together in a certain way. Find the missing number marked
by the question mark:

5, 25 4, 16 7, 49 ?, 64

A: 2 B: 4 C: 6 D: 8 E: None of these
the first number is the positive square root of the second. That is, 52 = 25, 42 = 16 and 72 =
49.positive square root of 64 and that is 8. Answer is D.

Question 7
Cody’s watch is 10 minutes faster than the clock in his bedroom, which is 5 minutes faster
than the actual time. The bus that Cody wants to catch is supposed to come to his bus stop at
9:15 am, but it is always 5 minutes late. It usually reaches Cody’s destination in 37 minutes.
What will be the time in Cody’s watch when he reaches his destination?

A: 9:57 am B: 10:02 am C: 10:12 am D: 10:17 am E: None of these

The bus is supposed to start at 9:15 am, but is always 5 minutes late. So, it will start only at 9:

Question 8
Arthur bought a box of cookies. His best friend Nancy ate 1/3rd. of the cookies. After that,
Arthur’s sister ate half of the remaining number. Of the rest, Arthur’s brother took 3. If there
were 24 cookies in the box, how many are left for Arthur?

A: 8 B: 5 C: 4 D: 3 E: None of these

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Question 9
Electricity charges in the city of Khartoum are: $2.25 for each unit until 1000 units, $2.75 for
every unit above 1000. Four households – Smith, Johnson, McGrath and Taylor – use 942,
980, 965 and 1010 units. Since Taylor is a war veteran, his household gets a 5% discount on
the charges. Smith has to pay 2.5% late penalty on the full amount. What is the maximum
amount paid among the four households (round to the nearest cent)?

A: $2163.63. B: $2171.25. C: $2172.49. D: $2205.00. E: None of these

Question 10
Find the missing number in the following series:

16384 4096 1024 ? 64

A: 256 B: 512 C: 128 D: 456 E: None of these

Each number is got by dividing the previous one by 4. That is: 16384 ÷ 4 = 4096; 4096 ÷ 4 =
Question 11
Find the missing number in the following series:

107 111 115 ? 123 127 131 135

A: 118 B: 119 C: 120 D: 121 E: None of these

Question 12
The numbers in the grid go together in a certain way. Which number should be in the square
marked by the question mark?

18 21 24
25 28 31
? 35 38

A: 28 B: 31 C: 34 D: 37 E: None of these

Question 13
Jason walks at a steady speed of 5 km per hour. If the distance from his house to the school
is 1 km, how many minutes will he take to walk that distance?

A: 10 B: 12 C: 15 D: 20 E: None of these

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Question 14
If Peter had twice the number of pencils as he has, he would have the exact same number of
pencils as Jade. If Jade had 5 pencils more, she would have thrice the number of pencils as
Peter. How many pencils do they have in total?

A: 5 B: 10 C: 15 D: 20 E: None of these
+ 5 = 3x; so, x = 5. Total pencils = x + 2x = 3x = 15. Answer is C.

The following story relates to the next two questions.

Steve, Greg and Harry each have a collection of marbles. Mr. McMarble’s collection is worth
one-fifth the value of Harry’s marbles collection plus five red marbles, three green marbles
and twenty blue marbles.

10 X blue marbles 15 X blue marbles 30 X blue marbles

15 X red marbles 20 X red marbles 25 X red marbles
20 X green marbles 10 X green marbles

Steve’s Marbles Greg’s Marbles Harry’s

Marbles
Blue marbles will fetch double the price of red ones at the auction, whilst green will fetch
half of what a blue one will fetch.

Question 15
Who has the least variety of marbles in their collection?

A: Steve B: Greg C: Harry D: Mr. McMarble E: None of these

Number of types of marbles with each person:
Steve = 3; Greg = 3; Harry = 2; Mr. McMarble = 3. Least variety = 2 = Harry. Answer is C.

Question 16
Who would get the least money for their marble collection at the auction?

A: Greg B: Steve C: Harry D: Mr. McMarble E: None of these

Question 17
The number sets given below go together in a certain way. Find the missing number marked
by the question mark:

81, 9 63, 7 ?, 10 99, 11

A: 72 B: 90 C: 108 D: 117 E: None of these

In ea = 10 × 9 = 90. Answer is B.

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Question 18
The numbers in the grid go together in a certain way. One of the squares has a * placed in it,
to hide the number underneath. Which number should be in the square marked by the
question mark?

2 10 50
10 * 250
50 250 ?

A: 1250 B: 1000 C: 750 D: 500 E: None of these

\
Question 19
There are 42 students in a class, of which 23 are girls. In a rather tough Maths test last week,
only 20 students passed. If 2 boys did not even write in the test, then what is the minimum
number of girls that could have passed the test?

A: 1 B: 3 C: 17 D: 20 E: None of these
Number of boys in class = 42; so, number of boys in class = 42 – 23 = 19. Number of children

Question 20
Jerry spends one-sixth of his monthly salary for rent and uses the remaining money for his
everyday expenses. If Jerry spent $320 on his everyday expenses last month, how much
money did he earn?

A: $1920 B: $266.67 C: $420 D: $384 E: None of these

, total earned = 320 ÷ (5/6) = $384. Answer is D.

Question 21
Find the missing number in the following series:

5 20 15 60 55 ? 215

A: 60 B: 95 C: 110 D: 210 E: None of these

lternate patterns of ×4 and –5 . That is, 5 × 4 = 20; 20 – 5 = 15; then 15 × 4 = 60; 60 – 5

Question 22
For a discount sale, a pair of jeans originally priced at $20 is marked up by 30% and then a
discount of 25% is given. What is its sale price?

A: $25.00 B: $19.50 C: $18.00 D: $11.00 E: None of these

is B.

Question 23
Find the missing number in the following series:

5 7 11 ? 17 23

A: 12 B: 13 C: 14 D: 15 E: None of these

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Question 24
I have a specific number of pens. When I arrange them in groups of 3, I have 1 left. When I
arrange them in groups of 4, 1 is left. When I arrange them in groups of 5, I have 4 left.
How many pens do I have?

A: 47 B: 48 C: 49 D: 50 E: None of these

If 47 is split into groups of 3, 2 are left, but question says 1 is left. So, 47 cannot be the answer.
Question 25
Shane’s mother picks him up after school. She starts from home and then goes to her gym.
After finishing her exercise there, she drives from the gym to the school and picks him up.
From there, Shane and his mother drive home. Last Tuesday, Shane’s mother came to the
gym from her house. But after some time at the gym, she felt nauseous. So, she went back
home and took some rest before driving to the school for Shane’s pick up. After that, they
returned home directly. If the distance between Shane’s house and school is 12 km and the
gym is exactly half-way in that route, what distance did Shane’s mother drive in total last
Tuesday?

A: 24km B: 30km C: 36km D: 42km E: None of these

distance between home and school = 12 ÷ 2 = 6 km.
Total distance travelled by Shane’s mother on last Tuesday = Home to gym + gym to home +
Question 26
A sequence of numbers is changing by the same amount each time. The fourth, fifth and sixth
numbers are 2, -3 and -8. What is the sum of the first ten items in the sequence?

A: -5 B: -27 C: -45 D: -55 E: None of these

From the numbers given, change between numbers = -3 – 2 = -5; that is, 5 is subtracted from
Question 27
Find the missing number in the following series:

? 12 36 108 324

A: 3 B: 4 C: 6 D: 8 E: None of these

Each number is multiplied by 3 to get the next one. That is: 12 × 3 = 36; 36 × 3 = 108; 108 ×
Question 28
The number sets given below go together in a certain way. Find the missing number marked
by the question mark:

14, 7, 7 1, 23, 1 24, 36, 12 15, 45, ?

A: 1 B: 3 C: 5 D: 15 E: None of these
In each set, the LCM of the first two numbers is the third one. That is, LCM of 14 and 7 is 15is

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Question 29
Cathy’s room has dimensions of 6 m by 7 m, with a height of 5 m. There is one window of
dimensions 1 m by 1 m. For paining one sq. m. area, it takes 2 litres of paint. How much
paint will it take for Cathy to paint her room’s 4 walls and ceiling? Do remember that the
window will not be painted!

A: 344 litres. B: 342 litres. C: 346 litres. D: 348 litres. E: None of these
Area of one wall (that has dimensions of 6 m by 5 m) = 6 x 5 = 30 sq. m. Area of two such
walls (opposite to each other) = 30 x 2 = 60 sq. m.
Area of one wall (that has dimensions of 7 m by 5 m) = 7 x 5 = 35 sq. m. Area of two such
Question 30
Two single digit numbers are each multiplied by themselves to give two new numbers. The
difference between these two new numbers is a single digit number; the difference between
the two original numbers was more than 1. What is one of the original numbers?

A: 2 B: 3 C: 4 D: 5 E: None of these
Since

Question 31
Leslie has collected a pile of old newspapers. If each newspaper has 16 sheets, with each
sheet being 2 mm thick and the total pile is 288 cm thick, how many newspapers are there in
the pile?

A: 90 B: 45 C: 18 D: 9 E: None of these
Total t. Hence, answer is A.

Question 32
Melanie has two options to buy ice cream for her shop. First option is from a supplier who
sells to her at $65 for 50 kg and then $1.25 per extra kg after that. Option 2 is another
supplier who charges $0.25 per cup for the first 100 cups and then $0.20 for every cup after
that. Melanie sells each cup of ice cream for $0.49. If each cup contains 200 grams of ice
cream, how much total profit can Melanie make if she correctly forecasts that she can sell
100 cups in a day?

A: $21 B: $23 C: $24 D: $27 E: None of these

for 100 cups (at $0.49 per cup) = 100 x 0.49 = $49. Total profit = 49 – 26 = $23.
Supplier 2: Cost of 100 cups (at $0.25 per cup) = 100 x 0.25 = $25. Selling price for 100 cups
The following story relates to the next three questions.

3 x pants 4 x pants
2 x sweaters 1 x sweater
4 x shirts 6 x shirts
Ms. Warne Ms. Healy

Pants = $7 Sweaters = $10 Shirts = $4.50

Ms. Warne and Ms. Healy are selling used clothes at a trash and treasure stall. The prices are
shown above. Ms. Healy calculates that half of the money she took is profit. Ms. Warne is
the same, except for her shirts – she makes $2 profit per shirt. Takings (the prices listed
above) are the money they take from customers overall. Profit is what they have left over
after they have paid all of their expenses.

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Question 33
If both sell all of their used clothes, how much money will the person who has the most
takings get?

A: $47.50 B: $59.00 C: $62.50 D: $65.00 E: $61.50

Money Ms. Warne will make = 3(7) + 2(10) + 4(4.50) = $59.
Money Ms. Healy will make = 4(7) + 1(10) + 6(4.50) = $65er is $65, and that is option D.
Question 34
How much profit will Ms. Healy make?

A: $28.00 B: $29.50 C: $30.50 D: $32.50 E: None of these

Ms. Healy’s takings = $65. Profit is half of that = 65 ÷ 2 = $32.50. Answer is D.

Question 35
What is the difference between the profit of Ms. Healy and Ms. Warne?

A: $4.00 B: $2.50 C: $4.50 D: $6.00 E: None of these

Ms. Warne’s takings for pants and sweaters = 3(7) + 2(10) = $41. Profit = 41 ÷ 2 = $20.5.
Profit for shirts ($2 per shirt) = 4 × 2 = $8. Total profit = 20.5 + 8 = $28.5.
Question 36
S-Mart paid $50 to its supplier for buying 100 pens and sold them for 3 for $1.99 to its
customers. How much profit did S-Mart make for 300 pens?

A: $42 B: $49 C: $50 D: $55 E: None of these

Cost of 1 pen = 50 ÷ 100 = $0.50. Cost of 300 pens = 0.50 × 300 = $150. Selling price for 3 \

Question 37
The number sets given below go together in a certain way. Find the missing number marked
by the question mark:

14, 28, 2 39, 3, 13 108, 9, 12 132, 12, ?

A: 15 B: 14 C: 13 D: 12 E: None of these
÷ 12 = 11. Answer is E.

Question 38
Find the missing number in the following series:

65 55 46 38 31 ?

A: 23 B: 24 C: 25 D: 26 E: None of these

Second number = first one – 10. Third one = second one – 9. Fourth one = third one – 8. A
Question 39
A cycle race was supposed to start at 6:40 am, but started 25 minutes late. The winner took
an hour and 42 minutes to finish the race. The runner-up finished two minutes after the
winner. At what time did the runner-up cross the finish line?

A: 8:22 am B: 8:24 am C: 8:47 am D: 8:49 am E: None of these

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Question 40
Find the missing number in the following series:

64 41 32 43 16 ? 8 47

A: 44 B: 45 C: 12 D: 10 E: None of these

Alternate numbers are obtained by dividing by 2; that is 64 ÷ 2 = 32; 32 ÷ 2 = 16; 16 ÷ 2 = 8

Question 41
Marlon drove from his house to his friend’s house in 2 and a half hours. On his return
journey, he covered the same distance in an hour and 40 minutes. What fraction is the time
that he took on his return of the time that he took for the journey from his house to his
friend’s?

A: 1/3 B: 2/3 C: 14/25 D: 1/2 E: None of these

= 100 ÷ 150 = 2/3. Answer is B.

Question 42
Lemon juice is a mixture of 2 parts lemon concentrate and 3 parts water. To make 10 litres of
lemon juice, how much water is required?

A: 2. B: 4. C: 6. D: 8. E: None of these
Lemon juice from 2 parts lemon and 3 parts water = 2 + 3 = 5 parts; that is, 3 parts water is C.

Question 43
For her garden, Anne bought 40 packs of seeds, some packs of fertiliser and 1 plough. While
the plough cost her $45, each pack of fertiliser cost her $3. She bought a total of 61 items. If
the total cost was $195, how much did each pack of seeds cost?

A: $1.50. B: $1.75 C: $2.00 D: $2.25. E: None of these

Total
Total cost = $195. Cost of 20 packs of fertiliser = 20 × 3 = 60. Cost of plough = 45. Hence,
Question 44
In the jar of marbles that Stephen has, there are three times as many green marbles as red
ones and two times as many pink ones as red ones. If the total number of marbles is 36, how
many green marbles are there?

A: 9 B: 12 C: 18 D: 24 E: None of these
Let

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The following information relates to the next three questions.
Larger boxes hold 8 smaller boxes. Different cargo vans carry a different number of larger
boxes. The number of larger boxes carried by different types of vans is indicated below:

Van Type No. of Larger Van Rental

Boxes
Ford E-350 6 $40
Chevrolet Astro 18 $80
Chevrolet Express 12 $70
Ford Transit 4 $42
GMC Safari 9 $72
Dodge Caravan 10 $60

Question 45
Which van can transport 47 smaller boxes with the least amount of space leftover?

A: GMC Safari B: Dodge Caravan C: Chevrolet Astro D: Ford E-350 E: None of these
47 smaller boxes = 5.88 larger boxes. From the table, Ford E-350 can hold 6 boxes. Answer

Question 46
There is one of each van. What is the smallest number of vans that can be used to carry 128
smaller boxes, with no space leftover?

A: 2 B: 1 C: 4 D: 3 E: None of these
128 smaller boxes = 16 larger boxes. From the table, for 16 larger boxes, with no space

Question 47
There is one of each type of van. Left over spaces are allowed. What is the cost for the
cheapest van or combination of vans that will take 120 smaller boxes?

A: $112 B: $90 C: $80 D: $72 E: None of these

of $80. Any other combination is costlier. So, answer is $80 and that is option C.

Question 48
Find the missing number in the following series:

2 12 72 ? 2592

A: 144 B: 288 C: 432 D: 864 E: None of these

Question 49
Find the missing numbers in the following series:

1 Z 4 X 9 V 16 ? ?

A: T, 23 B: T, 25 C: U, 25 D: S, 25 E: None of these

Alternate numbers are squares of integers in ascending order. That is, 12 = 1; 22 = 4; 32 = 9

and so on.

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Question 50
My uncle has only horses and pigs in his farm. If the total number of animals is 60 and the
number of horses is half the number of pigs, then how many pigs does he have?

A: 20 B: 30 C: 40 D: 50 E: None of these

Total Marks: ____/50

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