Are you numerate? These are some questions designed to test everyday math skills - 20% of people got 4 or 5 right

[cakeorwine]

This came up in another thread. I am a bit sceptical about the quality of this test to assess numeracy and everyday maths skills from these 5 questions and to use this to say how good people are at maths, but there you go.

www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Our_year_in_numbers/national_numeracy_day_2019.pdf

The questions (you can use a calculator)

1. If a scarf costs £11.70 after a 10% reduction, what was the original price? (L1)
   • £12.50
   • £13.25
   • £13.99
   • £13.00
   • I don’t know

2. Mike’s lunch contains 640 calories of energy. What percentage is this of his target daily intake of 2000 calories? (L1)
   • 45%
   • 62%
   • 65%
   • 32%
   • I don’t know

3. Rail tickets increased by 2% in year 1, and 5% in year 2. What was the overall increase over the two years? (L2)
   • 7%
   • 7.1%
   • 10.0%
   • 10.7%
   • I don’t know

4. . These are three offers on the same ketchup. Which is the best value for money? (L2)
   • 275g for £1.05
   • 454g for £1.99
   • 650g for £2.20
   • 425g: buy two for £3.10
   • I don’t know

5. You buy a laptop that costs £899, including VAT at 20%. How much of the purchase price is VAT? (L2)
   • £179.80
   • £89.80
   • £125.00
   • None of these
   • I don’t know

Based on the results from a five-question multiple-choice test of people’s everyday maths skills, 56% of the population scored less than 3. The questions are everyday maths questions from the National Numeracy Challenge and are all roughly equivalent to those within a GCSE maths paper.

Based on results from a multiple-choice test of people’s everyday maths skills, 20% of the population scored 4 or 5, roughly equivalent to a GCSE pass (Grade 4 / C). This is in line with the last Government-commissioned Skills for Life survey.

So have a go and see where you fit in. Answers are at the bottom of the link

I got 4/5, no calculator. Like others I got the VAT question wrong. I’d have got 5 if I weren’t on heavy duty painkillers 😂 I do the cashing up and banking twice a week at work though, so I have to be semi-capable with numbers.

Got 2/5.
I really do feel it when my DD wants help with maths 😩

These would have been O Level/CSE maths back in the olden days.

Got 5/5 but I did guess number 3. And i spent a long long time checking and rechecking 5.

I got all the questions correct without a calculator and only have a grade C O level .

However, I have also needed to use basic maths in my careers. Pre kids insurance underwriter And in recent years self employed costume maker. I have to calculate % of negative ease and there’s a lot of geometry

5/5 but I did maths to a level with reasonable ease. They were all quite similar questions though so I’m not sure what a good test of general maths knowledge they are.

The ketchup one was also quite boring.

4/5 more because I don't understand the concept of VAT than that I don't know how to do the sum!

I think the focus on percentages is reasonable because they are used a lot in news articles. They key is to find out what the denominator is.

eg - some made up statistics: 25% OF people who got it right were above 55 years old. VS 25% OF 55 year olds got it right.

compound interest is an important concept for mortgages and finance. I can imaging questions like the VAT one might be useful in some lines of business

Compound interest is interesting when it comes to inflation, pay rises etc.

And Goverments rely on people not totally understanding percentages when they quote them

They could have added some questions on probability, statistics and ratio as well.

The problem isn't just that people don't understand percentages, it's that they're routinely not given enough information or context to understand them, with journalists sprinkling their copy with impressive-sounding numbers to add spice rather than aid comprehension.

Not the best example but all I can come up with on the spur of the moment: news channels will say things like "inflation this month is 11%". That makes it sound like things are 11% more expensive this month than they were last month, but that's not what it actually means.

I got 6 out of 5 but that because I was hopeless at maths.

I got 4/5 the last one I got incorrect

I can do these without a calculator but I'm not sure what it proves other than I'm good at maths.

If it was a foreign language test or anything creative, I would morethan likely get zero.

I've always considered how my brain works to be rather boring. It's all very logical.

As a result, I'm always going to the theatre, concerts, art exhibitions etc. because I have no talents in that area at all & am hugely impressed by those who have.

Similarly at work, I can analyse, monitise or execute almost anything but need more creative people to generate the concepts or ideas.

Maths is extremely useful as a skill but it's definitely one of the more boring ones.

I think schools put so much focus on it that people, especially children, who struggle with it, believe they are stupid, when it couldn't be further from the truth. It's a pity education doesn't take a more rounded approach.

3/5 + not being able to understand the explanations given on how to calculate the correct answer = very sore head.

5/5 don't consider myself particularly numerate and didn't use a calculator 🤷‍♀️

5/5 in my head. 2 of them there was only one possible answer so easy to guess.

do love to work things like this out.

5/5 but I have a Maths O Level plus two HNDs in separate disciplines in later years where Maths at that level were required / mandatory to pass the exams 👍

Oh, no calculator but Log Tables and Slide Rule, shows my age 😹😳😳

I got 5/5, some by just seeing there was only one possible correct answer without really doing the calculation. (I did double maths A level and write scientific software, but hate mental arithmetic)

4/5 which is odd as I would generally say I am not particularly numerate.

@EngTech

Log tables! Do you remember the log books?🤣

I understand completely what I need to do but not how to do it, if that makes sense. And then over complicate things - it really is a result of lack of maths teachers back in the 80s where you just had to work it out yourself

I got 5/5.
However, I think it's an unfair test. They shouldn't be using this to make generalizations about people's numeracy skills. 4 of the 5 questions involve percentages so anyone who doesn't understand them is fucked... If there had been 5 different types of questions including one percentage question then the results might have been different.

I agree. It's not that good a test to make a statement on the numeracy abilities of the population.

5/5 We did all this stuff in junior school at 9 years old and far more complicated stuff than this at that age including Trigonometry and geometry. All the kids could do it. Class size was 12 children, back in the 1970s in poverty Britain. This is absolutely basic maths that any adult should be able to do.

5/5 with a calculator and the IQ of sausage.