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

4/5 for me with my CSE Maths level 2, an exam that doesn't exist any more.

5/5
no calculator
no degree
no a levels
good at most things 😆

5/5 but I'm an accountant so knew to divide by 6 for the VAT, pretty sure I wouldn't have known that if it wasn't for my job and would have made the mistake of just calculating 20%.

I agree with you though OP that it's not a great test of overall numeracy skills.

Quite pleased with my result. I always put myself down as rubbish at maths. I got an E in my G.C.S.E's.
I scored 4 without a calculator 😊

5/5 which surprised me as I’m dreadful at maths. Questions 2, 3, and 4 were easy, but I couldn’t remember the proper maths way the calculate the percentages for 1 and 5. So I had to make up my own way of doing it.

There is no proper maths way. That's something I always liked about maths — if your way works, and isn't just coincidental, then it's right (and is probably essentially the same as the way you were taught but just wearing a different trenchcoat).

@ErrolTheDragon

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)

I got exactly the same for calculating exactly the same way. But I'm an English teacher who loves mental arithmetic!

5/5 using a calculator. My O-level Maths was a a lifetime ago. I would regard myself as only being averagely ok at maths.

Thanks, makes sense. Unfortunately the things that clearly ‘jump out’ to most people with these kinds of questions don’t to me (until it’s pointed out). I seem to just lack basic common sense when it comes to numeracy. Also, with question 4 I did exactly as suggested by another poster to get the price per gram and still ended selecting the wrong answer.

Ah well, I’ll plod on with my studies and perhaps it will click eventually :)

@Eastie77Returns - keep going. Don’t be discouraged. When you do 20 or 50 of these type of sums you will see the pattern. A high-flying corporate lawyer relative asks me these type of questions (so lots of people find it hard).

Will definitely keep going:) If nothing else, I’m worried my 9 year old will shortly be more numerate than me! She appears to be a Maths whiz and loves the subject.

They think a 20% discount is the same as taking the VAT off.

They give back too much / lose 3.33% of the initial price, or 4% of the money that they should be getting (the price before VAT). They should take off 16.66%.

Reminds me of an old saying "if you think education is expensive, try the cost of ignorance"

I did them all in my head & got them right) but as I have an accountancy qualification I’ve likely had a lot more practice of percentages and value calculations than average. I think it’s not a bad selection as these are are practical things it can be helpful to understand in real life. Agree something with statistics would be good and maybe something on calculating relative vs absolute risks as people definitely struggle with that