Maths test - to think Civil Service have it wrong?

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I’ve just applied for a Civil Service test. Part of it is passing a numerical test.

This is the question.

The answer is 125%. I’m sure of it.

If you start with £100, and in the first year it doubles it’s £200. So at the of year one it’s £200.

In year two it trebles to £600.

It then falls by a quarter in the third year to £450.

So end of year 1 - £200.

End of year 3 - £450.

It’s increased by 125%.

125% isn’t an answer option.

WIBU to email and tell them they’ve got it wrong?

Isn't it 225%

I think it might be 225? It went up 100% in year one then to 300% then lost a quarter so down 75% to 225?

Glad its not just me, i was doubting myself for a second.

The answer obviously is 225% but I am not convinced that that is the correct answer.

If it gone from 100 to 110 then I think I would say it had increased by 10% not 110%.

The question is from the end of year one until the end of year three.

The end of year one, if you’ve started with £100, would be £200.

The end of year three would be £450.

125% difference.

It’s not 225%. How can it be?

You’d be right. It would have increased by 10%.

I make it 225 as well. You need to make the end of year 1 100% because that’s the figure you are increasing from.

I was going to say you were wrong until I read the question and saw it was after the percentage increase between end of year one and end of year 3
So, 200 to 450.

I think you are right.

Flag the error- I think it should absolutely be 125%

Answer is 225%

200 x 225 \ 100 = 450

I think I agree. It has gone up from 200 to 450. That is an increase of 250 which is 125% of the start point. (Where the start point is actually the end of the first year.)

I agree with you OP. I think that the circulation at the end of year 3 is 225% of the circulation at the end of year 1, hence a 125% increase.

It’s asking for the percentage increase from the end of the first year to the end of the third year. Whatever increase happened prior to the end of the first year doesn’t matter.

I get 125 percent too, they've forgotten to take the 100 off.

I think they probably want you to click 225% but I agree that the increase is 125%.

That is the multiple though. Not the increase.

If you assign numbers, yes it's 125%

But just working out the % means you start with 100% at the end as that's the start

Goes up 3 x to 300%

Then goes down by 1/4 300 ÷ 4 = 75 so 300 - 75 = 225%

The percentage increase from 200 to 450 is 125%. There is no other possible answer.

Nope, you’re reading it in such a way as to prove your view right. In one year it doubled, at the end of the first year it hasn’t yet doubled because until year 2 starts that year isn’t complete. Once the year is complete, i.e. after the first year, it has then doubled.

The problem with this kind of test is that they are only as good as the people setting them. You do get errors in them. Probably moreso in wordier questions. Sometimes I don't agree with the answer to the exemplar question at the start and know then that I'm in for a poor result.

Is it any wonder public sector productivity lags miles behind the private sector if this is indicative of the quality of people they employ.

Yes, it definitely is. I just don’t know if it would count against me to point it out to them.

Exactly
So it's 100% at the end of Y1 because it's the start number not 100% x 2 from the start of Y1

I got 125% too. Difference divided by original x 100.

Thats how I worked it.