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?

So I’m now convinced there is something sneaky in the wording rather than the maths. Haven’t worked it out yet though!

There is nothing quite like a maths thread on mumsnet on a Friday night for attracting the confidently incorrect. At least this makes a change from the usual ones that involve people just not knowing the order of operations. Some of the responses here are truly baffling.

OP Is correct. I suspect the question writer typed end of year one when they meant to type start of year one. However, as the question is worded, none of their answers are correct.

I’m not arguing about the answer. I am right. No two ways. I asked whether to tell the recruiters that their test is wrong.

If you start with 0 papers in circulation, and at the end of the year you are selling 100 papers, what has your circulation increased by in percentage terms.....

I know whats happened here. The original question was correctly worded. Then it went through a number of layers of civil service managers who all made little tinkers and anendments so that it was incorrect. Get used to this if you want to work in the civil service.

Starting value (end of Year 1): 200
Final value (end of Year 3): 450
The increase is 450 minus 200 = 250
250 is 125% of 200
Answer is 125%

From the end of year one to the end of year three the percentage increase was 125%.

That’s why I asked what level of the Civil Service this was a test for.

If it’s assessing someone’s basic Maths competency I completely agree with you.

No. As you say, it goes from 100 to 225. That is a 125% increase.

Oh okay, in my opinion tell them you think they are wrong. I agree with you 👍

And this is why we are led by donkeys. The asses set the questions and when people answer correctly they are incorrect because it differes from what the donkeys say.

Apparently, my undertanding of written English was similarly below par, according to the CS recruitment matrix. Really? Only if a donkey was marking me.

How does that work with a multiple choice
If they want people to argue with a question surely there must be a way of doing that?

I don't think it's the case that 69% of mumsnetters disagree with the OP. (Hopefully, anyway!). The poll isn't asking whether her maths is right, but rather whether she should email and tell them their question is wrong.

They absolutely are wrong, but I don't think it would help her get the job by telling them such. Better to get the job and try to improve things from the inside (as a PP suggested).

There are various online "percentage increase" calculators that back OP up.

TBH I would have put 225% and not given it a second thought. I think in everyday language people would commonly say 200 to 450 has increased to 225% [of its value] but increased by 125%.

What answer did you put down then?

This calculation requires dividing by 0, which is known to cause a nuclear-level explosion. Please do not write such dangerous responses in future.

You don’t get individual marks, just a percentage.

The maths is easy. It is the language that is creating the problem. Whoever set the test is just misusing the term 'percentage increase'

You're right about one possible answer. Unfortunately you've misunderstood what they are asking for and didn't get the correct answer.

It seems that you are unwilling to accept all those explaining the calculation

So to conclude if I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong

I really hope Daily Mail picks this thread up and does one of those ‘can you solve it’ articles so that the CS can fix the question.

If you want to increase 200 by 125%, you need to multiply by 2.25

If you multiply by 1.25, you get 250 which is a 25% increase

So 200 * 2.25 = 450

So 450 / 200 = 2.25 which is a 125% increase

To be honest I don’t know what level. I just seen the job, liked the look of it and applied. I had to take numerical, verbal and judgement tests.

Jesus Christ.

It’s more that a lot of the tests have really ambiguous questions. When I’ve done some before, I’ve been quite cross with them as there could either be a few right answers etc and you often have to really think or they try and subtlety trick you. The more junior tests are straightforward but the senior ones are designed to be highly irritating. Now this one could just be a mistake but I’ve been reading and re-reading to see if I’ve missed something in the English rather than the maths.

When someone asks for a percentage increase, what do you think that means?

What do you get if you increase 200 by 100%?

a) 200
b) 400