Numerical Reasoning

Practice Test 2

Solution Booklet

1 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q1 For a flight carrying 90 passengers, what is the difference in profit between a journey
from Point C to Point D and a journey from Point C to Point F?

£370 £1,560 £2,755 £3,050

Taking Point C as the starting location, we see from the graph that the distance to Point
D is 351 miles and the distance to Point F is 902 miles. This equates to costs of (£5 x 351
=) £1,755 and (£5 x 902 =) £4,510 respectively. Now, the revenue earned from each of
these journeys is a fixed £50 per passenger, i.e. £50 x 90 = £4,500. That gives a profit of
£2,745 for the first journey and a loss of £10 for the second journey. The difference in
profit it 2,745 - -10 = £2,755.

Q2 It takes a plane 2 hours to travel from Point D to Point E. Assuming the same average
speed, how many minutes will it take a plane to travel from Point A to Point C to Point F,
with a 30 minute stopover in between?

280 330 350 380

You should first divide the length of the first flight by the number of minutes it takes
(458miles / 120minutes = 3.816 miles/minute). Now we need the distance of the second
flight so we can divide it by that figure. The distance from A to C is 435, the distance from
C to F is 902, so we have a total of 1,337 miles to travel. Now 1,337 miles at 3.816 miles
per minute takes 350.4 minutes. Add the 30 minute stopover for a total for 380 minutes.

2 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q3 If a plane can take only an indirect route from Point B to Point A, stopping at one point in
between, which is the shortest indirect route it can take?

B to C to A B to D to A B to E to A B to F to A

Consider only the options available to save time:

B to C to A = 264 + 435 = 699
B to D to A = 595 + 912 = don’t even bother adding up this one, it’s obviously too large.
B to E to A = 357 + 520 = 877
B to F to A = 429 + 619 = 1,048

So the shortest indirect distance is B to C to A.

3 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q4 If Car A can travel to a location using 60% of its petrol tank capacity, what percentage will
Car C use to travel to that same location, assuming same tank capacity and starting
point?

72% 78% 92% Cannot say

If you can see it, the quick way of doing this is to say that the efficiency of Car A is
53.42% better than Car C (112 ÷ 73 = 1.5342), so the petrol used by Car C is going to be
53.42% more; 60% x 1.5342 = 92.05%. Or by simultaneous equations:
(Tank size x 112mpg) x 60 = (Tank size x 73mpg) x [?]% = Distance travelled by both
cars.
112 x 0.60 = 73 x [?]
[?] = 92.05%

Q5 Car A’s mpg figure increases by 20% when its 3 gallon tank is at half capacity or less. If
Car A travels 526 miles starting with a full tank, stopping once at the 275 mile mark to
refill its tank, how many gallons will it go through on the trip?

4.3 4.4 4.9 Cannot say

There are many facets to this one. First let’s figure out the miles per gallon for when the
tank falls to the halfway point or below. Multiply 112 X 120%, to get 134.4mpg. Now we’ll
figure out the distance the car can travel before it hits the halfway point which is 1.5
gallons, half of its 3 gallon tank. So multiply 112 by 1.5 to get 168. It travels 168 miles
using 1.5 gallons. For the next 107miles (275 mile pit stop – 168 travelled) it’s running at
134.4 mpg. Divide 107 by 134.4 to get 0.796 gallons, which brings our total gallons used
thus far to 1.5 + 0.796 = 2.296. Now we’re on a full tank again for the next 168 miles,
adding another 1.5 to our gallon total (now 3.796), and leaving us just 83 miles to go (526
– 275 – 168). Divide 83 by 134.4 to get 0.6176, bringing our final total to 4.414 gallons.

4 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q6 Car A must use a premium fuel which costs 25% more than the fuel used in Car B. How
much further can Car A travel than Car B using the same cost of fuel?

43.2% 56.6% 62.9% 69.1%

If the fuel cost for both cars was the same, the increased distance travelled by Car A
would be 112 ÷ 53 = 2.1132 (a 111.3% increase). However the fact that Car A’s fuel
costs 25% more means Car A will have (1/1.25 =) 80% of the fuel that Car B has. So the
net effect is 2.1132 x 0.8 = 1.6906 which is a 69.1% increase.

Q7 Car A has a 5 gallon tank, Car B a 10 gallon tank, and Car C an 8 gallon tank. Which car
can travel the furthest on a full tank of petrol?

Car A Car B Car C Cannot say

Multiple each car’s MPG by the size of its tank to find the one with the ability to travel the
furthest. Car A: 112 X 5 = 560, Car B: 53 X 10 = 530, Car C: 73 X 8 = 584.

5 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q8 Which city receives the highest annual precipitation?

City A City B City C A & C Equal

Simply add up the figures of all 3 cities.

City A – 2.6 + 2.2 + 3.2 + 3.4 + 2.8 + 1.7 + 2.1 + 1.8 + 2.8 + 3.4 + 1.9 + 3.5 = 31.4,
City B – 1.2 + 1.5 + 1.3 + 3.2 + 3.5 + 4.1 + 3.5 + 2.9 + 3.3 + 2.2 + 1.9 + 1.5 = 30.1,
City C – 3 + 0.9 + 4.1 + 3.8 + 3.9 + 3.1 + 2.5 + 2.3 + 2 + 2.6 + 1.4 + 2.0 = 31.6

Q9 Which two consecutive months have the greatest difference in precipitation for the three
cities combined?

February-March March-April
October-November November-December

Add up the totals of each month and compare it with the totals of the two months around
it. Don’t forget about December – January. Numbers in brackets indicate the difference
between the month behind it. January – 6.8(0), February – 4.6(2.2), March – 8.6(4.0),
April – 10.4(1.8), May – 10.2(0.2), June – 8.9(1.3), July – 8.1(0.8), August – 7(1.1),
September – 8.1(1.1), October – 8.2(0.1), November – 5.2(3), December – 7.0(1.8). So
February to March shows the greatest difference at 4.0.

6 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q10 At the end of which month does the total annual precipitation for City A equal that of City
C?

February March April November

Summing the precipitation for both cities the running total for the year is as follows:

Jan Feb Mar

City A 2.6 4.8 8.0
City C 3.0 3.9 8.0

So they are equal at the end of March

Q11 City C can receive fluctuations in precipitation of up to 5% during the first half of the year,
and 20% during the second half. What is the least possible amount of precipitation City C
could receive in a year based on these variations?

25.9 27.4 28.1 29.67

Add up the two halves of the year separately and subtract the full percentage of possible
fluctuation from their totals. First half of year: 3 + 0.9 + 4.1 + 3.8 + 3.9 + 3.1 = 18.8.
Reduce this by 5%: 18.8 x 0.95 = 17.86. Now second half of year: 2.5 + 2.3 + 2.0 + 2.6 +
1.4 + 2.0 = 12.8. Reduce this by 20%: 12.8 x 0.80 = 10.24. Add the two halves together,
17.86 + 10.24 = 28.1.

7 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q12 Country C has an unemployment rate of 8.6%, twice that of Country B. How many
unemployed citizens are there in Country B?

1,427,600 2, 075,500 2,875,000 4,756,900

Country B has an unemployment rate of 4.3%, half of Country C’s, so they have
1,427,600 unemployed citizens (33,200,000 X 4.3%).

Q13 Country B has half the number of women as Country A has, and 200,000 more than
Country C’s 19,700,000 women. How many men does Country A have?

15,560,900 16,700,000 23,110,000 25,670,000

We know Country B has 19,900,000 women (19,700,000 + 200,000), giving Country A

39,800,000 (19,900,000 X 2). Subtracting that from Country A’s total population gives us
16,700,000 men (56,500,000 – 39,800,000).

8 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q14 At the end of the Second Quarter, the company promoted 3 Temporary employees to
Part Time status and 5 Part Time employees to Full Time status. How many new
employees were recruited at the beginning of the Third Quarter?

25 27 32 36

The promotion figures are irrelevant since those employees receiving promotion are
already in the company and therefore do not contribute to the addition of new employees.
Simply add up the number of employees in the Second Quarter and in the Third Quarter
and find the difference: 240 – 215 = 25.

Q15 Full Time employees earn twice as much as Part Time employees and 3 times as much
as Temporary employees. What percentage of the payroll was paid out to Temporary
employees in the 3rd quarter, assuming an equal number of hours worked?

2.6% 2.7% 4.0% 7.8%

You need to assign each group a base number to work from that is consistent with the
question. The first number we can assign to the full timers that works within the system is
6, which is twice as much as 3 and 3 times as much as 2. So we’ll multiply the number of
workers by these base numbers (140 X 6 = 840, 85 X 3 = 255, 15 X 2 = 30). Now we
want to add these totals up (1,125) and the divide the temp number (30) into it, which
gives us 2.66% (2.7%). You could equally use other base numbers for example 1, 0.5,
0.333.

9 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q16 Full Time employees work 160 hours per month, Part Time employees work 120, and
Temporary employees 80. How many man hours are recorded for the year?

372,500 415,800 438,200 490,600

You need to multiply the number of workers by the number of hours for each individual
quarter, then add them all up. Remember to multiply the totals by 3 at the end, as there
are 3 months in each quarter. You can do this at any point in the equation and the figures
will come out the same. (Full timers - 160 X 145 = 23,200, 160 X 135 = 21,600, 160 X
140 = 22,400, 160 X 160 = 25,600 = 92,800 X 3 = 278,400, Part timers – 120 X 80 =
9,600, 120 X 70 = 8,400, 120 X 85 = 10,200, 120 X 90 = 10,800 = 39,000 X 3 = 117,000,
Temps – 80 X 20 = 1,600, 80 X 10 = 800, 80 X 15 = 1,200, 80 X 40 = 3,200 = 6,800 X 3
= 20,400). Grand total = 415,800 (20,400 + 117,000 + 278,400).

10 www.assessmentday.co.uk
Q17 How many rooms within the city were unoccupied during May?

15,908 17,076 18,718 22,225

Find the number that goes unused in each category and multiply it by the corresponding
number of rooms. Houses: 47,990 – 44,366 = 3,624 x 3 = 10,872, Flats: 23,410 – 18,261
= 5,149 x 2 = 10,298, Hotel Rooms: 1,265 – 210 = 1,055 x 1 = 1,055. So total is 10,872 +
10,298 + 1,055 = 22,225.

Q18 In June 950 unoccupied Flats became occupied and 500 unoccupied Hotel Rooms
became occupied. However the overall number of unoccupied rooms within the city
increased by 1,830. How many unoccupied Houses were there in June?

751 1,045 2,410 5,034

Number of unoccupied Hotel rooms in May = 1,055. This goes to 555 in June.
unoccupied Flats rooms in May = 10,298. This goes to 8,398 in June. Number of
unoccupied Houses rooms in May = 10,872, we need what this is in June. Total number
of unoccupied rooms in May is 1,055 + 10,298 + 10,872 = 22,225. We are told this
increases by 1,830 to 24,055. Difference between June and May is then 24,055 – 555 –
8,398 = 15,102 rooms. Divide this by 3 for the number of unoccupied houses = 5,034.

11 www.assessmentday.co.uk