11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi All

Need to explain to lad how to work this out.

Sanjay let me finish mints. He'd eaten 5/8 of them.
If 36 mints were left, how many did he eat.

Thanks

if he'd eaten 5/8, then 3/8 were left.

As 3/8 = 36, then 1/8 = 12.

If 1/8 =12, then 8/8 (ie 1 whole) equals 12x8=96

Thanks - makes perfect sense

yus786 wrote:Hi All

Need to explain to lad how to work this out.

Sanjay let me finish mints. He'd eaten 5/8 of them.
If 36 mints were left, how many did he eat.

Thanks

Be careful with the answer though - The answer will be 60 and not 96 as we need to find "how many did he eat"

nischals wrote: Be careful with the answer though - The answer will be 60 and not 96 as we need to find "how many did he eat"

Quite.

They love throwing in questions like these, where they are asking for something other than what the child would expect. Throws a lot of kids who would naturally put down 96. This type of question is one to watch out for, as it is a common trick of examiners.

Good grief!

I'll refrain from answering these in future, then.

ian35mm wrote:Good grief!

I'll refrain from answering these in future, then.

Please don't refrain. Your answer helped me to explain my son.

THANKS

ian35mm wrote:Good grief!

I'll refrain from answering these in future, then.

I don't think either poster was criticising you Ian - merely adding the one last step that could be overlooked by a child, and making the point that, expecially on a multiple choice answer sheet, both 60 and 96 might appear as possible answers to trip up the unwary.

Perhaps, but in future I'll let the experts answer these questions.

After all, what would I know?