11 Plus Exams Forum

Here is a question from one of the Susan Daughtrey’s test papers

Swimming classes meet at the leisure centre every evening of the week.
All classes begin at 6 p.m.
The latest time the swimming can finish is 9 p.m.
On a Tuesday and Thursday evening the classes meet for an hour, on the hour, every hour.
Classes on Mondays, Wednesday s and Fridays meet every 40 minutes from 6 p.m.
At the weekend classes begin every 30 minutes from 7 p.m. onwards.
If these statements are true, only one of the following sentences must be true. Which one?
a) There is a class every evening start at 7.30 p.m.
b) No class begins at 7.20 p.m.
c) There is a class beginning at 8.15 p.m. on a Saturday evening
d) There is a class starting at 8 p.m. every evening of the week
e) On Wednesday the last class finishes at 9 p.m.

My DD marked B as the answer based on the first statement, which is ‘All classes begin at 6 p.m.’

But the correct answer is D. I can see why the statement ‘There is a class starting at 8 p.m. every evening of the week’ is true.

However the first statement i.e. All classes begin at 6 p.m. appears to be misleading. I am curious to know your thoughts on this question...

I agree the sentence 'All classes...' is poor and misleading. But from the context it is clear they don't quite mean that. If you read on, it becomes clear that it means each set of sessions begins at 6pm, and the ones that last for forty minutes will therefore hold the third class of the evening at 7.20. Would have been better wording for them to say, Evening sessions always begin at 6pm to make a distinction between sessions and specific classes within them.

I agree it is an odd statement, but it has no effect on the answer.

All information should be put into a diagram/table/grid. In addition some information can be circled, particularly age questions, year after next, year before last, aged ?? last year etc

T/T = 6/7/8

M/W/F = 6/6.40/7.20/8

S/S = 7/7.30/8/8.30

Based on the diagram, B could never be the answer, there is a class which starts at 7.20 on M/W/F . The only answer can be D

If my children get this question wrong, it is because they do not know what “on the hour every hour” means...

Patricia

Thanks Patricia, Menagerie,
I have explained to my DD the importance of reading the full description before start answering the question...

These Z questions are the only type where I insist the child reads the information fully, in addition notes must be made...

And of course, they must always be left till last, random guess and come back to after the last question has been completed.

Patricia