Lesson Guide
Explanation
The Mathematical Reasoning paper is thirty-five questions in forty minutes, so about seventy seconds each, with five options and no calculator. Nearly every question takes two to four steps and about twenty of the thirty-five carry a figure, so the time is tight but fair — as long as no single question eats five minutes of it. Nothing is taken off for a wrong answer, which changes how you should play the ones you cannot do.
Your Turn
How many seconds per question? Check: 40 × 60 ÷ 35 ≈ 69.
Watch Out
Spending four minutes on one question costs you three others you could have done.
Explanation
Nothing is taken off for a wrong answer, so a blank is the only answer guaranteed to score nothing. A pure guess among five options is worth one in five; cross out two you know are wrong and it becomes one in three. Over a whole paper that is worth real marks. So the rule is: eliminate what you can, choose, mark the question so you know to come back, and move on. Answer every single question before time runs out, even if the last few are guesses.
Your Turn
You cross out 2 of the 5 options and guess. What is the chance you are right? Check: 1 in 3.
Watch Out
Leave nothing blank. Running out of time with unanswered questions is the most expensive mistake on the paper.
Explanation
Before calculating, look at the options and cross out anything that cannot possibly be right. If the question asks for the short side of a rectangle whose other side is twelve, then seventeen and twenty-two are out immediately — they are longer. Two options gone before any arithmetic. Then the actual work, half of thirty-four less twelve, gives five, and finding it among the three that survived is a check that you read the question correctly.
Your Turn
The short side of a rectangle whose long side is 12 cm. Can the answer be 17 cm? Check: no — it would not be the short side.
Watch Out
Eliminate on sense, not on how the number looks. "It seems too big" is only useful if you can say why.
Explanation
On symbol and number-sentence questions, testing the five options is often faster than solving. Work each one out: two of them do not even total a hundred and seventeen, so they go immediately. Three do, and then the rule that a remainder must be smaller than what you divided by rules out the one with nineteen, and a subtraction is not a sharing. Only one option actually describes the situation. Five quick calculations can beat one clever one.
Your Turn
Does 14 × 7 + 19 total 117? Check: 98 + 19 = 117, yes — but 19 is not a valid remainder.
Watch Out
Totalling correctly is not the same as describing the situation. Check the remainder rule as well.
Explanation
The plan in order: read the last line first, because it says what is actually wanted; write each step down, because every question has two to four of them; if you are stuck after a minute, eliminate what you can, choose, mark the question and move on; and keep the last three minutes to fill every blank. Five easy questions are worth five times the one you are stuck on. And estimate before you calculate, because it catches an answer that is ten times too big. Quiz and exercises now.
Your Turn
You have 40 minutes for 35 questions. Roughly how long is that each? Check: about 70 seconds.
Watch Out
Keep three minutes at the end. Finishing the paper with blanks is worse than rushing the last few.
📌 Key Points — this lesson in a nutshell
- 35 questions in 40 minutes — about 70 seconds each. No question is worth four minutes.
- There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so never leave a blank. A pure guess is worth 1 in 5.
- Cross out what cannot be right first. Two gone makes a guess worth 1 in 3.
- With five options in front of you, testing them is often faster than solving — especially on symbol and number-sentence items.
Step 1: Introduction
Step 1 of 5
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