Identify these questions

Coded worded problems are common in numerical reasoning. Here's an overall process that you can take (we'll get into specifics in the following checkpoints).

Worded questions often look like this:

Rose can write 3 pages in 12 minutes. Eric can write 12 pages in 30 minutes. If they start writing together, how many more pages will one have written than the other after 20 minutes?

A 1 B 2 C 3 D 9

They can involve a number of things such as:

• Fractions and its various forms
• Distance and length
• Finding an unknown or multiple unknown variables.

You can identify these questions by a requirement and information provided in words.

The strategy to answer these questions

To answer these questions:

• Step One - Find the requirement.
• Step Two - Notate specific information in short hand form or visually as you’re reading. Why? To make it easier to answer the question by cutting out distraction.
• Step Three - Do the calculations. Understand how your notation relates to one another.
• Step Four - Find the solution.

This is easier said than done! Often, while you’re working through these questions, there are a number of decisions you’re going to have to make such as, which operator to use and how to express this visually.

Let’s see this process in action now.

Example Question/s

Watch video for explanation of the following question/s:

There are 38 cards in a deck. The difference between the number of red cards and the number of black cards is 8. There are more black cards than red cards.How many black cards and red cards are there in the deck?

A 23 black cards and 15 red cards B 30 black cards and 38 red cards C 15 black cards and 23 red cards D 22 black cards and 16 red cards

In five minutes, Printer 1 can print 150 pages. In two minutes, Printer 2 can print 50 pages. If they start printing together, how many more pages will one printer have printed than the other after 8 minutes?

A 15 B 40 C 50 D 75

Rachel drives her car 5 kilometres East, then 2 kilometres South, then 8 kilometres West and then 2 kilometres North. How far eastward from the start is she?

A 3 kilometres B 5 kilometres C 8 kilometres D 17 kilometres

Key Rules to remember

• Read the question carefully – get the requirement and then actively read – notate or depict visually.
• Key elements for which there is a value attached e.g. apples > $3, apples = $3, apples < $3
• Use shorthand to denote: Apples = a, a > 3, a = 3, a < 3
• Find the operations that you need to connect the elements together. For example, are you supposed to use addition to connect them together to find the solution? Subtraction? Multiplication? Division?
• Select the final answer – if in doubt, look at the solution options for hints.

Practice time!

Now, it's your turn to practice.

Click on the button below and start your practice questions. We recommend doing untimed mode first, and then, when you're ready, do timed mode.

Every question has two solutions videos after you complete the question. The first is a quick 60 second video that shows you how our expert answers the question quickly. The second video is a more in-depth 5-steps or less explainer video that shows you the steps to take to answer the question. It's really important that you review the second video because that's where you'll learn additional tips and tricks.

Once you're done with the practice questions, move on to the next checkpoint.

Now, let’s get started on your practice questions.

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