All PSAT Math Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate
A particular ball always bounces back to 2/5 of the height of its previous bounce after being dropped. After the first bounce it reaches a height of 175 inches. Approximately how high (in inches) will it reach after its fifth bounce?
20
14
4.5
11.2
4.5
The first bounce reaches a height of 175. The second bounce will equal 175 multiplied by 2/5 or 70. Repeat this process. You will get the data below. 4.48 is rounded to 4.5.
Example Question #1 : Arithmetic
A lawn can be mowed by people in hours. If people take the day off and do not help mow the grass, how many hours will it take to mow the lawn?
The number of hours required to mow the lawn remains constant and can be found by taking the original workers times the hours they worked, totaling hours. We then split the total required hours between the works that remain, and each of them have to work and hours: .
Example Question #1 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate
The flow of water through a certain pipe is 20 cubic meters per minute. How many minutes would it take for 4 of such pipes to fill 2 tanks, if each tank is a cube with a side length of 20 m?
40
100
200
50
20
200
The flow of water through one pipe is 20 m3 / minute.
Thus, the flow of water through 4 pipes is 80 m3 / minute.
Since each tank is a cube with a side length of 20m, the volume of each tank is:
Volume of one tank = (20 m)3 = 8000 m3.
The total volume of two tanks is 2 * 8000 m3 = 16,000 m3
Therefore, the total minutes for 4 pipes to fill 2 tanks is:
16,000 m3/(80 m3/min) = 200 minutes
80 m3/min
Example Question #1 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate
You are planning a party. The maximum number of people the reception hall can hold is 1 person for every 5 square feet of space. If the hall is 60 feet wide and 50 feet long, how many people can you invite?
1500
500
600
2500
3000
600
Total area of hall = 60ft * 50ft = 3000 ft2
At 1 person per 5 square feet, 3000 ft2 / 5 ft2 per person = 600 people
Example Question #3 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate
A gallon contains 8 pints. Each pint contains 2 cups. How many cups are in a 10-gallon jug of water?
160
80
220
20
26
160
Find the number of cups in a gallon, then calculate cups in 10 gallons.
If 8 pints = 1 gallon, then 16 cups = 1 gallon
16 cups * 10 gallons = 160 cups
Example Question #2 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate
A mile is 5280 feet
Susan is able to walk a fast pace of 4 miles per hour. How many feet will she walk in 40 minutes?
8/3
15840
3
15000
14080
14080
Calculate the number of feet walked in an hour. Then calculate what fraction of an hour 40 minutes is.
5280 * 4 = 21120 feet walked in an hour
60 minutes in an hour, so 40 minutes = 2/3 hour (40/60)
21120(2/3) = 14080 feet walked in 40 minutes
Example Question #6 : Proportion / Ratio / Rate
Two numbers have a ratio of 5 : 2. If they are positive and differ by 21, what is the value of the larger number?
None of the other answers
70
14
28
35
35
We can rewrite this as two equations
5/2 = x/y
x – y = 21
Solve y for x in the second equation: x = 21 + y → y = x – 21
Substitute back into the first equation and solve:
5/2 = x/(x – 21)
5(x – 21)/2 = x → (5x – 105)/2 = x → 5x – 105 = 2x → 5x – 2x = 105 → 3x = 105; x = 105/3 = 35
Since we know the numerator must be larger (given the prompt), the answer is x, or 35.
Example Question #11 : Arithmetic
A bag contains 240 marbles that are either red, blue, or green. The ratio of red to blue to green marbles is 5 : 2 : 1. If one-third of the red marbles and two-thirds of the green marbles are removed, what fraction of the remaining marbles in the bag will be blue?
6/13
7/18
1/2
1/3
6/17
6/17
First, we need to figure out how many red, blue, and green marbles are in the bag before any are removed. Let 5x represent the number of red marbles. Because the marbles are in a ratio of 5 : 2 : 1, then if there are 5x red marbles, there are 2x blue, and 1x green marbles. If we add up all of the marbles, we will get the total number of marbles, which is 240.
5x + 2x + 1x = 240
8x = 240
x = 30
Because the number of red marbles is 5x, there are 5(30), or 150 red marbles. There are 2(30), or 60 blue marbles, and there are 1(30), or 30 green marbles.
So, the bag originally contains 150 red, 60 blue, and 30 green marbles. We are then told that one-third of the red marbles is removed. Because one-third of 150 is 50, there would be 100 red marbles remaining. Next, two-thirds of the green marbles are removed. Because (2/3)(30) = 20, there would be 10 green marbles left after 20 are removed.
To summarize, after the marbles are removed, there are 100 red, 60 blue, and 10 green marbles. The question asks us for the fraction of blue marbles in the bag after the marbles are removed. This means there would be 60 blue marbles out of the 170 left in the bag. The fraction of blue marbles would therefore be 60/170, which simplifies to 6/17.
The answer is 6/17.
Example Question #31 : Fractions
Alan is twice as old as Betty. He will be twice as old as Charlie in 10 years. If Charlie is 2 years old, how old is Betty?
24
28
2
17
7
7
If Charlie is 2 years old now; in 10 years he will be 12 years old. At that point, Alan will be twice as old as Charlie. Twice 12 is 24. This means that Alan is currently 10 years younger than 24, or 14. Since Alan is currently twice as old as Betty, she must be half of 14, or 7.
Example Question #12 : How To Find A Ratio
The ratio of 10 to 14 is closest to what value?
0.04
0.57
1.40
0.71
0.24
0.71
Another way to express ratios is through division. 10 divided by 14 is approximate 0.71.