Q&A - PSLE Math

[lizawa]

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2 examples of P6 Maths problem sums :

1. David had 2 bags of marbles. After he had sold 44 marbles from Bag X to his friend, the number of marbles in Bag Y was 5/7 of the number of marbles in Bag X. Given that there were 2/5 as many marbles in Bag Y as in Bag X originally, find the number of marbles in Bag X at first.


2. John read a book in 3 days. He read 35% of the total number of pages in the book on the 2nd day. The ratio of the total number of pages of book he read on the 1st and 2nd day to the number of pages he read on the 3rd day was 11:9. If he had read 75 more pages on the 3rd day than on the 1st day, how many pages of the book did he read on the 2nd day ?


Not only must the child be good at Maths, he/she must also be good at English, in terms of interpreting and understanding the question.

[ChiefKiasu]

I would have problems myself trying to solve these questions with algebra. What percentage of the exam does such questions comprise??!!

[lizawa]

These 2 questions constitute 5 marks each (out of 100 marks). There are about 4 - 5 such questions. And others are 4 and 3 mark. Total for this section is 50 marks, ie. 50%.

You are right, some questions are not solvable by algebra, model may be easier !

[tianzhu]

Hi, hope it may be useful for those who may want the solutions

[ChiefKiasu]

Fantastic! Thanks for the solutions, tianzhu! Clear as a day now.

[tianzhu]

1) There are 85 plates of fried noodle for 80 people. Each adult eats 2 plates of fried noodle and every three children share 1 plate of fried noodle. How many adults and children are there?

2) 20 boys and girls sold tickets for a funfair. Each ticket was sold at $5.Each boy sold 5 tickets and each girl sold 3 tickets. The amount collected by the boys was $20 more than the amount collected by the girls. Find a) how many girls were there in the group b) how many tickets were sold altogether?

3) Daniel has $160 more than Alex. After giving 1/10 of his money to Alex, he now has 3 times as much money than Alex. How much money do they have in the first place?

[ChiefKiasu]

More headache for us parents? Heheh. It's good that we see these questions for ourselves... that way we respect our children even more if they managed to get the questions right.

Quick question: Which Primary level are these questions for?

[tianzhu]

More headache for us parents? Heheh. It's good that we see these questions for ourselves... that way we respect our children even more if they managed to get the questions right.

Quick question: Which Primary level are these questions for?

P5/P6

[lizawa]

Yes, these are typical P5/P6 questions. Good thing is, when you get to P6, you can use algebra if you wish to.

Q1 can be solved by algebra, model or guess and check. The last method should be least encouraged at this level.
35 adults, 45 children.

Q2 by ratio should be easy enough
8 boys and 12 girls

Q3 by model
Daniel : $200, Alex : $40

I am not sure, but I would think that Q1 and Q2 are 5 mark each and Q3, 4 marks.

So, there are more than 1 way to solve the problems. The child must be good enough to identify the shortest and most accurate way to solve it due the time constraint and pressure during exam.

[tianzhu]

1) There were some marbles at a shop. The ratio of the number of red marbles to the number of blue marbles was 2:3. When 50 more red marbles and 30 more blue marbles were added, the ratio of the number of red marbles to the number of blue marbles became 5:6. How many marbles were there at first?

2) Susan went shopping with a sum of money. She spent 0.5 of her money plus $5 on a handbag. She then spent 0.5 of the remaining money plus $3 on a pair of sunglasses. Finally she spent 0.5 of what was left plus $2 on an umbrella. She was then left with $1.50. How much money did she have at first?

3) There are 600 children in Team A and 30% of them are boys.
There are 400 children in Team B and 60% of them are boys.
After some children are transferred from Team B to Team A, 40% of the children in Team A and 60% of the children in Team B are boys.
How many children are transferred from Team B to Team A?