We’ve all forgotten some of the things we learnt in school when we were younger, and it’s alway sobering to realise the pretty basic things that might have slipped the mind in adult years.
So how about a GCSE maths question to test you on exactly that?
As students across the country sit their exams this summer, this will probably make you empathise with them that little bit more because the stats suggest you will get this question wrong.
According to Save My Exams, more than 8 in 10 UK parents were unable to answer the following GCSE maths question:
Chris, Debbie and Errol share some money in the ratio 3:4:2. Debbie gets £120.
Chris then gives some of his share to Debbue and some of his share to Errol. The money that Chris, Debbie and Errol each have is now in the ratio 2:5:3.
How much money did Chris give to Errol?
We’ll give you a moment or two to try and work this one out. You can give yourself a pat on the back if you do though, because when Save My Exams asked 500 UK parents to answer this questions, 85% were unable to, with 55% of respondents getting it wrong, and 30% unable to provide an answer.
This question would feature across both the foundation and higher maths paper, and relates to the topic of changing ratio.
If you can’t wrap your head around this question then fear not, here is Lucy Kirkham, Head of STEM at Save My Exams, to explain the answer.
She said: “This GCSE Maths question relates to changing ratios, and requires students and parents to correctly find the value of one part, in order to work out how much money Chris gave to Errol.
“Before being able to calculate this, you first need to work out how much each part of the ratio is worth by dividing how much Debbie gets by her part of the ratio, then multiplying this by Chris and Errol’s ratios. One part is therefore worth £30, multiplying this by each of the other shares, Errol gets £60 and Chris £90, meaning they have shared £270 in total.
“In the second ratio, there are 10 shares in total (2 + 5 + 3 = 10) so one part is equivalent to £27, as you divide the total amount the friends have by the total shares in the new ratio. Finally, you can work out how much Errol now gets by deducting the two values Errol had in each ratio, giving a final answer of £21. You can see the full workings below.”
The study also revealed that 33% of parents surveyed by Save My Exams believed that they would be most likely to fail GCSE Maths, meanwhile 34% named Science as the subject they would most likely be unable to pass.
Over three in 10 parents surveyed said that they were not confident that they would pass their child’s GCSE exams, with almost a third (28%) also stating a lack of confidence and uncertainty in their child passing their GCSEs this year.
The GCSE subjects UK parents think they would be most likely to fail:
Science – 34%
Maths – 33%
Languages – 29%
History – 27%
Geography – 24%
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