CSSE-Style Maths Mock 3 (Essex)
The CSSE-Style Maths Mock 3 (Essex) is modelled on the CSSE Maths paper's habit of setting questions inside longer, story-like sentences rather than as bare calculations, so the operation a question needs is often buried among other facts. This mock focuses on place value, rounding and estimation: reading and ordering large numbers correctly, rounding to a stated degree of accuracy, and using a rough estimate to sanity-check a multi-step answer.
Method
- Read a CSSE-style question all the way through once before picking up your pencil, since the actual calculation needed is often only revealed in the final sentence.
- Note down every number mentioned in the question and what it represents, then cross out any that the final question does not actually need.
- When a question asks you to round a number, check exactly which place value it names (nearest 10, nearest 100, nearest 1,000, or nearest whole number) before rounding, since rounding to the wrong place value is an easy, avoidable mistake.
- Before a multi-step calculation, estimate a rough answer by rounding each number involved to a much simpler value, so you have a sense check ready before you calculate precisely.
- After calculating precisely, compare your exact answer with your rough estimate; if the two are wildly different, recheck your working rather than writing the answer down straight away.
- Where a question gives a number in figures and asks for it in words, or the other way round, double check you have answered in the form actually asked for, since CSSE mark schemes are strict about this.
- Show every step of your working clearly, since CSSE papers are not multiple choice, and method marks are available even when the final answer is wrong.
Worked example
A local council reports that 48,562 people attended a summer festival over three days. A newspaper rounds this figure to the nearest thousand for its headline. Work out the number the newspaper would print, and state how many people this rounded figure is away from the true attendance figure.
- Identify the place value needed: rounding to the nearest thousand means looking at the hundreds digit of 48,562 to decide whether to round up or down.
- The hundreds digit of 48,562 is 5, so the number rounds up to the next thousand.
- Round 48,562 to the nearest thousand: 49,000.
- Find the difference between the rounded figure and the true figure: 49,000 - 48,562.
- Calculate the subtraction: 49,000 - 48,562 = 438.
- Final answer: the newspaper would print 49,000, which is 438 more than the true attendance figure.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Round 6,384 to the nearest hundred.Show answer
Answer: 6,400 (the tens digit is 8, so the hundreds digit rounds up from 3 to 4).
Q2Round 2.47 to the nearest whole number.Show answer
Answer: 2 (the first decimal digit is 4, so the number rounds down).
Q3Write these numbers in order, smallest first: 3,206, 3,260, 3,026 and 3,602.Show answer
Answer: 3,026, 3,206, 3,260, 3,602.
Q4What is the value of the digit 7 in the number 47,908?Show answer
Answer: 7,000 (the 7 is in the thousands place).
Q5A stadium's official capacity is given as 'about 30,000' after being rounded to the nearest 10,000. What is the smallest whole number the true capacity could be?Show answer
Answer: 25,000 (any number from 25,000 up to just under 35,000 rounds to 30,000 to the nearest 10,000, so the smallest possible value is 25,000).
Q6Estimate the answer to 3,912 x 4.8 by first rounding each number to a simple value.Show answer
Answer: About 20,000 (3,912 rounds to about 4,000, and 4.8 rounds to about 5, and 4,000 x 5 = 20,000).
Q7A charity's fundraising total is given as 8,753 pounds. Round this to the nearest 1,000 pounds.Show answer
Answer: 9,000 pounds (the hundreds digit is 7, so the thousands digit rounds up from 8 to 9).
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
A regional swimming gala is attended by 4,286 spectators on Saturday and 3,672 spectators on Sunday. A local reporter writes in her article that 'roughly eight thousand people' attended across the weekend. (a) Work out the actual total number of spectators across both days. (b) By rounding your total to the nearest thousand, show whether the reporter's estimate of 'roughly eight thousand' is a fair rounded description of the true total.
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
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A factory quality inspector counts 19,458 bolts produced this month and reports the figure to the nearest hundred on her form. What figure does she write down, and what is the smallest possible true number of bolts that could have been rounded to give her reported figure?
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Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the csse-style maths mock 3 (essex) worksheet pack - 13 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
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