Buckinghamshire (SET/GL)-Style Mixed Mock 3
Buckinghamshire's grammar school entrance test (SET) is delivered by GL Assessment and includes English, maths and verbal reasoning. This third mock in the Bucks-style series focuses on the maths paper's numerical reasoning questions, where pure calculations give way to problems set inside a short real-life context such as money, time or measurements.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Read a numerical reasoning question's context sentence fully before looking at the numbers, so you understand what situation the numbers describe.
- Identify exactly what the question is asking for, such as a total, a difference, or an amount remaining, before choosing which numbers to use and which operation to apply.
- Where a question gives more numbers than are needed to answer it, decide which figures are relevant before calculating, rather than assuming every number given must be used.
- Show each stage of a multi-part contextual question clearly, since Buckinghamshire-style maths questions can be split into parts, such as (a) and (b), that build on each other.
- Convert between units, such as pounds and pence or metres and centimetres, at the start of a question if the given values are in mixed units, rather than converting partway through a calculation.
- Check your final answer makes sense in the real-life context described, since an answer that is far too large or too small for the situation usually signals an error worth rechecking.
Worked example
A school office orders 15 boxes of paper at 4.80 pounds per box. It also pays a one-off delivery charge of 6 pounds. (a) Find the total cost of the paper. (b) Find the overall total including delivery.
- (a) Find the cost of the paper by multiplying the number of boxes by the price per box: 15 x 4.80.
- Calculate: 15 x 4.80 = 15 x 4 + 15 x 0.80 = 60 + 12 = 72, so the paper costs 72 pounds.
- (b) Add the delivery charge to the paper cost: 72 + 6.
- Final answer: the overall total is 78 pounds.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1A car park charges 1.50 pounds for the first hour and 1 pound for each hour after that. How much does a 4-hour stay cost?Show answer
Answer: 4.50 pounds (1.50 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4.50).
Q2A recipe for 4 people needs 2 eggs. How many eggs are needed for 10 people?Show answer
Answer: 5 eggs (2/4 = 0.5 eggs per person, 0.5 x 10 = 5).
Q3A tap fills a bucket at a rate of 2 litres every 3 minutes. How many litres are in the bucket after 9 minutes?Show answer
Answer: 6 litres (9 divided by 3 = 3 lots of 3 minutes, 3 x 2 = 6).
Q4A school trip costs 12 pounds per pupil, with a discount of 2 pounds per pupil for the first 10 pupils. If exactly 10 pupils go, what is the total cost?Show answer
Answer: 100 pounds (12 - 2 = 10 pounds each, 10 x 10 = 100).
Q5A ribbon is 3.6 metres long. It is cut into pieces 40 cm long. How many complete pieces can be cut?Show answer
Answer: 9 pieces (3.6m = 360cm, 360 divided by 40 = 9).
Q6A shop sells pencils in packs of 6 for 2.40 pounds. What is the cost of one pencil?Show answer
Answer: 0.40 pounds (2.40 divided by 6 = 0.40).
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
A minibus can carry 16 passengers. A school needs to transport 58 pupils to a museum. (a) How many minibuses are needed to transport all the pupils? (b) How many empty seats will there be if that number of minibuses is used?
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A gardener buys 3 bags of compost at 5.20 pounds each and 2 packets of seeds at 1.35 pounds each. She pays with a 30 pound note. How much change does she receive?
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Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the buckinghamshire (set/gl)-style mixed mock 3 worksheet pack - 22 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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