Engaging in complex calculations when you can instead apply time-

saving strategies such as trying answer choices and plugging in

values for variables

1. If , what is the value of when x is –5?

(A) –13
(B) –7
(C) 7
(D) 11

2. What is the correct way of writing “x is less than 5 but greater than or
equal to –3”?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

3. If , which of the following is a possible value of x?

(A) –2
(B) 5
(C) 7
(D) –5

4. Jim rented a lawnmower from 9:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. He paid a
total of $53.04. What was the hourly rental fee? (Note: You may not
use a calculator for this problem.)
(A) $5.58
(B) $6.24
(C) $6.63
(D) $7.07

5. What is the value of when and ?

 (A) –153
(B) 297
(C) –3
(D) 147

6. Alex earns a weekly base salary of $650 as a car salesman. He also

earns a 9% commission on his monthly sales after the first $10,000.
What was his total salary this month if he sold 7 cars whose average
price was $4,500 each?
(A) $1,935
(B) $2,585
(C) $2,835
(D) $3,485

7. Simplify the expression completely.

(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

8. A human hair has an average diameter of meters. What is the

maximum number of human hairs that could fit side by side (without
overlapping) on a microscope slide that is 50 millimeters wide? Write
your answer in scientific notation.
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
 9. Bob is planning a birthday party for his son and has a maximum
budget of $475 to spend. He intends to rent a party room that costs
$125 for the day. He expects a total of 35 people to attend the party
and plans to provide them all with lunch. Which of the following
inequalities shows how to calculate the amount x that Bob can spend
on lunch for each person?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

10. Four years ago, Jenny’s annual salary was $22,625. This year, her
salary was $32,433. What will her new salary be in 5 years if it
continues to rise at the same linear rate?
(A) $34,885
(B) $42,241
(C) $44,693
(D) $55,058

11. Mr. White’s math class has n students. Mrs. Black’s math class has
22 students fewer than triple the number of students in Mr. White’s
class. Which expression shows the number of students in Mrs.
Black’s class in terms of n?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

Questions 12 through 14 are based on the following information.

Denise measures the height of a sunflower every other week over a

three-month period and records the results in the following table.
Weeks Height (in cm)

1 3.00
3 4.70
5 6.40
7 8.10
9 9.80
11 11.50
13 13.20

12. Denise plots the data on a coordinate grid. She begins by plotting the
data for Week 3 and Week 11.
What are the coordinates of the two points that Denise plots?
(A) (11,3) and (11.5, 4.7)
(B) (3, 11) and (4.7, 11.5)
(C) (3, 4.7) and (11, 11.5)
(D) (4.7, 3) and (11.5, 11)

13. Denise creates an equation that will allow her to predict the height
of the sunflower in the future, where x is the week and y is the height.
Which of the following gives the correct equation?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

14. If the sunflower continues to grow at the same rate, at what week
will it reach a height of 16.6 cm?
(A) Week 15
(B) Week 17
(C) Week 19
 (D) Week 21

15. A doctor measured the blood sugar levels of one of her patients
shortly after giving the patient a candy bar to eat. The graph below
shows the patient’s blood sugar level (y) x hours after she ate the
candy bar.

How long after eating the candy bar was the patient’s blood sugar
level the highest?
(A) 20 minutes
(B) 30 minutes
(C) 40 minutes
(D) 1 hour
16. A candy store sells soda in cone-shaped cups with the dimensions
shown here:
 What volume of soda can each cup hold? Give your answer to the
nearest tenth of a cubic inch. The formula for the volume V of a cone
with radius r and height h is .
(A) 11.8
(B) 11.9
(C) 47.5
(D) 142.5

17. Anne plans to spend no more than $60 ordering socks for school.
The online sock company charges a shipping fee of $15 for any order.
The inequality represents the number of pairs of socks
Anne can order from the company. What is the maximum number of
pairs of socks that Anne can buy?
__________
Questions 18 and 19 are based on the following information.

Ten students took a math quiz that consisted of 10 questions. The median
score was 5.5. The modal score was 6. The teacher recorded the results
of the first nine students in the following line plot.

18. What was the average score of the first nine students whose scores
were represented on the line plot? Give your answer to one decimal
place.
 (A) 4.9
(B) 5.4
(C) 5.5
(D) 5.7

19. What score did the tenth student get in the quiz?
(A) 4
(B) 5
(C) 6
(D) 7

Questions 20 through 22 are based on the following information.

The probability that it will snow during the next three days is given in
the following table.

Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Probability of snow 70% 20% 40%

20. What is the probability that it will not snow on Tuesday?

(A) 20%
(B) 40%
(C) 60%
(D) 80%

21. What is the probability that it will snow on all three days?
__________
22. What is the probability that it will snow on two out of three days?
Round your answer to the nearest whole number.
(A) 33%
(B) 43%
 (C) 90%
(D) 130%

23. Using the information in the following chart, estimate to the nearest
thousand the total number of tickets sold at the concert hall. (Note:
You may not use a calculator.)
Concert Tickets Sold

The Ghastly Girls 4,721

Two Directions 5,301
Taylor Speedy 8,783
Maroon 6 270
The Subdominants 11,802

(A) 27,000
(B) 29,000
(C) 31,000
(D) 31,877

24. Egypt’s Great Pyramid is 150 m tall and has a square base with a
length of 225 m. What is the approximate volume of the pyramid in
cubic meters? The formula for the volume V of a pyramid of base
area B and height h is given by .
(A) 500,000
(B) 1,500,000
(C) 2,500,000
(D) 7,500,000

Questions 25 through 27 are based on the following set.

Set A:
25. What is the range of Set A?
 (A) 41
(B) 60
(C) 71
(D) 142

26. What is the median of Set A?

(A) 41
(B) 60
(C) 71
(D) 142

27. What is the arithmetic mean (average) of Set A?

(A) 41
(B) 60
(C) 71
(D) 142

28. Four hundred eighty yards is what fraction of a mile? (1 mile =

1,760 yards)
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

29. Tim measures the lengths of four cats’ tails and records his results in
the following table.
Cat Tail Length (Inches)

Mrs. Whiskers
Cat Tail Length (Inches)

Bootsie

Mr. Bigglesworth

Catty McCatface

Which cat has the longest tail? (Note: You may not use a calculator.)
(A) Mrs. Whiskers
(B) Bootsie
(C) Mr. Bigglesworth
(D) Catty McCatface

30. The U.S. Senate has 100 senators. In 2015, only 20 senators were
female. What is the ratio of female senators to male senators? (Note:
You may not use a calculator.)
(A) 1:5
(B) 1:4
(C) 4:5
(D) 4:1

31. Alex test drives four cars and records the distance traveled and the
gallons of gas used in each case in the following table.

Car Distance Driven (Miles) Gas Used (Gallons)

A 102.3 11.5
B 78.1 7.9
C 57.8 6.2
D 142.9 15.9

Which car has the best gas mileage (miles per gallon)?
(A) Car A
 (B) Car B
(C) Car C
(D) Car D

Questions 32 and 33 are based on the following information.

A fair die has six sides, each marked with a different integer from 1 to 6.
Each side is equally likely to land face up when the die is rolled.
32. Suppose you roll the die 66 times. How many times are you likely to
roll a 6?
(A) 6
(B) 11
(C) 55
(D) 66

33. Suppose you roll the die three times. What is the probability of not
rolling any 1s during the three rolls? Express your answer as a
fraction reduced to its lowest terms.
__________
34. Monthly sales of a particular brand of smartphone are inversely
proportional to the number of occurrences of exploding cellphone
batteries during that month. If 88 million phones were sold when
there were 2 exploding batteries, how many cell phones would be
sold during a month in which 22 batteries exploded?
(A) 4 million
(B) 8 million
(C) 44 million
(D) 176 million

35. The scale on a blueprint for a boat is 2 cm = 5 meters. If the length

of the boat on the blueprint measures 7.5 cm, how long is the actual
 boat?
(A) 12.50 m
(B) 15.25 m
(C) 18.75 m
(D) 20.25 m

36. A New York City taxi charges an initial fee of $2.50 plus $0.50 for
every of a mile traveled. If Jim’s total fare (not including tip)
equals $14.50, how many miles did Jim travel?
(A) 4.8 miles
(B) 5.8 miles
(C) 24 miles
(D) 29 miles

37. Arnold invested $700 in a savings account. After one year, his
account balance was $726.25. What percent annual interest did his
bank pay?
__________
Questions 38 and 39 are based on the following information.

At Becky’s Burger Shack, cooks earn an average of $950 per week,

whereas waiters earn an average of $725 per week. Let x and y equal the
number of cooks and waiters, respectively, employed by the restaurant.
38. Which of the following functions represents the total payroll (P) that
Becky’s restaurant pays for all of these types of workers?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
 39. Becky employs 5 cooks and can spend no more than $9,825 per
week on the payroll for all her cooks and waiters. What is the
maximum number of waiters that she can employ?
(A) 3
(B) 5
(C) 7
(D) 9

40. If , what does equal?

(A) 15.5
(B) 62
(C) 108.5
(D) 217

Questions 41 and 42 are based on the following information.

A moving company rents small or large vans for a fixed fee of $80 and
$125, respectively, plus $3.75 per mile driven. The company also offers
professional movers at a rate of $18 per mover per hour.
41. Sid rents a large van with 3 professional movers for 5 hours and
drives a total of 42 miles. How much will the company charge him
(not including tips or taxes)?
__________
42. Jenny’s moving bill was $450 before taxes and tips. If taxes are 6%
and she also wants to tip her three professional movers $20 each,
what does her total bill equal?
(A) $497
(B) 498.20
(C) $537
(D) $540.60
Questions 43 through 45 are based on the following graph.

43. What are the coordinates of point A?

(A) (4, 1)
(B) (1, 4)
(C) (–5, –4)
(D) (–4, –5)

44. What is the slope of the line?

 (A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

45. What is the equation of the line?

(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

46. A car dealership offers 45% off all its cars during its annual sale.
Jessica pays $7,150 for her discounted vehicle. What was the original
price of the car? Round your answer to the nearest dollar.
(A) $3,933
(B) $10,368
(C) $13,000
(D) $15,889

47. On a sunny day, a tree casts a shadow that is 33 feet long. At the
same time, a nearby 4-foot-tall mailbox casts a shadow that is 5.5 feet
long. What is the height of the tree? Round your answer to the nearest
foot.
(A) 24 feet
(B) 33 feet
(C) 38 feet
(D) 45 feet
 48. The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 17 inches. If one of the legs of
the triangle is 8 inches long, what is the length of the other leg?
(A) 8 inches
(B) 12 inches
(C) 15 inches
(D) 19 inches

Questions 49 through 51 are based on the following graph.

49. What is the value of A minus E?

(A) –13
(B) –11
(C) –7
(D) 7

50. What is the product of A times C times D times E?

(A) –126
(B) 0
(C) 63
(D) 126

51. Which of the following is true?

(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

52. If , which of the following is a possible value of x?

 (A) –8
(B) 3
(C) 8
(D) 24

53. is equivalent to which of the following?

(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

54. A cube has a surface area of 216 square inches. What is its volume
in cubic inches?
(A) 6
(B) 36
(C) 108
(D) 216

55. is equivalent to which of the following?

(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

56. is between which numbers?

(A) 10 and 11
(B) 11 and 12
(C) 14 and 15
(D) 64 and 65

Questions 57 through 59 are based on the following information.

Steven bought a bag of nuts containing 15 almonds, 3 peanuts, 12
cashews, and 10 pistachios.
57. What fraction of the nuts were cashews? Reduce your answer to its
lowest terms.
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

58. Steven takes 2 nuts out of the bag without looking at them or
replacing them. What is the probability that both of the nuts are
peanuts? Reduce your answer to its lowest terms.
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)

59. If the bag of nuts cost Steven $5.20, what was the average cost per
nut?
(A) $0.08
(B) $0.11
(C) $0.13
(D) $0.17

60. Solve the following equation for x:

__________