Take our Sats maths quiz to see if you're smarter than an 11-year-old

1. We’ll start with some questions from the arithmetic paper. In this paper, children have to answer 36 questions in 30 minutes. Yes, less than a minute per question. They aren’t allowed a calculator, and they don’t get multiple choice options like you do in this quiz. So let's go: 707 + 1,818 =

   1. 2525

   2. 2255

   3. 2552

   4. 2616

2. What is 2.7 + 3.014?

   1. 4.714

   2. 5.714

   3. 5.174

   4. 5.147

3. How much is 45% of 460?

   1. 415

   2. 230

   3. 227

   4. 207

4. This sum involves fractions. What is 1/4 + 1/5 + 1/10?

   1. 9/20

   2. 11/20

   3. 3/19

   4. 4/10

5. More fractions. What is 4/6 x 3/5? And no, you are not allowed to Google 'How to multiply fractions'. Do it from memory

   1. 2/5

   2. 1/6

   3. 14/30

   4. 18/20

6. Now try: 50 + (36 ÷ 6)

   1. 14.3

   2. 42

   3. 56

   4. 86

7. 

   You won't be able to show your working, but in the Sats test you are expected to do long division. What is the answer to this?

   1. 38

   2. 58

   3. 48

   4. 28

8. How much is 505 ÷ 1

   1. 55

   2. 101

   3. 505

   4. 515

9. Now on to questions from the second paper. Children get 40 minutes, no calculator, and they have to show their working. Which you can’t do online, but we’ll trust you. If a cat sleeps for 12 hours each day, then 50% of its life is spent asleep. A koala sleeps for 18 hours each day – lucky thing – how much of its life is spent asleep?

   1. 60%

   2. 70%

   3. 75%

   4. 80%

10. 

    The World Cup is nearly upon us. So it is very important for parents that children understand just how expensive it is to collect the stickers. Ally and Jack buy some stickers. Ally buys a pack of 12 stickers for £10.49. Jack buys 12 single stickers for 99p each. How much more does Jack pay than Ally?

    1. £1.29

    2. £1.39

    3. £1.49

    4. £1.59

11. 

    Fill in the missing numbers. How else could you write 60 months, 72 hours and 84 days?

    1. 5 years, 3 days, 10 weeks

    2. 5 years, 2 days, 12 weeks

    3. 5 years, 3 days, 11 weeks

    4. 5 years, 3 days, 12 weeks

12. Who knew that 11-year-old children were still expected to be able to answer questions on Roman numerals? Can you? Here's the question: 'At the end of a film, the year is given in Roman numerals. Write the year MMVI in figures.'

    1. 2006

    2. 2004

    3. 1951

    4. 1996

13. 

    Layla completes one and a half somersaults in a dive. How many degrees does Layla turn through in her dive?

    1. 180

    2. 360

    3. 540

    4. 720

14. 

    This table shows the heights of three mountains. How much higher is Mount Everest (8,848 metres) than the combined height of the other two mountains, Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres) and Ben Nevis (1,344 metres)?

    1. 1660

    2. 1996

    3. 1609

    4. 1906

15. 

    Here is a rule for the time it takes to cook a chicken: 'Cooking time = 20 minutes plus an extra 40 minutes for each kilogram'. How many minutes will it take to cook a 3kg chicken?

    1. 2 hours

    2. 2 hours and 20 minutes

    3. 2 hours and 30 minutes

    4. 2 hours and 40 minutes

16. 

    And if 'cooking time = 20 minutes plus an extra 40 minutes for each kilogram', then what is the mass of a chicken that takes 100 minutes to cook?

    1. 1kg

    2. 2.5kg

    3. 1.5kg

    4. 2kg

17. 

    Which of these shapes are three-quarters shaded?

    1. 

       These?

    2. 

       These?

    3. 

       These?

    4. 

       Or these?

18. OK, now some questions from the third paper. No calculators and no multiple choice for the kids. And unlike you, they have to show their working and can't Google the formula. So let's start with this: A bicycle wheel has a diameter of 64cm. What is the radius of the bicycle wheel?

    1. 64/π

    2. 48

    3. 33.3

    4. 32

19. Which of these letters has both parallel and perpendicular lines? A C E L Z

    1. A

    2. C

    3. E

    4. L

    5. Z

20. 

    Calculate the width (w) of one shaded rectangle.

    1. 7

    2. 8

    3. 8.5

    4. 9

21. 

    Cube A and cuboid B have the same volume. Calculate the missing length on cuboid B.

    1. 6

    2. 8

    3. 9

    4. 12

22. 

    A group of friends earns £80 by washing cars. They share the money equally. They get £16 each. How many friends are in the group?

    1. 4

    2. 5

    3. 6

    4. 7

23. 

    Here is a pattern of number pairs. Complete the rule for the number pattern.

    1. b = 10 x a - 1

    2. b = 9 x a -1

    3. b = 10 x a + 1

    4. b = 2 x a + 8

24. 

    This graph shows the temperature in °C from 2am to 3pm on a cold day. How many degrees warmer was it at 3pm than at 3am?

    1. 7

    2. 6

    3. 5

    4. 4

25. 

    At 6pm the temperature was 4 degrees lower than at 3pm. What was the temperature at 6pm?

    1. 2

    2. -1

    3. -2

    4. -4

Solutions

1:A - Zager And Evans, who had a hit in the 1960s with "In The Year 2525" will be pleased you've made a strong start here., 2:B - Excellent, 3:D - Yes, it's 207., 4:B - You need to find a common denominator - in this case you can use 20 - then the sum becomes 5/20 + 4/20 + 2/20., 5:A - To multiply fractions, you simplify them, then multiply the numerators together and the denominators together. In this case 4/6 simplifies to 2/3, so the numerators multiplied is 2 x 3 equals 6, and the denominators multiplied is 3 x 5. That gives us 6/15 as our answer. But we can simplify that. Divide the top and the bottom by three and you get 2/5. Other methods of multiplying fractions are available - and the mark scheme says teachers will accept equivalent fractions or an exact decimal equivalent., 6:C - Do you remember the order that you have to calculate your arithmetic? The parts of the sum in brackets get done first, so you end up with 50 + (6), equals 56., 7:A - We have to be honest. We used a calculator for this in the Guardian office, 8:C - This question neatly illustrates the difference between SATs tests and perhaps the kind of exams people nostalgically remember from the 1960s or 1980s. These tests are designed so that pupils can demonstrate that they understand different maths concepts that have been on their curriculum. It isn't so much about trying to catch pupils out, more about seeing if "Yes, this pupil understands the concept of dividing by one"., 9:C - Well done. And did you know that in those six waking hours an adult koala can somehow manage to eat 1kg of eucalyptus leaves?, 10:B - Ally saves £1.39 by bulk buying the stickers. Poor Jack, who might only be getting enough pocket money to buy his stickers one at a time, placing him at further financial disadvantage, 11:D - Again, like the 505 ÷ 1 question above, this shouldn't present much of a challenge to an adult. However, it confirms for examiners that over the course of their primary school education, children have learned to master converting large amounts of time to more appropriate units, 12:A - It is 2006. It is sometimes said that the practice of putting the copyright date on films and TV shows was so that audiences wouldn't notice how old something was, because many people can't instantly convert them to years in Arabic numerals, 13:C - It is one full rotation (360 degrees) plus a half-rotation (180 degrees). The exam paper doesn't specify how much the judges scored Layla for her dive, 14:C - This question makes Ben Nevis seem really small, doesn't it?, 15:B - For best results leave the chicken to rest for 15 minutes or so, covered with a layer of tin foil and a tea towel, 16:D - Yes, 2kg , 17:B - It is these. The first shows 6/8th shaded, the second shows 12/16ths shaded., 18:D - Despite the initial panic when faced with a question about calculating things to do with circles, you don't actually need to know π or a complicated formula for this – the diameter of a circle is twice the radius, so simply dividing 64 by 2 gives us the answer, 19:C - The long stroke on the left making up the backbone of the letter is perpendicular to the three parallel lines, 20:A - In the real exam you get two marks for getting this right. You would get one mark for showing some evidence of how you tried to work it out, even if you ended up with the wrong answer, 21:C - This is another question where in the real exam you are being tested on both your method as well as getting the right result - and could get one of the two marks even if you ultimately got the answer wrong., 22:B - It is five friends. Possibly Enid Blyton's Famous Five – one of which was a dog – as that is the last time we can recall gangs of roaming children going out washing cars for cash rather than just hanging out listening to music on their phones , 23:A - This is the correct rule, 24:A - Apologies if you were trying to read this graph on a small mobile device screen. You wouldn't have this problem in the exam hall, 25:C - Correct. Examiners are instructed not to give a mark if a pupil writes '2-', as that does not demonstrate the correct understanding of writing negative numbers

Scores

1. 21 and above.

   Excellent stuff. You'll probably be in the top maths set when you reach secondary school.

2. 11 and above.

   Well done, not bad at all since we assume you didn't do any revision for this test.

3. 5 and above.

   A worrying result. Have you considered doing your homework more often?

4. 0 and above.

   This is awful. You've let me down. You've let the school down. But worst of all, you've let yourself down.

5. 25 and above.

   Perfect. Go straight to the top of the class