GCSE Results Day 2018: Could You Pass These Fiendishly Difficult Three Maths Questions?

These questions were in the June 2017 paper.
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Students across the country are receiving their GCSE results today and, regardless of the outcome, for parents the best job you can do is support them with their next step.

But if you want to stand in their shoes and understand what they went through while sitting their exams this summer, we’ve got just the thing.

We’ve looked through a past GCSE maths paper and found three questions that seemed hard to crack. They’re all from a non-calculator paper in June 2017.

Fancy giving them a go? Answers are below.

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1.

In an office there are twice as many females as males.

1/4 of females wear glasses.

3/8 of males wear glasses.

84 people in the office wear glasses.

Work out the number of people in the office.

2.

Density = mass divided by volume

The mass of solid A is 6 times the mass of solid B.

The volume of solid A is 3 times the volume of solid B.

Complete the sentence: The density of solid A is ______ times the density of solid B.

3.

Bottles of drink are for sale at three shops. The normal price of a bottle is the same at each shop.

Shop A - Buy 1 bottle get 2 more bottles at half price

Shop B - Buy 2 bottles get 3 more bottles at half price

Shop C - 30% off a bottle

What is the cheapest way to buy exactly eight bottles? You can buy from more than one shop.

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Answers:

1. 288 (see full workings out on question 25 here)

2. Two/twice/double (see full workings out on question 9a here)

3. 6 bottles from A and 2 bottles from C (see full workings out on question 18 here)

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