5 Challenging PSLE Math Questions

Hi parents and students, I will like you to try out these 5 challenging PSLE Math questions. These questions frequently appear in past PSLE math papers or school exam papers. After analysing many PSLE Math and other schools’ exam papers, I found these 5 questions to be challenging. Many children get stuck when they try to do these questions. Try the questions below first. 

1.  At first, John had some $10 notes and $2 notes in the ratio of 3 : 8. After exchanging two $10 notes for $2 notes, the ratio of $10 notes to $2 notes became 1 : 3. Find the amount of money John had.

2.  A farmer has some chickens and ducks. If he sells 2 chickens and 3 ducks every day, there will be 50 chickens left when all the ducks have been sold. If he sells 3 chickens and 2 ducks every day, there will be 25 chickens left when all the ducks have been sold.

a) how many ducks are there?

b) how many chickens are there ?

3.  1 kg of cherries cost $0.50 more than 1 kg of grapes. Mr Tan collected $312 for selling some cherries and grapes. He sold ¾ as much cherries as grapes. The total amount collected from the sale of grapes was $24 more than the amount collected from the sale of cherries.

a) Find the mass of grapes sold.

b) Find the cost of 1kg of cherries.

4.  Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim’s sweets to chocolates became 1 : 7 and the ratio of Ken’s sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?

5.  There are 85 plates of fried noodles for 80 people. Each adult eats 2 plates of fried noodles and every 3 children share 1 plate of fried noodles. How many adults and how many children are there?

As you are trying to solve the questions, I will like to offer a few tips to solve these challenging PSLE Math questions.

Understand the Question

As you are reading the question, underline or highlight the keywords as they help you to understand the question in a better way. The keywords contain all the important information you need to know in order to solve the question. For example, for question 1:

 1.  At first, John had some $10 notes and $2 notes in the ratio of 3 : 8. After exchanging two $10 notes for $2 notes, the ratio of $10 notes to $2 notes became 1 : 3. Find the amount of money John had.

By reading the keywords, we have understood that the starting ratio of $10 to $2 is 3 : 8. Exchange means he gives away two $10 notes for some $2 notes in return and the final ratio became 1 : 3. We need to find the total amount.

Identify the Correct Method

In this article, I shared on 8 must know methods to solve challenging PSLE Math problem sums. After you have understood the question, you need to identify the correct method to solve this question. Since for question 1, you are given a starting ratio, and both sides of the ratio change by different amount, the method “Units and Parts” will be a good method to solve this question. If you have other methods to solve this question, do go ahead. 

Apply the Method Correctly

This skill will need to come with practice. You need to know how to apply each method correctly to solve different challenging PSLE Math questions. 

Check Your Answer

After you have solved the question, you need to check your answer. Other than checking your workings to prevent careless mistakes, you need to try to use the values which you have to test against the question. For example for question 1, the number of notes you have must match the starting ratio. After the exchange, the final number of notes must match the final ratio too.

By following these 4 tips, you will be able to solve many PSLE Math questions. 

If you want to know the solutions for these 5 challenging PSLE Math questions, you can view them in this free course. You simply need to register a free account to view the solutions. 

Once again, the solutions can be found in this free course: “5 Challenging Questions: PSLE Math Free Online Course“

Have fun learning!