Here’s a quick one to practice on.  Remember, just like the Question 6, we want to break things down into easily understandable components that are quickly calculated.  So things like 10 + 10 are easy to calculate in your head but things like 456 + 39 are not as quickly calculated.

This is the question:

18% of £300 is?

Here’s how I would approach it with all calculations done in my head.

1) Find an easy way.

18% x 300 is quite a long calculation isn’t it.  Let’s see if there’s an easier way.

What’s 300 made up of?  Well… it’s made up of 3 lots of £100.

2) Calculate.

18% of £100 is easy. It’s just £18.

So multiply £18 x 3 =£54 (3 x 8 is 24, 3 x 1 = 3 + 2 = 5.  so 54 is the answer).

So your answer is £54! 

Again, with short maths questions in the CEM 11+ Test, make sure you break things down into components that you can calculate easily.

Good Luck with your exams and any questions/comments - just let us know below!