Numeracy and Quantitative Reasoning
The Numeracy and Quantitative Reasoning section tests whether you can apply number skills to real Kiribati situations: weighing copra bags, working out bus or ferry fares in Australian dollars, sizing a rainwater tank, comparing fish catches, and reading land area or population figures for South Tarawa. Items are usually short, but they punish skipped steps.
Rules that carry most of the marks
- Work in order: brackets, indices, multiplication/division, then addition/subtraction.
- 'Of' means multiply. Percentage change = change ÷ original × 100, so a 20% rise followed by a 20% fall does not return to the starting value.
- Ratio and proportion: use the unitary method - find the value of one item, then multiply.
- Conversions: 1 m = 100 cm; 1 m² = 10 000 cm²; 1 hectare = 10 000 m²; 1 m³ = 1 000 L; 1 tonne = 1 000 kg.
- Mean = total ÷ number of values; median = middle value after ordering; range = highest − lowest.
- Kiribati coins and notes circulate at par with the Australian dollar, so money questions test accurate addition and change, not exchange rates.
Worked example
A household tank measures 2 m by 1.5 m by 1.2 m. How many days will it last if the family uses 40 litres a day? Volume = 2 × 1.5 × 1.2 = 3.6 m³. Since 1 m³ = 1 000 L, that is 3 600 L. Days = 3 600 ÷ 40 = 90. Check backwards: 90 × 40 = 3 600 L. Answer: 90 days.
Traps that cost marks
Mixing centimetres and metres inside one formula; forgetting to multiply by 1 000 when converting cubic metres to litres; taking a percentage of the new amount instead of the original; rounding halfway through the working; giving the answer in the wrong unit after a correct calculation.