CCAT Math Questions: Overview, Free Practice, and Prep Tips

The correct answer is (A) – 0.0015

The Decimal System enables writing numbers as large or as small as one wishes, using the decimal point.

Digits can be placed to the left or right of a decimal point, presenting values greater than one or less than one. To the left of the decimal point is a whole number (e.g. 45 in 45.589).

Moving to the left of the decimal point, every number gets 10 times bigger: ...Hundreds <- Tens <- Ones. To the right of the decimal point, the first digit means tenths (1/10). Moving to the right of the decimal point, every number gets 10 times smaller (one-tenth as big): Tenths -> Hundredths -> Thousandths…

As can be seen, all answer-options have 0 ones. Therefore, move to the right of the decimal point and compare their tenth values.

You can immediately dismiss answer-option (C) since it has 1 tenth while all other answer-options have 0 tenths. You are left with answer-options (A), (B), (D) and (E).

Comparing their hundredths values, you can immediately dismiss answer-option (B) since it has 1 hundredth while all other answer-options have 0 hundredths. You are left with answer-options (A), (D) and (E).

Therefore, move to the thousandths place and compare them:
Answer-option (A) – 0.0015 – 1 thousandths
Answer-option (D) – 0.0051 – 5 thousandths
Answer-option (E) – 0.00151 – 1 thousandths

As can be seen, you can dismiss answer-option (D) since it has the 5 thousandths, while (A) and (E) has smaller thousandths value of 1.

You are left with answer-options (A) and (E). Both have the same ten thousandths value of 5. However, while answer-option (A) ends there, answer-option (E) also have a hundred thousandths value of 1, making it larger than (A):
Answer-option (A) – 0.0015 – 0 hundred thousandths
Answer-option (E) – 0.00151 – 1 hundred thousandths

Therefore, answer-option (A) presents the smallest value.

Notice! Moving further to the right, the absence of digits is equivalent to writing 0. For example:
Answer-option (A) - 0.0015 can also be written as 0.00150, making it easier to compare with answer-option (E):
Answer-option (A) – 0.00150
Answer-option (E) – 0.00151

Notice! In case all or some of the answer-options have the same tenths/hundredths/thousandths values etc. move on to the next place to the right of the decimal point and compare the values, until you find a difference.

The correct answer is (E) - 212.

100% = 100*53/25 = 4*53 = 4*50 + 4*3 = 200 + 12 = 212

You can also find the answer by using a basic multiplication table method. If 53 is 25%, that means that the whole number is 4 times 53. If we split the 53*4 to 50*4 + 3*4, we know that the number we are looking for has to end with 2 (3*4=12). The only option that ends with 2 is 212.

The correct answer is (C) - 1250.

It is evident when reading the question carefully that 50% of flu patients felt an improvement when taking the medication (28 + 22 = 50). This means that half of the patients did not feel any improvement. Note that the question refers to the number of patients that did not feel any improvement rather than the percentage - 50% of 2500 = 1250.

The correct answer is (C) - 1200.

If the car traveled 200 miles in 10 minutes, in one hour it will drive 6 times that distance (10 minutes is 1/6 of an hour).

Therefore, the distance traveled in one hour will be:

6*200=1200 miles

This value will therefore be the speed of the car: 1,200 mph.

The correct answer is (A) - 25.

There are two ways to solve this problem:

1. Elimination
Take a look at the answer options. Answers (B), (C), and (D) are either lower than or identical to the old average. Since the number of photos in the second album increased (24+6=30), the average will increase as well. Answer (A) is the only one which is higher than 23, and is, therefore, the correct answer.

2. Average calculation
Calculate the sum of the new set of numbers, and then divide by the number of items. In this particular case, however, you can use a much shorter calculation: the difference between the new number of photos and old number of photos is 6.

Divide this by the number of items to learn how much the average will increase:
(Difference between sums of items) / (number of items) = 6/3 = 2
The average will increase by 2. Thus, the new average will be: 23+2 = 25.

The correct answer is (D) - 144.

The series in this question follows the Fibonacci sequence principle- each number equals the sum of the previous two numbers.
Thus: 55+89 = 144

The correct answer is (B) - KHK.

There are two things that should be noticed about this series right away:
The first and last letters of each group are identical;
The second letter of each group is always an H.

Based on this, eliminate answers C, D, and E.
When examining the pattern that the outer letters follow, you can quickly notice a consecutive sequence:
G H I J K

The outer letters of the missing group must therefore be K.

The correct answer is (D) - 50,000.

There are 2 ways to solve this question:

(1) Calculate the number of unemployed people with a Bachelor's degree and then subtract the number of unemployed people with a Master's degree to arrive at the correct answer:
5,000,000*0.05-5,000,000*0.04=50,000.

(2) Calculate the difference in the unemployment rate between people with a Bachelor's degree and people with a Master's degree and then multiply by the total number of the eligible workforce: (0.05-0.04)*5,000,000= 50,000.

* Note that option 2 is a viable option only under the assumption that the data was extracted from the same population.