Official TSA Ordered Questions (2008-2019)

Explanation

The correct answer is D.

To find the maximum number of workers on site at the same time, look at the part of the plan where vertically (in a single column) there appears to be the most shaded blocks. This is on the columns representing both the 12th and the 13th of April, where there are 2 men for brickwork, 1 man for roof and 1 man for glass, so a total of 4 men. So we know our answer must be B or D. To work out how many days labour Peter will have to pay for, count how many shaded blocks there are on the entire plan, which is 58. Therefore the answer is D.

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

At the start of the 4 quarter finals, we would need 8 teams (2 per final), but as these 8 teams are the winners of the previous stage, there must have been 8 groups, so there were more than 8 teams starting, so eliminate A. As there were 8 groups before the quarter finals and each group consisted of the same number of teams, the total number of teams at the start must have been a multiple of 8. Out of the remaining answers B-E, only 72 is a multiple of 8, therefore E is the answer.

Explanation

The correct answer is C.

As a first step we can trace through the matches that The Goats will play on the way to the Finals, as any opponents they defeat during the Quarterfinals or Semi-finals will not make it to the finals and will therefore not be one of the prospective opponents. We can see that they will first play in the 4th QF against the runners-up in League A, which are the The Fish. Hence as they will have to defeat the Fish to get through to the Finals, The Fish are not possible opponents of The Goats in the Finals. We can therefore rule out answer options A and B. The Goats will next play in the 2nd Semi-finals against the winners of the 3rd QF. We can see the two teams playing in the 3rd QF are the Scales and the Rams. One of these teams will fail in the QFs while the other will lose to the Goats in the Semi-finals if the Goats are going to make it to the Finals, hence any answer options including either of these teams can be ruled out. This leaves us with answer options C and E. The only difference between these options is the Archers in C and The Twins in E. A glance at the table shows that the Twins finished last in League B. They therefore do not play in any of the QFs and have no chance of ending up in the final so we can exclude E, giving us the correct answer option of C.

Explanation

The correct answer is B.

The data provided looks at the thoughts of young smokers and parents perceptions of attitudes of eachother around smoking. Answer A is unknown from the information provided, as this is not something asked. Answer C is incorrect. Answer D is not covered in the data. Answer E is subjective and therefore not something that can be concluded from the data provided. Answer B can be concluded as true, and is the only viable answer option.

Explanation

The correct answer is A.

II : 82 115 118

OO: 76 130 128

The Indigo Iguanas carried 82/2 = 41 points to the Quarter-final

They then carried (125 – 41)/2 = 42 points to the semi-final.

They then carried (118 – 42)/2 = 38 points to the final.

The Orange Ocelots carried  76/2 = 38 points to the quarter-final.

They then carried (130 – 38)/2 = 46 points to the semi-final.

They then carried (128 – 46)/2 = 41 points to the final.

41 – 38 = 3 The Indigo Iguanas must score at least 4 more than the Orange Ocelots in order to win in the finals.

Explanation

The correct answer is C.

Let bricklaying=B, Damp-proofing=Dp, drainage=D, flooring=F, joinery=J, plastering=P, roofing=R.

Explanation

The correct answer is C.

For this question you only need to focus on the exams on Wednesday as there are no roles dictating whether or not invigilators can or cannot work a certain number of days consecutively. Therefore, the data for the other exams is just extra information. First, we can go through the 4 exams taking place that day and ensure that there is one invigilator present that teaches that subject. Only Marjorie teaches maths, and only Susan teaches Latin hence they must both be present during the morning session (meaning that they can therefore no longer invigilate during the afternoon session). The question does note that there must be at least one male and one female invigilator during each session, but since any of the 3 male teachers can fill that role we can move onto the afternoon session. Both Jenny and Marjorie teach English, but since Marjorie has already invigilated for the day, Jenny must be present during the evening session. Similarly, both Susan and Keith teach Spanish, but since Susan already invigilates during the morning session on Wednesday, Keith must be present during the afternoon session. Hence both Keith and Jenny invigilate on Wednesday afternoon and the answer is C.

Explanation

The correct answer is A.

We need to find the component that will limit the number of board games we can make. We can do this by dividing the number of that particular item in the warehouse by the number required in one board game. Playing boards=98/1=98, question cards=5000/50=100, playing pieces=we don’t really need to calculate because by inspection we can estimate that the answer will be more than 98, money tokens=we don’t need to calculate because there are the same number in the warehouse as there are question cards but the number needed for one board game is lower so the answer will be higher than for question cards, bonus tokens=1000/12=83(rounded down to the nearest whole number), dice=again we don’t need to calculate because will obviously be larger than 83. The bonus tokens limit the number of board games that can be dispatched, which is 83. But the answer asks how many cartons can be dispatched, which each contain 8 board games. So the final calculation would be 83/8=10(rounded down to the nearest whole number).

Explanation

The correct answer is D.

Explanation

The correct answer is B.

Draw out what you know, representing each place using the first letter of the name of the place. Taking the statements in order, A is east of B, so write B A. E is north of C but we don’t know either of their positions relative to A or B, so leave E and C for now. D is south of A, so write D below A. C is west of D, so write C to the right of D. Going back to the second statement, E is north of C, so write E above C. We know that C is west of D (which is below A) and that E is above C, therefore E must be west of A. However we do not know whether E is north or south of A, because we don’t know whether C is north or south of A. If C was south of A, E could be north or south of A because E is above C, and if C was north of A, E would also be north of A. Therefore B is the answer.

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

We can ignore all the pm slots as Thomas is only free in the mornings. He wants to be in the main hall, and therefore we can exclude any slots where there are 70 or more available spaces (as this means that there are 30 or fewer candidates). This means that he cannot do Monday. From the remaining days we want to pick the day with the highest number of spaces available so that he is with the smallest number of candidates possible while still being in the main hall. The highest number of available spaces is present on Friday, so the correct answer option is E.

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

Answer A gives 15 because if 6 teams play the other 5 you would do 6×5=30, but this must be halved to give 15 (because team 1 playing team 2 is equivalent to team 2 playing team 1). Answers B, C and D follow the same principle as answer A. But answer E is different because friend 1 sending a card to friend 2 is not equivalent to friend 2 sending a card to friend 1, therefore the calculation would be 6×5=30 but it would not be necessary to divide 30 by 2.

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

Find a proportion for the number of customers per hour on Monday by dividing the number of divisions equal to the height of the bar on the graph for Monday by the number of hours open on Monday: 4/10=0.4 . If the number of customers per hour was the same on Tuesday as Monday, you could calculate the numbers of hours open by dividing the height of the bar graph for Tuesday by 0.4: 3/0.4, which can be done without a calculator by doing 3 divided by 2/5 which is equivalent to 3 x 5/2 = 15/2=7.5 . But the question states that the number of customers per hour was higher on Tuesday and Friday, so on Tuesday the shop must have been open for less than 7.5 hours, eliminate answers A, B, C and D. This means E must be the answer. This can be checked by using a similar method to calculate how many hours the shop could have been open for on Friday: 4/0.4=10, so the shop was open for less than 10 hours on Friday.

Explanation

The correct answer is D.

For birthdays to be on the same day of the week, the number of days between two birthdays must be a multiple of 7. In a leap year, Ryan’s birthday will still be on the 50th day (as it is before the 29th of February). The rest of the boys’ birthdays would be on the 151st, 251st and 351st days; the girls’ birthdays would be on the 124th and 322nd days. Subtract 50 from each number day to find the difference in number of days: 151-50=101, 251-50=201, 351-50=301, 124-50=74, 322-50=272. The only difference in number of days that is a multiple of 7 is (351-50=)301. This represents Robert’s birthday (as it is the latest in the year out of the boys), so the answer is D.

Explanation

The correct answer is D.

Start by adding together the most expensive item from each category: 6.95+16.10+6.20=29.25 which exceeds her limit by 0.75. Try to find an item/items you could switch which would be closest to 0.75 as possible. Keep 16.10 for the main meal because the 2nd most expensive option is 0.95 less. The combination which gives the highest total below 28.50 is 6.10+16.10+6.20=28.40.

Explanation

The correct answer is C.

For this question it is easiest if you create a table as shown, of all the days and jot down which guards are working on which nights. We were already told that Robert is working on Friday. The next piece of information that we can fill in is the days that Tom is working because he is working for 4 nights and as he cannot work for more than 2 consecutive nights, this must mean that he works on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. As a result, this means that both Robert and Sheila must be working on Wednesday. Since he cannot work for more than 2 consecutive nights, Robert cannot work on Thursday, so it much be Sheila who does her shift that night and as Sheila cannot work more than 2 consecutive nights, Robert would have to work on Tuesday, which means that Sheila works on Monday to complete all three of her shifts. Therefore, the answer is C.

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

Watch out, the scored for each person are not given in the same order as the money sponsored for each person per 100 points. Complete 100 points scored for each person: P=2800, E=2700, B=2400, V=2200, N=2100. Calculations: P=54×28=1512, E=56×27=1512, B=63×24=1512, V=22×68=1496, N=21×72=1512. Viv raised a different amount.

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

The fastest way to approach this question is to create a table and jot down each persons 1st 2nd and 3rd choices as you read the text as this saves you from constantly having to scan through the text to calculate the points allocated to each place. Once we have the table, we can clearly see that France doesn’t end up as any individual’s first choice, so we can rule out A. For the other locations we can calculate the points allocated: Portugal = 3+3=6; Majorca = 3+1=4; Greece = 3+1=4; Tenerife = 3+2+1+1=7. Therefore, as Tenerife ends up with the largest number of points, the answer is E.

Explanation

The correct answer is C.

For this question, we can’t work out the absolute numbers of votes in March or April, but given the data provided, we can calculate the differences for each candidate. For Andrew we can see that 3 change their vote from him to James and 5 to Roger so overall he loses 8 voters. Quickly scanning through the charts shows that all of them show a decrease of 8. So moving on to the next candidate – we can see than James received 3+1 = 4 more votes than before, but loses 2 to Roger, so overall there’s a difference of 2 votes. Quickly scanning through the answer options shows that there’s only an increase of 1 in answer C, so that is the correct answer as it’s the only chart that cannot be showing the correct number of votes.