Sample Test Item
What is the median of these six monthly salaries:
$4000, $2800, $3200, $6200, $3200, $4600?
A.$3200 C.$3600
B.$3400 D.$4000
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Test Prep: Multiple-Choice Questions
Strategy: Understand Distractors
Distractors in multiple-choice questions often seem correct because
they are related to information given in the problem. Be sure to
answer the question askedwhen choosing your answer.
Test-Taking Tips
- Underline important words.
- Restate the question.
- Apply appropriate rules,
definitions, or properties. - Analyze and eliminate
answer choices.
page 265 for exercise sets.
Choose the correct answer. Explain how you used strategies.
Read the whole test item carefully.
- Reread the test item, including all the answer choices.
- Underline important words.
What is the median salary?
The medianis the middle number in a set of ordered data. - Restate the question in your own words.
When the salaries are put in numerical order, what is the middle salary?
Solve the problem.
- Distinguish the median from the range, mode, and mean.
- Order the data. Find the median.
$2800, $3200, $3200, $4000, $4600, $6200
The median is $3200 2 $4000$3600.
Choose the answer.
- Analyze and eliminate answer choices. Watch out for distractors.
A.$3200 This is the mode of the data. Eliminate this choice.
B.$3400 This is the range of the data. Eliminate this choice.
C.$3600 This is the correct choice!
D.$4000 This is the mean of the data. Eliminate this choice.
1.What is the range of the data shown
in the box-and-whisker plot?
A. 16 C. 24
B. 20 D. 28
2.What is the least common multiple
of 8, 16, and 24?
F. 4 H. 48
G. 8 J. 192
20 24 28 32 36
Think
When there is an even number
of data, the median is the mean
of the two middle numbers.