What are Numerical Skills?
The topic of numerical skills, sometimes called arithmetic or arithmetic reasoning, is covered on many standardized examinations.
Basic arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and estimating are included in numerical skills.
Free Practice Test Problems
The numerical skills or arithmetic sections of your standardized exam will include the following topics.
Click on each link below for the free practice test problems.
Why is Arithmetic Included on the Test?
You will need basic numerical skills for work or school because basic math is an essential life skill.
Basic math skills are also needed for many jobs, particularly for record-keeping tasks.
For example, you will need numerical skills in your job in order to calculate results or write reports.
Types of Numerical Skills Questions
Averages
Numerical skills include calculating averages.
These types of problems might involve students’ test scores or grades.
You may see problems that ask you to calculate an average from the data provided.
Other questions may say that an average has been miscalculated, and then ask you to correct the error in calculating the average.
Decimals
You may need to perform addition or subtraction on decimals.
You may also see questions asking you to order decimals from greatest to least or least to greatest
Estimating
Estimating questions ask you to give the approximate result to a math problem without doing the full calculation.
You will need to understand how to do rounding in in order to do well on estimating problem on your numerical skills test.
Fractions
Many students struggle with fractions. If you do, please visit our special page on this subject.
You will need to know the concepts of numerator, denominator, common denominator, and least common denominator for fraction questions on your exam.
These types of questions usually ask you to add or subtract fractions or to put fractions in order from least to greatest.
Integers
In order to understand what an integer is, you first need to know what a whole number is.
Integers are positive and negative whole numbers.
Adding and subtracting both positive and negative integers is covered on your standardized test.
We include integers and whole numbers as separate sections because the integers problems show how to deal with operations on negative integers.
Length
For most exams, length problems will be expressed in feet and inches, rather than in metric units.
You may need to calculate the increase or decrease in length or determine the total length.
These types of questions may involve measuring rooms, fields, boxes, or height.
Percentages
Percentages are closely related to decimals and fractions.
You may simply need to calculate a percentage from the information provided.
On the other hand, you may need to use a stated percentage in order to perform calculations.
Price per Unit
These questions may state the total value and the number of units and then ask you to calculate the price per unit.
You may also need to use price per unit to determine discounts or sales offers.
Whole Numbers
Whole numbers are numbers that do not contain fractions or decimal points.
You will need to be well-acquainted with how to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division on whole numbers for your examination.