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Worksheet generator
Pick what you want, print the page. The answer key comes with it, on its own sheet, and it tells you the mistake behind every wrong choice — not just which letter is right.
This exact URL always produces this exact sheet — bookmark it and the answer key will still match next term. Print with your browser; the controls and the site navigation are left off the page.
1.Eight people meet and everyone shakes hands with everyone else exactly once. How many handshakes take place?[3]
A16
B28
C36
D56
E64
2.Three quarters of a class of 28 travelled by bus. How many did not travel by bus?[3]
A4
B7
C12
D21
E24
3.Three angles of a quadrilateral are 80, 95 and 110 degrees. What is the fourth angle?[3]
A65
B75
C85
D95
E105
4.Which capital letter, printed plainly, has both a horizontal and a vertical line of symmetry?[3]
AA
BB
CH
DT
EZ
5.A sequence starts 4, 7, 10, 13 and continues in the same way. What is the 20th term?[4]
A57
B60
C61
D63
E64
6.How many different four-letter arrangements can be made from the letters of the word MATH, using each letter once?[4]
A4
B12
C16
D24
E256
7.Five children queue up. Ana is somewhere ahead of Bo. Cal is behind Bo but ahead of Dee. Eve is last. Who is second in the queue?[4]
AAna
BBo
CCal
DDee
Eit cannot be decided
8.A sequence starts 1, 1, and every term after that is the sum of the two before it. What is the eighth term?[4]
A13
B21
C29
D34
E64
9.Dots are arranged in triangles: 1 dot, then 3, then 6, then 10, and so on. How many dots does the tenth triangle have?[4]
A36
B45
C55
D66
E100
10.On the street grid shown you may only walk right or down. One junction is closed. How many routes go from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner?[5]
Text description of the figure
A grid of streets with junctions arranged 4 across and 4 down. The junction one step right and one step down from the top-left corner is marked closed with a cross.
A8
B10
C12
D18
E20
11.A drawer holds 10 red socks, 10 blue socks and 10 green socks, all mixed up in the dark. How many socks must you take out to be sure of having a matching pair?[5]
A2
B3
C4
D11
E31
12.One hundred apples are packed into twelve boxes. What is the largest number n for which you can always be sure that some box holds at least n apples?[5]
A8
B9
C10
D12
E100
13.The numbers 1 to 10 stand in a row. A move swaps two neighbours. After exactly 45 moves, can the row be back in its starting order?[5]
AYes, always
BYes, if the swaps are chosen well
CNo, because 45 is not a multiple of 10
DNo, because the number of moves is odd
EIt depends which numbers are swapped
14.A class of 12 scored an average of 8. Another class of 18 scored an average of 13. What is the average for all 30 students together?[5]
A10.5
B11
C11.5
D12
E21
15.You are 20 minutes into a 75-minute paper of 30 questions, still on question 9, and four minutes in with no progress. What is the best move?[5]
AKeep going — four minutes are already invested
BAnswer it with your best guess, mark it, and move on
CSkip it, leave it blank, and come back at the end
DGo back and re-check questions 1 to 8
EJump to question 30 and work backwards
Math Kangaroo Star · https://kangaroo-atlas.vercel.app · seed 8 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Independent project, not affiliated with Math Kangaroo in USA, NFP.
Answer key — Math Kangaroo practice
Each wrong choice carries the thinking that produces it. When a student picks C, this is what they were doing.
1.B — 28KA-0035Handshakes and pairs
AI doubled the number of people, as if each person made two handshakes in total.
CI let each person shake hands with all eight people including themselves before halving.
DI multiplied 8 by 7 and forgot that each handshake was counted from both sides.
EI multiplied 8 by 8, counting every ordered pair including a person with themselves.
2.B — 7KA-0064Fractions of a quantity
AI divided 28 by 7 instead of taking a quarter of it.
CI found three quarters of 16 by mistake, mixing up the class size.
DI found how many did travel by bus and gave that instead of how many did not.
EI subtracted the 4 quarters as if they were 4 students.
3.B — 75KA-0088Angles on lines, in triangles, in polygons
AI added the three angles wrongly, getting 295 instead of 285.
CI used an angle sum of 370, mis-remembering the total for a quadrilateral.
DI repeated one of the given angles instead of computing the missing one.
EI used the triangle's 180 degrees and then adjusted, rather than the quadrilateral's 360.
4.C — HKA-0142Line and rotational symmetry
AI found the vertical fold and assumed a horizontal one must work too.
BI found the horizontal fold and stopped without testing the vertical one.
DI counted the vertical fold twice rather than testing a horizontal one.
EI mistook turning the letter upside down for folding it, which is rotation rather than symmetry about a line.
5.C — 61KA-0030Arithmetic sequences and the nth term
AI added the step 18 times, counting the gaps between terms one too few.
BI multiplied the step of 3 by 20 and forgot that the first term is already in place.
DI used a first term of 3 instead of 4 while adding 20 steps.
EI added the step 20 times to the first term instead of 19 times.
6.D — 24KA-0073Arrangements of a few objects
AI counted the letters rather than their arrangements.
BI multiplied 4 by 3 and stopped, forgetting the last two positions.
CI used 4 choices for every position, as if letters could repeat.
EI used 4 choices in each of four positions, which allows every letter to repeat.
7.B — BoKA-0092Ordering and ranking from clues
AI gave the child who is first rather than the one who is second.
CI placed Cal directly after Ana, reading ahead of Dee as meaning immediately ahead.
DI built the order backwards from the last position instead of forwards from the first.
EI assumed the clues left several orders open without checking that they chain into a single one.
8.B — 21KA-0104Recursive rules
AI counted the two starting terms as one, so I stopped at the seventh term.
CI added the two before it but slipped once in the middle of the chain.
DI generated one term too many and gave the ninth.
EI doubled each term instead of adding the two before it.
9.C — 55KA-0107Growth patterns and figurate numbers
AI stopped at the eighth triangle, losing count while adding the rows.
BI gave the ninth triangle instead of the tenth, being one row short.
DI gave the eleventh triangle, adding one row too many.
EI squared the position number, which describes square patterns rather than triangular ones.
10.A — 8KA-0031Counting paths on a grid
BI assumed closing one junction removes about half the routes and halved the total of 20.
CI counted the routes that pass through the closed junction and gave that instead of the ones that avoid it.
DI subtracted only the 2 routes that reach the closed junction, not all the routes that continue through it.
EI counted every route on the open grid and forgot to remove the ones through the closed junction.
11.C — 4KA-0040The pigeonhole principle
AI answered with the lucky case, where the first two socks happen to match.
BI used the number of colours as my answer without adding one for the sock that must repeat.
DI worked from the number of socks of each colour instead of the number of colours.
EI took the whole drawer, guaranteeing a pair but far more socks than are needed.
12.B — 9KA-0095The extremal principle
AI divided 100 by 12 and rounded down instead of up.
CI rounded the division to a convenient number without checking that a packing with a smaller maximum exists.
DI gave the number of boxes as the answer rather than a number of apples.
EI described the case where one box holds everything, which is possible but not guaranteed.
13.D — No, because the number of moves is oddKA-0097Parity arguments
AI assumed enough moves can undo anything, without asking what each move preserves.
BI tried a few sequences that nearly worked and assumed a better choice would finish the job.
CI reached for the number of items rather than for what a single swap actually changes.
EI thought the choice of swaps could change the outcome, when every swap has the same effect.
14.B — 11KA-0112Mixtures and weighted averages
AI averaged the two averages, ignoring that the classes are different sizes.
CI weighted the averages but used the wrong class size against each one.
DI leaned towards the larger class's average without computing the totals.
EI added the two averages together instead of combining them.
15.B — Answer it with your best guess, mark it, and move onKA-0126Time triage: now, later, or guess
AI let the time already spent decide, but that time is gone whatever I do next.
CI moved on but left a blank, which scores nothing if I never get back to it.
DI spent time re-reading work I had no reason to doubt, while 21 unseen questions waited.
EI assumed the hardest questions are the best use of time, when the unseen easy ones are worth the same each.