Worksheet generator

1.C — 11KA-0008Continuing a visual pattern

• AI continued the pattern to the fourth stage and stopped one stage early.
• BI counted only the columns of two and forgot the single dot sitting on top of each pattern.
• DI continued the pattern one stage too far and gave the sixth pattern instead of the fifth.
• EI doubled the third pattern's count, assuming the pattern doubles rather than grows by a fixed amount.

2.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.

3.C — 210KA-0057Clever regrouping (pair to round numbers)

• AI paired the numbers from the outside in but left the 20 out of every pair, so I added only up to 19.
• BI estimated the total as a round number instead of working it out.
• DI used eleven pairs of 20 instead of ten pairs of 21.
• EI multiplied 20 by 21 and forgot that pairing counts every number twice.

4.D — 4320KA-0059Estimation and order of magnitude

• AI worked out the drips in an hour and stopped there.
• BI multiplied by the 24 hours but forgot the 60 minutes in each one.
• CI used 6 hours in a day, thinking of waking hours rather than a whole day.
• EI used 600 minutes in an hour rather than 60.

5.C — 5KA-0061Operation puzzles and cryptarithms

• AI solved for the triangle and gave that instead of the square.
• BI found the triangle is 4 and gave that number, without going on to the second equation.
• DI halved the 12 instead of dividing it by the three triangles.
• EI subtracted the wrong way round, taking 9 from a number instead of taking the triangle from 9.

6.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.

7.C — 9KA-0072Systematic listing

• AI counted only the numbers with two identical digits, like 11, 22 and 33.
• BI required the two digits to be different, even though repeats are allowed.
• DI allowed a fourth digit that was not in the list.
• EI counted three-digit numbers instead of two-digit ones.

8.C — 750KA-0113Unit conversion

• AI worked in kilograms and gave the answer in kilograms when grams were asked for.
• BI converted 2.5 kg to 250 g rather than 2500 g.
• DI subtracted 1750 from 3000, mis-converting 2.5 kg as three thousand grams.
• EI subtracted without converting at all, taking 2.5 away from 1750.

9.B — Write an answer for every one of themKA-0127Never leave a blank — there is no penalty

• AI treated guessing as dishonest, but the rules of the paper explicitly allow it and cost nothing.
• CI answered one and left two blanks that could each have scored, at no risk.
• DI tried to communicate with the marker, but only the answers are scored.
• EI offered working on a paper where only the chosen letter is marked.

10.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.

11.A — 33KA-0171Recursive rules

• BI used the rule 2a(n) - 1 but started the sequence at 1 instead of 2.
• CI doubled six times and ignored the minus one entirely.
• DI stopped at a(5), one term early.
• EI computed 2^6 - 1, applying the minus one only once at the very end.

12.B — 40KA-0080Properties of triangles and quadrilaterals

• AI subtracted 100 from 180 and then divided by four instead of by two.
• CI assumed the two equal angles are always 45 degrees.
• DI gave what is left after taking 100 from 180 without splitting it between the two angles.
• EI made the 100 one of the equal pair, which would already exceed 180 degrees on its own.

13.D — 6KA-0085Line and rotational symmetry

• AI checked only the vertical and horizontal folds and stopped there.
• BI counted the lines through opposite corners and forgot the ones through opposite edges.
• CI assumed a hexagon behaves like a rectangle with a couple of extra folds.
• EI counted each line twice, once from each end.

14.B — 60KA-0093Weighing and balance puzzles

• AI halved the apple's weight, as if one apple balanced two pears.
• CI assumed a pear must weigh the same as an apple because the two sides balance.
• DI multiplied the apple's weight by three halves the wrong way round, making the pear heavier.
• EI gave the total weight of the two apples rather than the weight of one pear.

15.C — 65KA-0103Recursive rules

• AI stopped at the fourth term, counting the starting number as the first step rather than the first term.
• BI generated one term too few, giving the fifth term instead of the sixth.
• DI doubled six times and subtracted 1 only once at the end.
• EI generated one term too many, giving the seventh instead of the sixth.

16.C — 12KA-0105Patterns in tables and grids

• AI stopped at row 3, taking two steps down from the top instead of three.
• BI found where row 4 starts but forgot to move across to the third column.
• DI moved three columns across instead of two, counting columns rather than steps between them.
• EI took four steps of 3 downwards instead of three, counting rows rather than the gaps between them.

17.B — 12KA-0121Try small cases first

• AI used the number of hands each person shakes rather than the number of people.
• CI doubled the answer, forgetting that the halving has already been done.
• DI halved 66 and treated that as the number of people.
• EI gave the number of handshakes back as the number of people.

18.C — 28KA-0123Eliminate impossible choices by bounding

• AI ruled out the square 6 by 6, forgetting that a square is a rectangle.
• BI did not think to try 4 by 9, so I judged this perimeter impossible.
• DI missed the 3 by 12 rectangle when listing the factor pairs.
• EI stopped listing factor pairs before reaching 2 by 18.

19.A — 4KA-0154Inclusion–exclusion with two sets

• BI found how many students play at least one of the two and answered with that instead.
• CI added 18 and 15 to get 33, subtracted the 30 in the class, and used the 3 left over.
• DI removed the 7 from both groups and subtracted 11 and 8 from 30, taking the overlap away twice.
• EI answered with the number who play both, which is what the question gave me rather than what it asked for.

20.A — 48 km/hKA-0174Rate, time, distance

• BI averaged the two speeds, which would only be right if equal TIME were spent at each, not equal distance.
• CI weighted the two speeds by their own values instead of by the time each leg took.
• DI halved the correct answer, dividing by the total distance twice.
• EI added the two speeds together, which gives a number faster than either leg and so cannot be an average of them.

21.C — 8KA-0012Casework

• AI counted each pair of digits once instead of counting both orders, such as 17 and 71.
• BI listed the pairs starting from 1 and 7 and forgot the number 80, where the second digit is zero.
• DI included 08 as a two-digit number, but a two-digit number cannot start with zero.
• EI counted both orders of every pair and then counted the pairs that reverse to themselves twice as well.

22.D — 19KA-0018Complementary counting

• AI counted the codes that avoid 3 entirely and gave that as my answer without subtracting.
• BI counted the codes with a 3 in the first position only and forgot the other two positions.
• CI counted the codes with exactly one 3 and forgot the ones with two or three of them.
• EI counted every possible code and forgot to remove the ones with no 3 at all.

23.C — 4KA-0020Paper folding and hole punching

• AI forgot that the punch goes through every layer at once, not just the top one.
• BI undid only one of the two folds before counting the holes.
• DI doubled for the first fold and then added two more rather than doubling a second time.
• EI counted a fold that was never made, doubling three times instead of twice.

24.A — 12KA-0071Overcount, then correct

• BI divided the 120 arrangements by 6 rather than by the 10 movements that leave a bracelet looking the same.
• CI allowed for turning the bracelet but forgot it can also be flipped over.
• DI halved the 120 for flipping but forgot that turning also gives the same bracelet.
• EI counted every arrangement in a line, as if the bracelet had a fixed first bead.

25.A — 1/10KA-0125Spot the trick vs. decide to grind

• BI cancelled the chain but stopped one factor early, leaving a 9 on the bottom.
• CI worked out the first bracket and assumed the rest made no difference.
• DI gave the last bracket on its own instead of the whole product.
• EI assumed everything cancels completely, leaving nothing behind.

26.C — 25KA-0135Digit-constraint puzzles

• AI counted the odd numbers in one row of ten and treated that as the whole answer.
• BI used four odd digits instead of five, forgetting that 9 is odd.
• DI counted every two-digit number that is itself odd, which only fixes the last digit.
• EI let the first digit be any of ten values rather than only the five odd ones.

27.C — 14KA-0139Dice and cube face relationships

• AI subtracted only the top face from 21, forgetting the hidden bottom face as well.
• BI guessed four middling numbers and added them without using the total of all six faces.
• DI subtracted only the bottom face of 4 from the total of 21.
• EI added the four largest numbers on the die rather than the four that are actually at the sides.

28.A — It is always oddKA-0167Parity arguments

• BI checked the parity of the count of numbers rather than of their sum.
• CI tried two examples, got different answers, and concluded nothing is forced.
• DI assumed differences must shrink all the way to nothing.
• EI found one sequence of moves ending at 1 and assumed every sequence must.

29.A — 8KA-0175The pigeonhole principle

• BI used the number of possible remainders without adding one for the pair that must collide.
• CI doubled 7, thinking I needed two full sets of remainders.
• DI doubled 7 and added one, applying the pigeonhole idea to the wrong number of boxes.
• EI guessed from small cases without identifying what the boxes actually are.

30.A — No, because the two removed corners share a colour, so 32 squares of one colour remain and only 30 of the otherKA-0176Coloring arguments

• BI checked that the counts match but a matching count does not make a covering possible.
• CI invented a divisibility condition; dominoes cover two squares, so only divisibility by 2 could matter.
• DI changed the rules rather than testing them; the question says dominoes cover squares sharing an edge.
• EI appealed to the shape, but plenty of non-rectangular regions can be tiled by dominoes.