Names: _____________________________________ Date: ___________________

M. Riling Alg 1 Diagnostic Problems

Some of these questions will be easy. Most will be difficult. Im just trying to figure out
what you already know and what kind of tricks youre good at figuring out.
Dont stress out too much about getting everything perfect, but please do your best!

Part A: Basic arithmetic and fractions
Simplify the following expressions. You might not always get a neat answer.
1. 3.

5
2
+
3
2
2.

5
2
+
3
4







3.

5
2

4
3

3
10
4.

5
8

10
4









5. These are all word problems that involve fractions. Which one could you solve by
using this expression:

4
2
3
?
a) The gymnastics team is going out for pizza. You order 4 pizzas. Each gymnast eats
2/3 of a pizza (they work really hard!). How many gymnasts are chowing down?


b) You buy 4 yards of fabric to make your Halloween costume, but only use 2/3 of it.
How much fabric did you use?


c) You talk to your grandfather on the phone for 4 minutes. Then your bff calls and
you talk for 40 seconds. How much time did you spend on the phone?










Part B: Algebra
Solve the following equations for the a variable. You might not always get a number.
1.

3a+2 = 5 2.

2a+1= a+5 3.

3 1+ a ( ) = 9








4.

2a +6b = 4 5.

a 5
2
= 3 6.

2(a+1) =2a+2









7. Youre getting lunch with your friend and she pays. She wont tell you how much
your sandwich cost, but you want to know so you can repay the favor. Here are the facts:
-You both got the same sandwich.
-She also got a cup of tea for $1.50. You had a water bottle so you didnt get a drink.
-She paid with a $20 bill.
-You can see that she got $6.50 in change.
How much did your sandwich cost?





















Part C: Graphing
Graph the following things on the graph.
*Please label the things you draw.

1. The point (3, 5)

2. The point (-4, -7)

3. The point (6.5, -9.5)

4. Any point thats on the line of: 2x + 3y = 6

5. Two other points that are on the line of 2x + 3y = 6











Part D: Writing in Math
1. Express the numbers 6, and 7 as expressions that have four 8s in them. You can also
use the number 88, and you can use any other number as an exponent.
example:

4 =8 8 8+8

example:

2 =88
0
+88
0









2. Add parentheses to this expression to make it equal the following numbers.


2 6 3+1


a) Make the expression equal to 5:






b) Make the expression equal to 3:







Part E: Linear Relationships
1. Fill in the table so that it represents a linear relationship.

Input Output
5 11
8 16
11 21