Aga Khan University Examination Board

Notes from E-Marking Centre on SSC I General Mathematics Examination May 2016

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of SSC Part I (Class IX)
General Mathematics. It contains comments on candidates’ responses to the 2016 Secondary
School Certificate (SSC-I) Examination, indicating the quality of the responses and
highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses.

E-Marking Notes

This includes overall comments on candidates’ performance on every question and some
specific examples of candidates’ responses which support the mentioned comments. Please
note that the descriptive comments represent an overall perception of the better and weaker
responses as gathered from the e-marking session. However, the candidates’ responses shared
in this document represent some specific example(s) of the mentioned comments.

Teachers and candidates should be aware that examiners may ask questions that address the
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) in a manner that require candidates to respond by
integrating knowledge, understanding and application skills they have developed during the
course of study. Candidates are advised to read and comprehend each question carefully
before writing the response to fulfil the demand of the question.

Candidates need to be aware that the marks allocated to the questions are related to the
answer space provided on the examination paper as a guide to the length of the required
response. A longer response will not in itself lead to higher marks. Candidates need to be
familiar with the command words in the Student Learning Outcomes which contain terms
commonly used in examination questions. However, candidates should also be aware that not
all questions will start with or contain one of the command words. Words such as ‘how’,
‘why’ or ‘what’ may also be used.

Key observations:

Weaker responses revealed that candidates had problems with conversion of verbal phrases
into the mathematical operations to solve word problems related to ratio and percentage, and
computation of tax and commission which is applicable after a certain amount. In general,
questions based on profit and loss, laws of logarithm, and graphical representation of
equation of straight line were not well attempted. However, questions related to zakat and
usher, simple interest, operation on sets and Venn diagrams were generally well attempted.

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Detailed Comments:

Question 1
This was a well attempted question.

Question 1

In a class of 140 students, 70% of the students wear glasses while 5% wear contact lenses. Find
the number of students that wear

i. glasses.

ii. contact lenses.

iii. neither glasses nor lenses.

Better responses exhibit correct understanding of percentage and its application. Most of the
candidates used the method shown in the response below but some used the ratio 70 : 5 : 25
and got full credit for it.

Example:

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Weaker responses revealed that the candidates were not able to translate the given situation
mathematically. They lacked knowledge of the basic of the idea of percentage.

Example:

Question 2

This question offered a choice between part a and b. Candidates performed well in this
question. Majority of the students attempted part b.

Question 2a

a. The total amount of Zakat paid by two brothers Ahmar and Bilal is Rs 50,000. Ahmar
paid Zakat of Rs 23,000 on his yearly savings. Find

i. the amount of Zakat paid by Bilal.

ii. the individual yearly savings of Ahmar and Bilal.

iii. the ratio of Zakat paid by Ahmar and Bilal.

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Better responses of part i and ii reflected the understanding of calculation of zakat on yearly
savings. Candidates were able to find savings when they were given zakat.

In part iii, candidates exhibited correct application of ratio.

Example:

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Weaker responses exhibited that candidates did not understand how to use the given
information to extract the answer. Many of them assumed that the values given in the
question is the annual saving instead of the amount of zakat. This also shows their weak
understanding of percentage.

Example:

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 Question 2b

Rehman possesses a property worth Rs 500,000 and wishes to distribute his property among
his legal heirs that include 1 son and 3 daughters. Find the amount for each legal heir.

[Note: The son gets twice as much as a daughter gets.]

Better responses reflected that candidates had no difficulty with ratio and proportion. They
could easily understand that the required fractions were ¼ and ¾ which were used to find the
answer.

Example:

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Weaker responses reflected that candidates had difficulty deciding the ratio because they
could not express the condition ‘The son gets twice as much as a daughter gets’
mathematically. Most of the candidates found the correct ratio for son but could not find the
correct ratio for daughters.

Example:

Question 3
This question offered a choice between part a and b. Candidates performed well in this
question. Majority of the students attempted part b.

Question 3a

Mr Ali sold his land for Rs 9,000,000. His loss amounted to two fifths of his cost. Find

i. the amount the land cost him.

ii. the percentage loss.

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Better responses reflected that the candidates who correctly translated the given condition,
‘His loss amounted to two fifths of his cost’, mathematically were able to get the solution.
The percentage loss was found by correct substitution in the formula.

Example:

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Weaker responses reflected that most of the candidates took Rs 9,000,000 as the cost price
instead of the selling price. They used incorrect mathematical models to find answer. In
percentage loss, candidates could not work out that they needed to find the loss, i.e.
15,000,000  9,000,000 , first and they did a lot of guess work.

Example:

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 Question 3b

A fruit vendor bought 600 apples for Rs 4800. He spent Rs 500 on transportation. Find the
price at which he should sell each apple to get a total profit of Rs 1,900. Also find his profit
percentage.

Better responses reflected that candidates could easily find the selling price of each apple.
They used the correct formula for profit percentage and substituted the values correctly to get
the result.

Example:

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Weaker responses reflected that candidates found incorrect cost price by multiplying 4800 x
600. For finding selling price, candidates added profit in cost price without adding
1900
transportation, hence, writing  100 which lead them to incorrect answer.
4800

Example:

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Page 12 of 33
Question 4

Candidates exhibited good performance in this question.

Question 4

Fahad leased a car worth Rs 500,000 from a leasing company with a down payment of Rs
200,000. If the rate of simple interest is 7.5% for a period of 2 years, find the interest Fahad
will have to pay on the remaining amount.

Better responses exhibited the understanding of situation related to simple interest and not
compound interest. The given values were correctly substituted in the simple interest formula
to find the interest.

Example:

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Weaker responses reflected the confusion between simple and compound interest. Many
candidates could not decide that the given situation was for simple interest. Those candidates
who used the formula for simple interest were confused by the given 2 years and tried to
change it into the number of months.

Example:

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Page 15 of 33
Question 5
This was not a well attempted question.

Question 5:

Saad earns a basic monthly salary of Rs 20,000. As a salesman, he must sell Rs 300,000 worth
of items per month but if he sells beyond this monthly quota, he makes a 4% commission on
the additional sale. Saad sells Rs 460,000 worth of items in a certain month.

i. Find his total (gross) salary for this month.

ii. Saad needs to pay income tax on his basic salary. If Rs 15,000 is tax exempted, find the
amount of tax that he will pay on his income if the rate of income tax is 20%.

Better responses reflected that, surprisingly, no student could get full marks in this question.
The candidates who performed well were able to get full marks in part i, which shows an
understanding of the concepts of basic salary, gross salary and income tax but failed to solve
part ii. Candidates who did well in part i found the sale on which commission is applicable
first, and then found 4% commission, after which, gross salary was found. In part ii,
candidates were required to find the taxable income and then find 20% tax on that income.

Example:

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Weaker responses reflected that the candidates had a lot of difficulty solving this question. In
part i, they could not understand that the commission was applicable on additional sale and
not total sale. The same mistake was repeated in part ii, where candidates did not understand
that the tax was expected on the first Rs 15,000 and was applicable on rest of the basic salary
i.e. 5000 x 20%.

Example:

Question 6
This question offered a choice between part a and b. Candidates chose to attempt part a more
than part b. Part a was attempted better than b.

Question 6a

2x7 
3
Express in its simplest form.
4 x8

Better responses exhibit the correct application of law of indices. The brackets in the
numerator and denominator were simplified to get 23 x 21 and 2x 4 respectively. After
cancellation of numerator and denominator, the answer was found.

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Example:

Weaker responses reflected misconceptions about the use of all the laws of indices. There
was a great confusion about when to add the indices and when to multiply. Candidates had
difficulty solving square root and brackets. Many candidates carelessly did not change the
sign when moving x from denominator to numerator.

Example:

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 Question 6b

Simplify the following and give your answer as an integer.

i. Log5 25
5
ii. Log5 + Log52
2

Better responses reflected that no student was able get full marks in this question. The
candidates who did well in this question were able to solve part i and half of part ii. In part i,
some candidates changed the logarithmic form to exponential form to solve while others used
the laws of logarithm directly by expressing the given as Log 5 52.

Example:

Weaker responses used the incorrect laws of logarithm to solve both parts. In part i, most of
the candidates were able to express the given as Log 5 52 but could not solve it any further. In
part ii, the most common mistake was the incorrect use of product law. Instead of expressing
5  5 
the given in the form Log5   2  candidates expressed it as Log5   2  which shows that
2  2 
somehow they were trying to take Logarithm common which is not mathematically possible.

Example:

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 Question 7

In a geometric sequence, the first term is 2 and the fourth term is 250. Find the

i. the common ratio of this sequence.

ii. 7th term of this sequence

This was a well attempted question.

Better responses exhibited that most of the candidates had knowledge of general term of
geometric sequence. They used fourth term to find the value of r. This value of r was used to
find the 7th term of the sequence in part ii.

Example:

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Weaker responses represented that candidates were not able to use the given values in the
question to find the value of r in part i. They used incorrect general form of geometric
sequence or arithmetic sequence. The candidates that managed to solve part i, were mostly
unable to find the 7th term.

Example:

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Question 8
This question offered a choice between part a and b. A vast majority of candidates chose part

Candidates performed well in this question.

Question 8a

For sets A  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and B  2, 4, 6, 8,10, verify that  A  B   A   A  B   B and also
find  A  B   A .

Better responses exhibited that the candidates easily found the intersection of A and B. The
difference  A  B   A and  A  B   B was correctly found and  A  B   A   A  B   B
was verified. Candidates also found the value of  A  B   A easily which showed their
understanding of union.

Example:

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Weaker responses indicated that candidates were confused between union and intersection.
Many candidates found A  B  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8,10 and A  B  2, 4, 6 which shows their
confusion. In finding difference, the common mistake was that candidates found A   A  B 
instead of  A  B   A .

Example:

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Question 8b
If A and B are any two non-empty sets and A and B are also mutually overlapping sets, then
represent the following by Venn diagrams.

i. A B ii. A B

A B A B

iii. B A iv. A  B

A B A B

v. Ac

A B

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Better responses shaded the correct regions in all parts which shows the candidates’
understanding of union, intersection, difference of set A and B and compliment of sets in
general. For part v, many students used different shading for different regions to find their
answer.

Example:

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Weaker responses displayed that while most of the candidates were able to solve part i and ii,
and v, they made mistakes in part iii and iv. In part iii, most shaded A – B instead of B – A
and for part iii shaded B – A instead of A – B.

Example:

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 Question 9

On the given grid, draw the following lines

i. x  6 ---- 1 mark

ii. y  2 .--------- 1 mark

iii. y  x  1 -------- 2 marks

x 1 2 3

y  x 1 2 3 4

This was not a well attempted question.

Better responses constructed the given three lines on the given grid. For part i and ii,
candidates were able to understand that these lines are parallel to y and x axis respectively.
For part iii, they used the given table to plot the given points and draw a line. A triangle was
found in the end.

Example:

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Weaker responses reflected that candidates lacked of understanding of straight line graphs.
Generally, part i and ii were not attempted well. Candidates could not understand that x  6
and y  2 represent equation of a straight line parallel to y and x axis. They assumed that
these are points so they tried to plot it on the grid. For part iii, candidates plotted the points
wrong and were not able to get the figure at the end.

Example:

Question 10

This question offered a choice between part a and b. Candidates chose to attempt part a more
than part b. Both parts were well-attempted.

Question 10a
The given data shows the weight of 25 items in kilograms.

Weight (kg) 02 24 46 68

Frequency 6 8 7 4
On the grid given below, represent this data in the form of histogram and find the mode
graphically.

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Better responses used the data given in the table, plotted weight and frequency on x and y
axis respectively, and constructed the histogram. The method to find mode graphically was
then used and mode was found by dropping a vertical line on x axis.

Example:

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Weaker responses showed that candidates could not display the given data in the form of a
histogram on the grid. Most common mistakes were taking weight and frequency on y and x
axis respectively and incorrect scaling of axes. Many students constructed bar chart instead of
histogram. The mode was also estimated incorrectly from the graph.

Example:

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Question 10b:

Sara recorded the number of shirts each of her 20 friends own as shown below.

9, 15, 11, 12, 3, 5, 10, 20, 14, 6, 8, 8, 12, 12, 18, 15, 6, 9, 18, 11

The frequency distribution table for this data is shown below. Complete this table and find the
mean number of shirts owned by these 20 friends.

Number of Shirts Tally Marks Frequency Class Mark

1–5

6 – 10

11 – 15

6 – 20

Total – –

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Better responses displayed clear concepts of method of finding mean from grouped data.
Candidates distributed the given ungrouped data within the given class intervals. The
frequency and class marks were found. The formula for grouped mean was used to find the
answer. Surprisingly, some candidates filled the table and then used ungrouped data to find
mean. Since the question did not instruct candidates to the use of formula of grouped mean,
these candidates were given full credit.

Example:

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Weaker responses reflected that candidates lost marks mainly due to mistakes in tally marks
when converting ungrouped data into grouped data. This resulted in incorrect frequencies of
class intervals. The rest of the working was generally correct and candidates were able to get
the mean.

Example:

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