PAPER 1 DURATION: 30 MINUTES

PART 1 – NUMERICAL REASONING

Chair and Stool Production

40
35
Production in Thousands

30
25
20
Stool Production
15
Chair Production
10
5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
Year

1. By how many units did combined stool and chair production vary between years 5
and 6?

(a) 10
(b) 10,000
(c) 5,000
(d) No change

2. The combined production costs for stools and chairs in year 4 were GBP (British
Pound Sterling) 142,000. If it costs GBP 2.90 to produce one chair, how much did it
cost to produce one stool in year 4?

(a) GBP 2.80

(b) GBP 2.75
(c) GBP 2.65
(d) Cannot say

3. For the six year period shown, what percent of chair and stool production was
attributable to chairs?

(a) 57.9%
(b) 42.1%
(c) 52.1%
(d) 41.0%
PAPER 1 DURATION: 30 MINUTES

Accounts Data

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Total Revenue (£ million) 56.1 61.4 60.5 60.8 61.8

Overall Costs per Sale (£) 12.6 12.6 12.4 12.3 12.6

Number of Sales (thousands) 4,100 4,300 4,600 4,500 4,700

Cash Balance (£ million) 1.2 2.1 2.0 1.8 1.6

4. What was the overall profit as a percent of revenue for 2002?

(a) 4.28%
(b) 5.25%
(c) 6.51%
(d) 8.96%

5. What was the Cash Balance as a percentage of total costs for 2001?

(a) 3.5%
(b) 3.6%
(c) 3.7%
(d) 3.8%

6. Which year saw the largest percentage increase in number of sales over the previous
year?

(a) 2000
(b) 2001
(c) 2002
(d) 2003
PAPER 1 DURATION: 30 MINUTES

7. Approximately what percentage of the people sampled are unemployed?

(a) 7% (c) 6%
(b) 5% (d) 4%

8. If it is predicted that the number of females employed in IT will rise by 10% every
year, but the number of males stays the same, what percent of IT employees would
be female after a three year period?

(a) 54.1% (c) 85.0%

(b) 53.5% (d) 45.5%
PAPER 1 DURATION: 30 MINUTES

9. In February 2006, the rainfall was 59mm. What is the normal rainfall for this month?

(a) 71.1mm (c) 82.3mm

(b) 50.0mm (d) 35.7mm

10. Between January and July inclusive, for how many months was the rainfall less than
normal?

(a) 1 (c) 3
(b) 2 (d) 4

11. Over the January to July period, how much rain was experienced in 2006 compared
with the same period of normal rainfall?

(a) +185mm (c) -58mm

(b) -72mm (d) Cannot tell

PART 2 – VERBAL REASONING

For many years the hunt has been on to find an effective way to treat cancerous tumours using
physical rather than chemical means. The latest breakthrough has been made by Dr Jennifer
West at Rice University in Houston, Texas. West has done tests on animals using a procedure
known as photothermal ablation. She injected millions of nanoparticles, which can absorb infra-
red light, into the animals’ bloodstreams. These particles go straight to the tumours because,
unlike healthy tissue, tumours have abnormal blood capillaries that will let them through. A few
hours later an optical fibre is inserted into the tumour and a blast of infra-red light is passed
down the fibre which heats the particles and effectively cooks the tumour.

12. Photothermal ablation is the latest breakthrough in chemotherapy for cancer.

(a) True (b) False (c) Cannot say

13. Nanoparticles are objects whose dimensions are measured in nanometres, or

billionths of a metre.

(a) True (b) False (c) Cannot say

14. Nanoparticles absorb infra-red light and cook the tumours.

(a) True (b) False (c) Cannot say

PAPER 1 DURATION: 30 MINUTES

Many businesses now recognise that there are wide-ranging benefits to be gained from offering
their workforce flexible working arrangements. These arrangements can include being able to
work from home, job sharing, part time working and being able to choose when to complete
agreed hours for example through working fewer but longer days, or working flexitime.
Employees are better able to balance work and family commitments and are therefore happier at
work experiencing greater job satisfaction, are more motivated and less likely to leave. Businesses
reap the benefits through productivity increases, and greater cost-effectiveness. Customers can
benefit too as businesses are better able to react quickly to changes in the market. Many
employees now have a statutory right to request flexible working arrangements and employers
must consider and respond to these requests within a predefined timescale.

15. Many women benefit from flexible working as they can better balance time between
work and family commitments.

(a) True (b) False (c) Cannot say

16. Employees have a legal right to flexible working arrangements if they want them.

(a) True (b) False (c) Cannot say

17. Employers can reduce recruitment costs through introducing flexible working hours.

(a) True (b) False (c) Cannot say

Bluetooth is a modern wireless technology named after an ancient Viking King, King Blatand
(which is Danish for King Bluetooth) who united the warring tribes of Denmark and Norway in
the 10th Century. Bluetooth was given this name because it unites together many devices such as
your computer, your personal digital assistant, your mobile phone and your digital camera. The
advantage of Bluetooth is that it does away with the need for cables and communicates instead
by radio. All that’s needed is for each device to have a Bluetooth chip. To communicate between
the Bluetooth enabled devices, all you need to do is put them within ten metres of each other.
The real advantage of Bluetooth is that it allows you to easily synchronise data stored on your
various devices. However there are some issues with security using Bluetooth, despite each
device having an individual ID and PIN number. To reduce this risk and to prevent
eavesdropping, the radio frequency is continually changed.

18. The Viking King, King Blatand, invented the Bluetooth technology.
(a) True (b) False (c) Cannot say

19. Bluetooth provides a secure way to communicate between your various devices, such
as your computer, your personal digital assistant, your mobile phone and your digital
camera.

(a) True (b) False (c) Cannot say

PAPER 1 DURATION: 30 MINUTES

20. Bluetooth avoids the 2.45 GHz radio frequency band for security reasons.

(a) True (b) False (c) Cannot say