Percentage change questions: the base and the direction
Percentage change measures how far a figure rose or fell against where it started, not against where it ended. This drill gives you five questions of that kind, untimed and free to use, with no sign-up. After you submit, each one shows the working and names the wrong turn behind every other option.
5 questions · untimed · free to use · no sign-up
One question of this type, worked in full
Try the question before you read on. The steps take the fastest route that still shows the reasoning, and the last one is the answer the drill marks.
A delivery team recorded 250 orders in March and 320 orders in April. By what percentage did the number of orders change?
- Take the difference first: 320 - 250 = 70 orders.
- Divide by March, the month the change started from: 70 ÷ 250 = 0.28.
- Read that as a percentage: 0.28 × 100 = 28 percent, a rise.
Answer: 28 percent. Testonome practice pace: 55 seconds for a question like this.
Four ways this question type goes wrong
Each question offers these alongside the right answer, and the review names which one you took.
Divided by April
Dividing the change by the figure it ended at instead of the one it started from.
Direction reversed
Right size, wrong direction: a fall reported as a rise, or a rise as a fall.
Share, not change
Giving the later figure as a percentage of the earlier one, which answers a different question.
Orders, not percent
Reporting the change in units where the question asks for a percentage.
What the review gives you after you submit
You get the working for every question, the answer you chose beside the right one, and the reason the option you picked is wrong. Nothing is sent anywhere while you work.
Other numerical skills you can drill
The percentage change formula, beside the other numerical formulas