And You Can't Use Algebra..2a + 2b = 5c?

This is are samples of Primary 5 Maths questions.. it took 2 university grads quite some time to figure out the answer..what more a 10 year old kid??? My poor boy..*haiz*.. Are you ready? Get set..GO!!!

Question 1:

Sarah had 189 more stamps than her sister. After their mother gave Sarah 75 stamps and her sister 46 stamps, Sarah had twice as many stamps as her sister. How many stamps did Sarah have at first?

Question 2:

Jack had 3 times as many stickers as Noel. After Jack gave away 381 of them and Noel gave away 63, Noel had 3 times as many stickers as Jack. How many stickers did Noel have at first?

Question 3:

There are a total of 1430 red, blue, green and yellow marbles in a box. John discovered that if he does all of the following; he would get the same number of marbles for each colour. How many green marbles are there in the box?

• doubles the number of red marbles
• adds 40 blue marbles
• removes 30 green marbles
• removes half of the yellow marbles

So how long did you take to complete the questions? How did you fare? Got them all correct at the first attempt? If I remember correctly, I think in P5 I was literally playing with 'five stones' and marbles..not counting them??? No wonder most kids in Singapore need tuition etc. etc. etc.!!! Imagine if they are given 2.5 hours for the Maths test paper now..what will it be like at Secondary or University level? 6 HOURS??? *faintz*

Answers: 1. 361 2. 135 3. 350