CBEST math Exam 2025 Questions
and Answers
1. Joan spent Monday and Tuesday shopping. She spent a total of $115. She spent $47 more on
Monday than she did on Tuesday. How much did she spend on Tuesday?
a. $68
b. $162
c. $34
d. $81
e. $115 - Correct Answer✔️✔️-We are simply looking for 2 numbers that when added together, we
get 115. Also, one number is 47 more than the other. Let x represent the smaller number, then x +
47 would be the larger, so we have the equation:
x + x + 47 = 115
Combine the x with the other x gives:
2x + 47 = 115
Subtract 47 from both sides.
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,2x = 68
Divide each side by 2 gives:
x = 34
2. Mrs. Johnson needs 4 blue paper circles for each student in her class. She can cut 6 of these
circles from each piece of blue paper she is using. If there are 32 students in her class, how many
pieces of blue paper will she need?
a. 32
b. 10
c. 22
d. 36
e. 21 - Correct Answer✔️✔️-She needs a total of 32 x 4 or 128 circles. 6 can be cut from 1 paper,
so divide 128 by 6 and you get 21 and a small remainder. Forget the remainder, you KNOW you will
have to use 1 more paper for make up for that remainder. The answer will be 21 + 1 or 22. 21 may
look attractive, but where would the little extra come from?
3. Bob is stapling packets for his students. He can staple one complete packet in about 3 minutes.
About how long will it take him to staple enough packets for his class of 30 students?
a. 1 hour 20 minutes
b. 1 hour 30 minutes
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
,c. 2 hours 20 minutes
d. 2 hours 9 minutes
e. 3 hours - Correct Answer✔️✔️-Multiply 3 x 30 = 90. It will take 90 minutes. But the answers are
in hours, 60 minutes to an hour, so the answer must be 1 hour 30 minutes.
4. A certain square has an area of 36 square inches. What is the perimeter of this square?
a. 6
b. 12
c. 18.
d. 24
e. 30 - Correct Answer✔️✔️-You should know that a square has all sides equal. Multiply 2 sides
together to get the area. Since the sides will be the same number, we are looking for a number
multiplied by itself to get 36. The only number that satisfies that is 6. ( 6 x 6 = 36). Each side is 6
inches, therefore the perimeter is 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 24 inches.
5. Carrson High School has a senior class of 540 students. If 4 out of every 9 of these students are
planning to attend college, how many are not planning to attend college?
a. 240
b. 270
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
, c. 300
d. 370
e. 400 - Correct Answer✔️✔️-4 out of 9 is the fraction 4/9. Multiply 540 x 4, then divide your
answer by 9. You get 240. This represents the number of students attending college. (Always reread
the question to make sure you are answering what is asked for.)
The number not attending college would be 540 - 240 = 300. The answer is c.
You could have also recognized that you need to find 5/9 of 540, solved similarly as above.
Alternative way to solve #5:
4/9 represents a little less than half. So, the number attending college is a little less than half. Half of
540 is 270. The number attending college will be slightly lower than this. Likewise, the number not
attending college is a little higher than 270. The only logical answer would be 300.
5/9 represents the number not attending college. 5/9 is about 55% Finding 55% of 540 would be
easy and very close to 300.
*Remember: You do not need to get the exact answer. Just be close enough to logically choose the
answer from the 5 choices.
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
and Answers
1. Joan spent Monday and Tuesday shopping. She spent a total of $115. She spent $47 more on
Monday than she did on Tuesday. How much did she spend on Tuesday?
a. $68
b. $162
c. $34
d. $81
e. $115 - Correct Answer✔️✔️-We are simply looking for 2 numbers that when added together, we
get 115. Also, one number is 47 more than the other. Let x represent the smaller number, then x +
47 would be the larger, so we have the equation:
x + x + 47 = 115
Combine the x with the other x gives:
2x + 47 = 115
Subtract 47 from both sides.
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,2x = 68
Divide each side by 2 gives:
x = 34
2. Mrs. Johnson needs 4 blue paper circles for each student in her class. She can cut 6 of these
circles from each piece of blue paper she is using. If there are 32 students in her class, how many
pieces of blue paper will she need?
a. 32
b. 10
c. 22
d. 36
e. 21 - Correct Answer✔️✔️-She needs a total of 32 x 4 or 128 circles. 6 can be cut from 1 paper,
so divide 128 by 6 and you get 21 and a small remainder. Forget the remainder, you KNOW you will
have to use 1 more paper for make up for that remainder. The answer will be 21 + 1 or 22. 21 may
look attractive, but where would the little extra come from?
3. Bob is stapling packets for his students. He can staple one complete packet in about 3 minutes.
About how long will it take him to staple enough packets for his class of 30 students?
a. 1 hour 20 minutes
b. 1 hour 30 minutes
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
,c. 2 hours 20 minutes
d. 2 hours 9 minutes
e. 3 hours - Correct Answer✔️✔️-Multiply 3 x 30 = 90. It will take 90 minutes. But the answers are
in hours, 60 minutes to an hour, so the answer must be 1 hour 30 minutes.
4. A certain square has an area of 36 square inches. What is the perimeter of this square?
a. 6
b. 12
c. 18.
d. 24
e. 30 - Correct Answer✔️✔️-You should know that a square has all sides equal. Multiply 2 sides
together to get the area. Since the sides will be the same number, we are looking for a number
multiplied by itself to get 36. The only number that satisfies that is 6. ( 6 x 6 = 36). Each side is 6
inches, therefore the perimeter is 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 24 inches.
5. Carrson High School has a senior class of 540 students. If 4 out of every 9 of these students are
planning to attend college, how many are not planning to attend college?
a. 240
b. 270
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
, c. 300
d. 370
e. 400 - Correct Answer✔️✔️-4 out of 9 is the fraction 4/9. Multiply 540 x 4, then divide your
answer by 9. You get 240. This represents the number of students attending college. (Always reread
the question to make sure you are answering what is asked for.)
The number not attending college would be 540 - 240 = 300. The answer is c.
You could have also recognized that you need to find 5/9 of 540, solved similarly as above.
Alternative way to solve #5:
4/9 represents a little less than half. So, the number attending college is a little less than half. Half of
540 is 270. The number attending college will be slightly lower than this. Likewise, the number not
attending college is a little higher than 270. The only logical answer would be 300.
5/9 represents the number not attending college. 5/9 is about 55% Finding 55% of 540 would be
easy and very close to 300.
*Remember: You do not need to get the exact answer. Just be close enough to logically choose the
answer from the 5 choices.
FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT © 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
