TARAQuestions

Every question in the TSA archive, 850 from 17 papers. Open one to answer it and watch its walkthrough.

850 questions

Throughout history, gold has been revered and used for expensive jewellery and ornamentation. But in the future, it will be prized for its practical uses rather than for its aesthetic appeal. It wasn't until early in the last century that gold's electrical conductivity properties were discovered. Solid state…TSA 2022 · Question 1 · Main Conclusion · Save
A quiz consists of 7 rounds, each of which contains 20 questions. Each question is worth one point. At the end of the quiz, but before any of the answers or scores are revealed, each team is allowed to select one of the rounds and the score for that round is tripled. In addition, the scores for the rounds immediately…TSA 2022 · Question 2 · Logic · Save
Whether known as the high street, main street, or market square, central shopping districts in many towns throughout the world are in danger of disappearing. The decline in some downtown shopping areas began decades ago because of various social and economic trends, including an increase in the number of women working…TSA 2022 · Question 3 · Assumption · Save
I have always said that owners of expensive cars are less considerate drivers, and now a study has proved me right. The study showed that they are less likely to stop at a pedestrian crossing to allow someone to cross the road than drivers of less expensive cars – in fact, their likelihood to do so decreased by about…TSA 2022 · Question 4 · Identify Flaws · Save
You only win an election if you gain a majority of votes. You must have gained a majority of votes because you were named the winner in the election.TSA 2022 · Question 5 · Parallel Reasoning · Save
Rob has two different mixtures of apple juice and orange juice. Rob wants to use these two mixtures to make 6 litres of a juice mixture which is 50% apple juice and 50% orange juice.TSA 2022 · Question 6 · Logic · Save
The extension numbers needed to contact eight different departments in a university depend on whether the caller is calling as a student, parent, lecturer, journalist or researcher. The appropriate numbers are shown below. Fran is a lecturer and regularly needs to contact all of the departments in the university.TSA 2022 · Question 7 · Logic · Save
Over the past decade the popularity of coffee has soared in the United Kingdom. As a result, the number of coffee shops across the UK has risen. The table below shows a breakdown of the number of chain and independent coffee shops in East London between 2013 and 2019.TSA 2022 · Question 8 · Best Fit · Save
Bicycle owners have a duty to have their bicycles maintained properly. This is to ensure the safety both of the rider and of other road users. If an injury is caused to another person as a result of a failure to maintain a bicycle properly, then the injured person should be entitled to compensation from the owner of…TSA 2022 · Question 9 · Principle · Save
Despite ranking top of gender equality lists, Sweden is like practically every other country in terms of having an unequal division of labour for unpaid housework. Perpetuating stereotypes about who should be responsible for cleaning tasks, women still perform more domestic chores than their male partners. To address…TSA 2022 · Question 10 · Weakening Arguments · Save
People are attracted to cities because of the job opportunities that they bring. At the same time, house prices tend to push people away from urban centres. The draw of healthy living and green environments similarly pulls people towards less urban environments, further from city centres. The limiting factor in…TSA 2022 · Question 11 · Drawing Conclusions · Save
The shampoo that I normally buy costs £1.96 for a 500ml bottle and always lasts for 40 days. Last month I decided to try a new brand that is 36p cheaper and contains 550 ml. However, because of the amount that I have had to use to wash my hair properly, it has run out after only 25 days.TSA 2022 · Question 12 · Logic · Save
Kate and Tek are choosing a cottage to rent for their family holiday. They have searched online and reduced their choice to five cottages. The facilities offered by these cottages are shown in the following table. Ideally, Kate and Tek would like a cottage with at least three bedrooms, a large garden, wifi, parking,…TSA 2022 · Question 13 · Logic · Save
Alex and Anita play a game where they need to form words from letters. The value of each letter is a whole number of points (which can be 0). Alex and Anita earn points by adding together the value of the letters in the words they form. The value of the last three words they formed is shown in the table below. Anita…TSA 2022 · Question 14 · Logic · Save
There is no denying the unwanted consequences of car emissions, burning of fossil fuels, chemical effluent, and other pollutants. Their negative effects include the increasing incidence of respiratory, skin, and heart conditions. But 'environments' consist of more than just the elements of air, earth, and water.…TSA 2022 · Question 15 · Main Conclusion · Save
The past couple of decades have been fairly tricky for many countries due to economic challenges and political and social uncertainties. The UK has certainly been amongst such countries. But life there is getting better, according to the World Happiness Report, and indeed the latest findings of this annual review are…TSA 2022 · Question 16 · Assumption · Save
People complain about the fact that newspapers are often full of recycled articles about celebrity gossip, but they forget that real news costs money – investigative reporters need to go out into the world and unearth new information. The trouble is, those who complain are also unprepared to pay to read newspapers,…TSA 2022 · Question 17 · Principle · Save
Sean is taking his car to Sunny Island. He lives 38 miles away from the mainland terminal where the seaport and airport are based. He has researched the travel costs and come up with two possible options. The ferry ticket (car and passenger) is $80. A lt er na t i v e l y, a pl an e t i c k e t i s$ 50 and the seaport company will…TSA 2022 · Question 18 · Logic · Save
A youth club is open six evenings every week. There are nine volunteers who run the club. Each evening three of the volunteers are on duty. When the rota is drawn up for any week, the following conditions must be met as seen below. Next week's rota has just been published, as shown below. Fay wants to swap her Tuesday…TSA 2022 · Question 19 · Logic · Save
Students studying geography at college were tested at the start of the year and at the end of the year. Their marks are shown in the following table.TSA 2022 · Question 20 · Logic · Save
Some people have such good natural stamina that they can run a marathon with no training. John was able to run a marathon on Saturday. It is possible he did no training in preparation.TSA 2022 · Question 21 · Parallel Reasoning · Save
In a recent UK news broadcast, a white reporter appeared to mistake a Labour Member of Parliament (MP), who is Black, for another MP who is also Black. This shows the dangers of a lack of diversity in workplaces. It is not the first time that such a mistake has occurred: a week earlier the same television channel had…TSA 2022 · Question 22 · Assumption · Save
Recent figures issued by the UK Department of Education have revealed that the proportion of students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who have reached the expected level of educational achievement by the time they leave secondary school is lower than that of the population as a whole. The…TSA 2022 · Question 23 · Weakening Arguments · Save
Iman and Maya ran a 100 metre race. Iman started 2 seconds after Maya and finished 3 seconds before her. If each girl ran at a constant speed throughout the race, and Iman's speed was 25% faster than Maya's, for how many seconds did Iman run?TSA 2022 · Question 24 · Rates · Save
Five popular makes of fishcake are shown in the table below, with comparisons of their ingredients, the weight of each type and the cost for a pack of two. Ester wants to buy the fishcakes that contain the greatest amount of fish per pound spent.TSA 2022 · Question 25 · Logic · Save
The following chart shows the average salary of politicians in selected countries in absolute terms on the left (in thousands of dollars) and as a multiple of their country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per person on the right.TSA 2022 · Question 26 · Logic · Save
Trains in the UK are operated by private companies approved by the government and awarded a franchise for which they must meet certain standards, for example on punctuality. SuperRail, which operates the trains in one part of the country, has a poor record to date and has been warned that if it again exceeds the…TSA 2022 · Question 27 · Identify Flaws · Save
If you arrive late for work, you will definitely get fired. You lost your last job so you must have arrived late for work.TSA 2022 · Question 28 · Parallel Reasoning · Save
'Progressive' teaching methods – used in schools for the last 40 or 50 years – put an emphasis on collaborative ways of learning. It is time to reconsider the idea that this constitutes best practice in the classroom. Collaborative learning appeals to those with extrovert personalities, but much less so to introverts.…TSA 2022 · Question 29 · Main Conclusion · Save
In a prize draw, tickets are printed with 3-digit numbers from 001 to 999. Contestants pay to take a ticket at random. A major prize is awarded for all tickets where the product of the 3 digits on the ticket drawn is 8 and a minor prize is awarded when the product is 12. For example 143 wins a minor prize because 1 ×…TSA 2022 · Question 30 · Optimisation · Save
The table shows the cost of hot drinks in a local café. Belle bought a number of hot drinks, including at least one of each tea, coffee and chocolate. She was charged £32.00.TSA 2022 · Question 31 · Optimisation · Save
I have a wooden cube with edges that are 5 cm long. I paint it in the following way:TSA 2022 · Question 32 · Logic · Save
The UK has one of the world's highest levels of regional inequality, according to a recent report. Of the 30 nations studied, only 2 had higher levels of inequality. The main disparity is between those living in the poorer north and the wealthier south of the country. To address this, the government has been working…TSA 2022 · Question 33 · Assumption · Save
A right is not an excuse. The fact that you have a right to do something cannot count as justification for doing it. I may have a right to walk along behind someone in the street, mimicking their walk. Does that mean I ought to go around doing this? In fact, when deciding how to act, it isn't really rights we should…TSA 2022 · Question 34 · Principle · Save
It is no surprise to hear that we are more likely to help someone we like than someone we don't. But another factor that influences our behaviour towards others is a sense of reciprocity – the sense that you ought to do something good for someone if they have done something good for you. Psychologists have measured…TSA 2022 · Question 35 · Drawing Conclusions · Save
Grandma has spent £60 on five books which she is intending to give to her three grandchildren, Miya, Harriet and Mehran. She is going to give the books in a way that relates the cost to the time they normally spend reading (i.e. spend the most on the child who reads the most). Miya reads for an hour a day. Harriet…TSA 2022 · Question 36 · Logic · Save
In a ball game points are accumulated by different combinations of four winning shots called a chop, a creamer, a glink and a yip. Playing the game for the first time, the only knowledge I have about the scoring system is that a chop is worth one point more than a creamer, and a creamer is worth twice as many points…TSA 2022 · Question 37 · Combinations · Save
At the beginning of the day, a showroom had 32 vehicles for sale. The vehicles were advertised in five categories: hatchback, saloon, utility, estate car and people carrier. By the end of the day, 24 vehicles had been sold. The first chart shows a comparison of the numbers of vehicles in each category in the showroom…TSA 2022 · Question 38 · Logic · Save
If someone tries to rescue someone from a burning roof, slips, drops them, and they die, we don't class them as a murderer. This is because we believe that judgements should be based on the intention behind an action, not the outcome. Whether or not we like to admit it, however, our moral judgements are sometimes…TSA 2022 · Question 39 · Main Conclusion · Save
Should we be worried about Artificial Intelligence (AI)? On the one hand, there are big names that have expressed major concern. Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking have all argued that AI poses the single biggest threat to mankind's existence. At the same time there are people such as Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook…TSA 2022 · Question 40 · Identify Flaws · Save
In recent years, televised debates between political candidates have taken on increasing significance in the elections held in various countries. Meant to encourage public participation in elections and help voters evaluate the candidates seeking their support, these events are not much more than noisy distractions.…TSA 2022 · Question 41 · Assumption · Save
In my currency, there are six types of coin in circulation: [image of the six coin types] I start with two coins. I visit a shop and purchase two bars of chocolate and pay using the two coins. My change consists of two coins. The next day I re-visit the shop and purchase another one bar of chocolate with that change.…TSA 2022 · Question 42 · Logic · Save
In a game, players take it in turns to place tokens onto squares of a grid. The squares on the grid are coloured white and grey. When a player places a token they score one point for every token on an adjacent square (either horizontally or vertically). For every adjacent square that is white an extra point is scored.…TSA 2022 · Question 43 · Optimisation · Save
In Cat and Mouse, a game for two players, 16 cards are shuffled and then placed face down on a table as shown below. Cats are pictured on 8 of the cards and mice on the other 8. Both players pick up two cards at each turn, taking care not to show the cards to the other player. If the two cards are a cat and a mouse,…TSA 2022 · Question 44 · Logic · Save
If he was telling the truth about the incident, then we would not expect him to look so nervous talking to the police. The fact that he looks so nervous suggests he is probably lying.TSA 2022 · Question 45 · Parallel Reasoning · Save
On Sports Day at St Jude's College points are awarded in each event as follows: [image of table] Each student may enter a maximum of three events.TSA 2022 · Question 46 · Optimisation · Save
One vision dominating much of urban planning worldwide is that of the 'smart city', whereby urban areas are pre-planned and designed to be managed via digital technology with efficiency prioritised as the top objective. But planners cannot foresee how cities will need to develop depending on cultural trends, changes…TSA 2022 · Question 47 · Main Conclusion · Save
My three friends bought food at the supermarket. When I asked them, they did not remember the prices of the items, only the final amount they paid. I want to buy 1 bread roll, 1 apple and 1 chocolate bar.TSA 2022 · Question 48 · Logic · Save
The government has recently announced that the method by which the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is funded will be changed, leading to speculation that public funding for the organisation could soon be withdrawn. One of the complaints is that BBC TV and radio presenters “make their profile at public expense”,…TSA 2022 · Question 49 · Weakening Arguments · Save
There are five towns at various positions along a major ring road that encircles a city. Traffic travelling clockwise around the ring road is provided with information in the form of five 'distance' signs at various points along the road as shown. One of the signs contains an error in one of the distances indicated.TSA 2022 · Question 50 · Spatial · Save
'How much does an aeroplane weigh?'; 'Why are manhole covers round?'. Despite the popularity of bizarre questions like this in interviews for jobs in the big technology companies, they have been proved to give little insight into the applicant's ability or personality. Applicants faced with such questions would be…TSA 2021 · Question 1 · Main Conclusion · Save
The fairy lights on a Christmas tree are in three colours, blue, green and silver. The blue lights flash every 5 seconds, the green lights flash every 8 seconds and the silver lights flash every 12 seconds. The lights have all just flashed at the same time.TSA 2021 · Question 2 · Logic · Save
A supermarket chain is to remove traditional plastic bags for loose fruit and vegetables from its stores by spring next year and 5p single-use plastic bags by March, replacing them with compostable bags in each case. This will save 134 million plastic bags, the equivalent of 500 tonnes of plastic a year, and make it…TSA 2021 · Question 3 · Identify Flaws · Save
There is often talk of this or that job being 'exploitative' or of people on low wages being 'exploited' by their employers, as if there were something deeply unjust about paying someone poorly. But this misses a fundamental point about injustice. You cannot be unjustly treated voluntarily: if you agree to the action,…TSA 2021 · Question 4 · Principle · Save
Genuine apologies are an expression of regret and repentance on the part of the person who has acted wrongly. However, in some recent cases government ministers have apologised for unjust policies of previous governments, in which they personally played no part; some of these actions occurred before the person…TSA 2021 · Question 5 · Drawing Conclusions · Save
I have received the following message that is encrypted with a Caesar cipher: JYMDWEFTQEBAF. This Caesar cipher replaces each letter of the plaintext (the message to be encrypted) with a letter that is a certain fixed number of positions along the 26-letter English alphabet. Knowing this fixed number of positions (the…TSA 2021 · Question 6 · Logic · Save
Gordon's family are keen cyclists and regularly cycle around town (urban) and a nearby forest (rural). He has become concerned recently that the air they are breathing whilst cycling is causing his family respiratory problems. He has decided to buy his whole family anti-pollution cycling masks, by buying two adult and…TSA 2021 · Question 7 · Rates · Save
A signal transmitter transmits a message in binary form. (In other words, the message is coded in 'bits'. Each bit is represented either by the digit '1' or by the digit '0'.) To add an element of security, the signal is embedded within other random bits (so that there are other 1s and 0s before and after the…TSA 2021 · Question 8 · Probability · Save
Part-time undergraduate numbers have fallen by more than 50% since 2010 – this represents a lost opportunity for people wanting to improve their job options. More needs to be done to provide support for people to take short, flexible part-time courses. A survey was conducted of 830 people who had considered studying…TSA 2021 · Question 9 · Main Conclusion · Save
The mobile phone was said to be the ultimate liberating device. Rather than being forced to stay, not just inside a house, not just in a particular room, but almost literally chained to a wall, you could now go anywhere to talk to someone. The irony is, however, that mobile phones have actually made us a lot less…TSA 2021 · Question 10 · Weakening Arguments · Save
A lot of people who fear snakes imagine that their skin is slimy. Snakes are not slimy but have smooth, dry skin. Therefore, if these people were better informed, they would lose their fear of snakes.TSA 2021 · Question 11 · Parallel Reasoning · Save
Help Yourself! is a restaurant in which customers can help themselves to as much food as they wish from a buffet for a fixed price of $10 f or a d u lt s an d$ 6 for children. A Family Meal Ticket is available for…TSA 2021 · Question 12 · Logic · Save
Jason's workplace offers a special deal on any four breakfast items. He can choose from bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, tomatoes and beans. Jason will not have bacon and sausage together, nor will he have egg with beans.TSA 2021 · Question 13 · Combinations · Save
Cyclists in a small town were surveyed about their age. A table was produced to show the percentages and numbers of cyclists in five categories of their age. Some of the survey data was added to the table.TSA 2021 · Question 14 · Ratio/Proportion/Percentage · Save
The government should be active in promoting marriage. Notwithstanding bad marriages, research shows that married adults are happier, have better health, are less likely to be involved in crime, and enjoy many other advantages related to their personal welfare and the welfare of their family. Research also shows that…TSA 2021 · Question 15 · Assumption · Save
Many drivers think that the laws that make it compulsory to use a seat belt are an intrusion into their private lives – a denial of an autonomous lifestyle choice. But state intervention in our freedom is justified when, because of our short-sightedness, impulsiveness or carelessness, we act in a way that actually or…TSA 2021 · Question 16 · Principle · Save
Intensive farming, designed to give the greatest food yield per hectare, is widely believed to create higher levels of pollution and damage to the environment than organic farming. But the reality is that the opposite is the case: a global research team measured what they call 'externalities' – the environmental costs…TSA 2021 · Question 17 · Identify Flaws · Save
Tim and Jerry are business partners. Tim lives in New York (Eastern Time Zone) and Jerry lives in San Francisco (Pacific Time Zone). They both agree to meet in Oklahoma (Central Time Zone). [image of table] Tim set off at 10 am local time but shortly afterwards he realised he had left his ticket at home. As a result…TSA 2021 · Question 18 · Logic · Save
Martha is hoping that her parents will agree to a family visit to Rockworld Zoo as a treat for her 16th birthday. This would include Martha, her mum and dad, her brothers aged 14, 12 and 9 years old and her grandmother, who is 62. They have looked at the price tariff for tickets and have decided that they would want…TSA 2021 · Question 19 · Logic · Save
The sales for the four departments of a store are shown in the two pie charts below.TSA 2021 · Question 20 · Logic · Save
If we were ever to detect an alien transmission from outer space, ought we to reply? There are good grounds for keeping silent. After all, how do we know that any such aliens will be peaceable? But the truth is that it is too late for such precautions. Since World War II, we've been broadcasting TV, radio, and radar…TSA 2021 · Question 21 · Main Conclusion · Save
We have long known that if women take folic acid supplements during the first months of pregnancy (and preferably just before getting pregnant too), it decreases the likelihood of babies being born with neural tube defects. Research has shown, however, that not enough women in the UK are choosing to take the…TSA 2021 · Question 22 · Strengthen · Save
Conditions in some of the UK's prisons are scandalous. Inspectors found some prisons to be dirty, vermin-infested places, with frightening levels of violence and prisoners having easy access to illegal drugs. Some critics attribute the poor management of these prisons to the fact that the government has allowed…TSA 2021 · Question 23 · Drawing Conclusions · Save
A cinema uses magnetic letters to write the title of the most popular film that it is screening on its advertisement board. A set of magnetic letters includes the letters of the English alphabet in both upper and lower cases, i.e. 26 capital letters and 26 small letters. The cinema has just enough sets to be able to…TSA 2021 · Question 24 · Optimisation · Save
I run a bakery and sell two sizes of loaf. Small loaves (weighing 240 g) sell for 80p, and large loaves (weighing 400 g) sell for £1.20. I buy dough, ready-made, at the start of each day. Small boxes (5 kg of dough) cost me £10.00 each, and large boxes (15 kg of dough) cost me £20.00 each. The baking process causes…TSA 2021 · Question 25 · Ratio/Proportion/Percentage · Save
The Zambezi River Basin plays a key role in water management for the following eight countries. The table below shows the percentage of people with access to clean drinking water in each country in 2004.TSA 2021 · Question 26 · Ratio/Proportion/Percentage · Save
Rhona is a self-employed IT technician. Some of her clients are also friends. When she checks a computer for problems, she sees what is stored on the hard disk. She has sometimes teased friends in front of others about the websites they have been visiting and the pictures she has seen stored on their computers. She…TSA 2021 · Question 27 · Principle · Save
Following a few simple rules can help you keep your job. For instance, if you arrive late for work, you will definitely get fired. You lost your last job so you must have arrived late for work.TSA 2021 · Question 28 · Parallel Reasoning · Save
As a result of a recent initiative, energy providers are encouraging their customers to have 'smart meters' installed in their properties. Smart meters are recommended because they help you to control your energy usage and therefore mean that you will have lower bills. However, you should refuse to have one installed.…TSA 2021 · Question 29 · Main Conclusion · Save
I am planning a party next weekend. I have invited 100 people. Last week I took advantage of an offer at my local supermarket where I was able to get 10% off the total price of party food if I spent more than $75. I p ai d$ 108 and I estimate that the food that I bought will be enough for 60 people. I've now had replies…TSA 2021 · Question 30 · Logic · Save

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