Word Problems
(Ratios & Proportions)
Practice Exercise
Very Easy (Difficulty Level-1):
1. The Ratio of 3¼ to 5¼ is equivalent to the ratio of
(a ) 3 to 5
(b) 13 to 21
(c) 5 to 7
(d) 7 to 5
(e) 5 to 3
2. A certain box contains base balls and golf balls. If the ratio of the base balls to golf balls is 2 : 3 and there are 30 baseballs in box, how many golf balls are in the box?
(a) 15
(b) 18
(c) 20
(d) 36
(e) 45
Easy (Difficulty Level-2):
3. If the ratio of boys to girls in a class is 5 to 3, which of the following could not be the number of students in the class?
(a) 32
(b) 36
(c) 40
(d) 48
(e) 56
4. In a certain class, 3 out of 24 students are in student organizations, what is the ratio of students in student organizations to students not in student organizations?
(a) 1/8
(b) 1/7
(c) 1/6
(d) 1/5
(e) 1⁄4
5. Initially, men and women in a room were in the ration of 5 : 7. Six women leave the room. If there are 35 men in the room, how many women are left in the room?
(A) 41
(B) 43
(C) 45
(D) 47
(E) 49
Medium (Difficulty Level-3):
6. Yesterday, a certain school had an equal number of boys and girls. Today, 18 boys left the school, and the ratio of the number of boys to girls is now 3 to 4. What is the number of boys in the school now?
(A) 54
(B) 60
(C) 66
(D) 72
(E) 78
7. In a local election, votes were cast for Mr. Ali, Ms. Raza, and Mr. Umer in the ratio of 4 : 3 : 2. If there were no other candidates and none of the 1,800 voters cast more than one vote, how many votes did Ms. Raza receive?
(a) 200
(b) 400
(c) 600
(d) 800
(e) 1000
8. In an animal house, Cats and Dogs are in ratio of 5 : 6. If there are 18 fewer Cats than Dogs, how many Dogs are there?
(A) 98
(B) 102
(C) 108
(D) 112
(E) 116
9. The length and width of a rectangular yard are 11 meters and 5 meters respectively. If each dimension were reduced by x meters to make the ratio of length to width 8 to 3, what would be the value of x?
(A) 1⁄7
(B) 1⁄5
(C) 5⁄7
(D) 7⁄5
(E) 3⁄2
Hard (Difficulty Level-4):
10. A class consists of 24 students. Which of the following CANNOT be the ratio of the number of girls to the number of boys?
(A) 1 : 2
(B) 3 : 5
(C) 1 : 1
(D) 4 : 3
(E) 7 : 5
11. When 12 marbles are added to a rectangular aquarium, the water in the aquarium rises 1.5 inches. In total, how many marbles must be added to the aquarium to raise the water 2.75 inches?
(A) 22
(B) 24
(C) 26
(D) 28
(E) 30
12. The amount of time that three people worked on special project was in ratio of 2 : 3 : 5. If the project took 110 hours in total, how many more hours did the hardest working person work than the person who worked the least?
(A) 22
(B) 25
(C) 32
(D) 33
(E) 55
13. At a certain farm the ratio of goats to cows to chickens is 7:8:10. If the total number of goats, cows and chickens is 300, how many chickens are there?
(A) 72
(B) 84
(C) 96
(D) 108
(E) 120
Very Hard & Tricky (Difficulty Level-5):
14. In a box containing action figures of the three Fates from Greek mythology, there are three figures of Clotho for every two figures of Atropos, and five figures of Clotho for every four figures of Lachesis. Find out the least number of action figures that could be in the box?
15. In 2003, the number of girls attending Jefferson High School was equal to the number of boys. In 2004, the population of girls and the population of boys both increased by 20 percent. Which of the following could be the total student population at Jefferson High School in 2004?
(A) 4832
(B) 5034
(C) 5058
(D) 5076
(E) 5128
16. Initially, men and women in a class are in ratio of 4 : 5. Then 2 men entered the room and 3 women left the room. After that number of women doubled. Now there are 14 men in the room. How many women are currently in the room?
17. Alex needs to mix cleaning solution in the following ratio: 1 part bleach for every 4 parts water. But when mixing the solution she makes a mistake and mixes in half as much bleach as she ought to have. The total solution consists of 27 ml. How much bleach did Alex put into the solution?
Answer Sheet:
1. B
2. E
3. B
4. B
5. B
6. A
7. C
8. C
9. D
10. D
11. A
12. D
13. E
14. 37
15. D
16. 24
17. 3