Fractions Practice Test and Test Preparation Guide

How to Prepare for a Fractions Test

Many students are intimidated by tests. If your child is struggling with learning fractions or gets anxious before an exam, you may want her to take a fractions practice test before taking the real unit exam. Listed below are a few things you can do to help your child prepare for a test.

1. Create a preparation guide consisting of sample questions that will likely be on the test. Often, your son will get this from his teacher. However, he can create his own with your help using the textbook and the sample problems below.
2. Write a practice test that your daughter can complete beforehand. Be sure to include different types of questions, such as multiple choice and word problems.
3. When your son takes the practice test, simulate the test environment by providing him with a quiet, clean workspace. You may also want to ask your son's teacher how much time students have to take the test and give him the same amount of time for practice. If he won't be allowed to use a calculator on the test, make sure that he doesn't have one when he takes the practice test.
4. Review the answers to the practice test and go over any problems or concepts that your child missed. If necessary, give her additional problems in these areas, or find activities and games that can help her practice these skills.
5. Remind your son to take his time and show his work. Sometimes, kids rush through an exam because other students finish faster. Advise him to ignore the other students and check over his answers before turning in the test.

Fractions Practice Test

Reducing Fractions

1. 2/4 =

To reduce a fraction to its lowest terms, you must find the largest number - called the greatest common factor (GCF) - that divides evenly into the numerator and denominator. In this case, the GCF is two. This fraction can be reduced, or simplified, to 1/2.

2. 35/40 =

The GCF in this fraction is five, so the fraction can be reduced to 7/8.

3. 4/32 =

You can simplify this fraction to 1/8 by using four as the GCF.

Addition and Subtraction

1. 8/9 + 1/9 =

You can just add the numerators if the denominators are the same. Here, the answer is 9/9, which is the same as 1.

2. 2/5 + 1/5

The answer is 3/5.

3. 5/11 - 2/11 =

The fractions have like denominators, so subtract the numerators. For this problem, the answer is 3/11.

4. 17/10 - 9/10 =

The answer is 6/10, which can be reduced to 3/5.

Multiplication and Division

1. 4/13 x 1/2 =

To solve this problem, you would multiply the numerators and then the denominators. The answer is 4/26, which can be reduced to 2/13.

2. 6/7 ÷ 2/1 =

To divide a fraction, you reverse the second fraction to make a reciprocal, then multiply: 6/7 x 1/2 = 6/14. You can reduce this to 3/7.

Word Problems

1. To bake his favorite pie, Matt used 2/3 of a cup of strawberries, 3/4 of a cup of blueberries and 2/4 of a cup of raspberries. How many cups of berries did Matt use in all?

To add these fractions, the denominators need to be alike. You'll need to find the least common denominator (LCD) of all three fractions, which is 12. Multiply the top and bottom numbers of 2/3 by four to get 8/12. The top and bottom numbers of 3/4 and 2/4 need to be multiplied by three to get 9/12 and 6/12, respectively. Now you can add: 8/12 + 9/12 + 6/12 = 23/12. To turn this into cups, you need to convert the fraction into a mixed number. You do this by dividing the numerator by the denominator to get 1 and 11/12.

2. Sally's brother is 5 and 1/2 years old. If Sally is 1 and 1/2 years younger than him, how old is Sally?

The answer is four.

3. To sew a costume, Anna bought 7/8 of a yard of fabric. She cut off 1/2 of a yard. How much fabric does she have left?

To do this subtraction problem, you need to make the denominators the same. You do this in the same way that you would for adding fractions with unlike denominators. In this problem, only one fraction needs to be changed: 1/2. Multiply the numerator and denominator by four to get 4/8. Then subtract the numerators: 7/8 - 4/8 = 3/8.

4. Sam ran for 6/8 of a mile on Friday, 3/8 of a mile on Saturday and 1/4 of a mile on Sunday. How many miles did Sam run in all?

Once you've found the LCD and changed 1/4 to 2/8, add the fractions: 6/8 + 3/8 + 2/8 = 11/8. This can be converted to 1 and 3/8 miles.