A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Sample 4th & 8th Grade Questions from TIMSS

Below each question is a description of the mathematical content being assessed and the percentage of students in the U.S. and other countries who answered the question correctly.
 
Fourth Grade Items
 
1. A thin wire 20 cm long is formed into a rectangle. If the width of this rectangle is 4 cm, what is its length?
 
A. 5 cm
B. 6 cm
C. 12 cm
D. 16 cm
 
Measurement, Estimation, and Number Sense: Singapore, 46%; Korea, 38%; Japan, 32%; Hong Kong, 29%; England, 29%; U.S., 23%
 
 
2. Here is a number sentence: 2000+o+30+9=2739
 
What number goes where the o is to make this sentence true?
 
Answer             
 
Whole Numbers: Singapore, 92%; Korea, 91%; Japan, 86%; Hong Kong, 82%; U.S., 58%; England, 49%
 
 
3. There are 10 girls and 20 boys in Juanita?s class. Juanita said that there is one girl for every two boys. Her friend Amanda said that means ? of all the students in the class are girls.
 
a) How many students are there in Juanita?s class? Answer             
Is Juanita right? Answer             
Use words or pictures to explain why.
 
b) Is Amanda right? Answer             
Use words or pictures to explain why.
 
Fractions & Proportionality. Part a/b: Korea, 43%/32%; Singapore, 41%/37%; England, 30%/20%;
Japan, 30%/30%; U.S., 25%/17%, Canada, 22%/12%; Hong Kong, 11%/13%
 
 
4. The graph shows the number of cartons of milk sold each day of a week at a school.


a) How many cartons of milk did the school sell on Monday?
Answer             
 
b) How many cartons of milk did the school sell that week? Show your work.
Answer             
 
Data Representation, Analysis, and Probability. Part a/b: Korea, 96%/73%; Singapore, 95%/80%;
Japan, 94%/32%; Canada, 93%46%; U.S., 90%/57%; Hong Kong, 74%/38%
 
 
Eighth Grade Items
 
1. Which of these is the longest time?
 
A. 15 000 seconds
B. 1 500 minutes
C. 10 hours
D. 1 day
 
Measurement: Japan, 62%; France, 43%; Canada, 41%; U.S. 36%; England, 27%
 
 
2. Peter bought 70 items, and Sue bought 90 items. Each item costs the same, and the items cost
$800 altogether. How much did Sue pay?
 
Answer             
 
Proportionality: Singapore, 83%; Japan, 71%; Korea, 62%; Germany, 57%; U.S., 23%
 
 
3. A rubber ball rebounds to half the height it drops. If the ball is dropped from a rooftop 18 m
above the ground, what is the total distance traveled by the time it hits the ground the third time?
 
A. 31.2 m
B. 40.5 m
C. 45 m
D. 63 m
 
Algebra: Singapore, 42%; Japan 41%; Canada, 36%; England, 34%; U.S., 27%
 
 
4. Last year there were 1172 students at Beaton High School. This year there are 15 percent more
students than last year. Approximately how many students are at Beaton High School this year?
 
A. 1800
B. 1600
C. 1500
D. 1400
E. 1200
 
Fractions & Number Sense: France, 62%; Germany, 62%; Japan, 58%; U.S. 40%;
England, 38%
 
 
5. The length of a rectangle is 6 cm, and its perimeter is 16 cm. What is the area of the rectangle
in square centimeters?
 
Answer             
 
Measurement: Singapore, 86%; Korea, 66%; Japan, 65%; Canada, 41%; France, 36%;
U.S., 22%
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright© 1994 by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Appropriate references to the IEA copyright and TIMSS should be provided in your use of these released items.  

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