A multi-step question's intermediate result is almost always among the answer options. Computing the sum but not the difference, the total but not the share, the rearrangement but not the division — the work was right; it just wasn't finished.
Reaching A number releases the tension of the question, and under time pressure that feels like completion. Test writers harvest intermediate values as foils precisely because they know where you'll stop.
Re-read the question's last clause before answering — the actual ask usually lives there ("…per month", "…the difference", "…as a percentage"). Match units: if the question asks for £/month and your number is a raw total, you're one step short.
| Year | £m |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 320 |
| 2022 | 320 |
| 2023 | 410 |
What was total revenue across the three years?
Add every value in the named row or column — include all periods, and don't average. The correct answer is 1,050. Traps to avoid: 730 comes from the "partial sum" error; 350 comes from the "mean not total" error; 1,370 comes from the "double count" error; 640 comes from the "partial sum" error.
This trap appears in 51 of our questions, across: Totals · Share of hidden total · Fraction–decimal–percent · Rearranging formulas · Inequalities · Word problems.
The free diagnostic doesn’t just score you — it names the mistakes behind your wrong answers, this one included.
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