Time & Money
Elapsed time, reading schedules, and money word problems — everyday measurement
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Imagine you're at an awesome arcade with a pocket full of tokens, and you only have 45 minutes before your ride home. 🕹️ You need to know exactly how much time you have left to play and how much money you can spend! That is exactly what Time & Money questions on the ISEE are all about. They test your real-world superhero skills. You'll figure out how long a movie lasts (elapsed time), how to read schedules, and how to calculate the total cost of your favorite snacks. 🍕
The trickiest part about time is that it doesn't work like normal numbers. Instead of counting to 100, a clock resets every 60 minutes. For money, it's all about keeping track of the decimal point, especially when adding taxes or making change.
On the ISEE, you'll see these questions in both the Quantitative Reasoning and Mathematics Achievement sections. Sometimes they might ask you to compare two amounts of money in a Quantitative Comparison question (Column A vs Column B). Just remember, there is NO penalty for guessing on the ISEE! If you ever get stuck figuring out if you have enough money for that extra slice of pizza, take your best guess and keep moving! ⏳💸 Let's learn some awesome tricks to make these questions a breeze.
Practice Questions
3 practice questions for ISEE Lower Level
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- Add 1 hour and 50 minutes to 2:45 PM. First, add 1 hour: PM. Then add 50 minutes: PM. The movie ends at 4:35 PM.
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- First, find the total cost: . Then subtract from $10.00: . Maria receives $4.76 in change.
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- From 8:15 AM to 3:15 PM is exactly 7 hours. From 3:15 PM to 3:45 PM is 30 more minutes. So the library is open for 7 hours and 30 minutes.
Tips & Strategies
- For elapsed time, use a 'number line' approach. Jump to the nearest whole hour first, then add the leftover minutes. It's much safer than trying to stack and add time like regular numbers!
- When working with money, always keep your decimal points lined up straight when adding or subtracting. A messy decimal can turn $1.50 into $15.00, which is a very expensive mistake!
- On Quantitative Comparison questions, quickly estimate first! If Column A has you buying a few cheap items that clearly total less than $10, and Column B is $50, you don't even need to do the exact math to know B is bigger.
Common Mistakes
- Watch out for treating time like regular numbers! Remember that is NOT the magic number for time; is. If you add and , you get , which is and , not .
- Don't forget to check if the question asks for AM or PM! Crossing the 12:00 mark changes the AM/PM label, and the test makers love to try and trick you with this.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to memorize tax percentages for the ISEE?
Nope! The ISEE will always tell you what the tax or discount percentage is in the word problem (like '4% sales tax'). You just need to know how to calculate it.
What if I run out of time on the test and haven't finished the money questions?
There is NO penalty for guessing on the ISEE! If you only have a few seconds left and several questions to go, pick your favorite letter and bubble them all in. You might get some free points!
How do I handle tricky time questions that jump across midnight?
Break the time into two chunks! First, figure out how many hours it takes to get to midnight (12:00 AM). Then, count the hours from midnight to the end time. Add your two chunks together.
What's the difference between Quantitative Reasoning and Math Achievement?
Quantitative Reasoning is more about logic, patterns, and comparing amounts (like those Column A vs Column B questions). Math Achievement is more about doing the actual calculations, like adding up the exact cost of a grocery trip.