ISEE Upper Level

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.

Key Formula

When adding time, remember that

1 hour = 60 minutes

. If your minutes add up to 60 or more, subtract 60 from the minutes and add 1 to the hours! For money, always line up your decimals.

Practice Questions

4 practice questions for ISEE Upper Level

Q1 Hard

A train departs from Station A at

9 : 15

AM. It travels for

2

hours and

40

minutes to Station B. At Station B, it makes a

35

-minute stop. Then, it continues its journey to Station C, which takes

1

hour and

50

minutes. However, during this leg, the train experiences an unexpected

25

-minute delay. What time does the train arrive at Station C?

2 : 45

3 : 05

3 : 10

3 : 30

Show Solution

Let's calculate the elapsed time step-by-step:
1. Departure from Station A: $9 : 15$ AM
2. Arrival at Station B (after $2$ hours $40$ minutes of travel):

$9 : 15$ AM + $2$ hours = $11 : 15$ AM
$11 : 15$ AM + $40$ minutes = $11 : 55$ AM
3. Departure from Station B (after $35$ -minute stop):

$11 : 55$ AM + $35$ minutes:
$11 : 55$ AM + $5$ minutes = $12 : 00$ PM (noon)
$12 : 00$ PM + $30$ minutes = $12 : 30$ PM
4. Scheduled arrival at Station C (after $1$ hour $50$ minutes of travel):

$12 : 30$ PM + $1$ hour = $1 : 30$ PM
$1 : 30$ PM + $50$ minutes:
$1 : 30$ PM + $30$ minutes = $2 : 00$ PM
$2 : 00$ PM + $20$ minutes = $2 : 20$ PM
5. Actual arrival at Station C (after $25$ -minute delay):

$2 : 20$ PM + $25$ minutes = $2 : 45$ PM
The train arrives at Station C at $2 : 45$ PM.

Answer: A

Q2 Hard

A small business owner buys

200

units of a product for $

5.00

each. She sells

\frac{3}{4}

of the units at a

40%

markup. The remaining units are sold during a clearance sale at a

10%

discount off the original purchase price. If she also pays a fixed shipping fee of $

100

for the entire order, what is her total profit?

A $

125

B $

150

C $

175

D $

200

Show Solution

Let's calculate the total expenses and total revenue to find the profit.
1. Calculate Total Expenses:

• Cost of units: $200$ units × $ $5.00/ u ni t$ = $ $1000$
• Shipping fee: $ $100$
• Total Expenses = $ $1000$ + $ $100$ = $ $1100$
2. Calculate Revenue from Units Sold at Markup:

• Number of units sold at markup: $(\frac{3}{4}) \times 200$ units = $150$ units
• Markup percentage: $40%$
• Selling price per unit at markup: $ $5.00 \times (1 + 0.40) = 5.00 \times 1.40$ = $ $7.00$
• Revenue from markup sales: $150$ units × $ $7.00$ /unit = $ $1050$
3. Calculate Revenue from Remaining Units Sold at Discount:

• Number of remaining units: $200 - 150$ units = $50$ units
• Discount percentage: $10%$ off original purchase price
• Selling price per unit at discount: $ $5.00 \times (1 - 0.10) = 5.00 \times 0.90$ = $ $4.50$
• Revenue from discount sales: $50$ units × $ $4.50$ /unit = $ $225$
4. Calculate Total Revenue:

• Total Revenue = Revenue from markup sales + Revenue from discount sales
• Total Revenue = $ $1050$ + $ $225$ = $ $1275$
5. Calculate Total Profit:

• Total Profit = Total Revenue - Total Expenses
• Total Profit = $ $1275$ - $ $1100$ = $ $175$

Answer: C

Q3 Hard

A satellite transmits data for a continuous period beginning at

7 : 38

PM on Tuesday and ending at

4 : 15

AM on Friday. What is the total duration of the data transmission in hours and minutes?

56

hours and

37

minutes

56

hours and

57

minutes

57

hours and

37

minutes

57

hours and

57

minutes

Show Solution

Let's break down the time duration into segments:
1. From Tuesday $7 : 38$ PM to Wednesday $7 : 38$ PM:

This is a full $24$ -hour period.
2. From Wednesday $7 : 38$ PM to Thursday $7 : 38$ PM:

This is another full $24$ -hour period.
Total so far: $24$ hours + $24$ hours = $48$ hours.
3. From Thursday $7 : 38$ PM to Friday $4 : 15$ AM:

• First, calculate the time remaining on Thursday until midnight ( $12 : 00$ AM Friday):
$12 : 00$ AM (Friday) is $24 : 00$ on Thursday in $24$ -hour format.
$7 : 38$ PM is $19 : 38$ in $24$ -hour format.
Duration = $24 : 00 - 19 : 38$ = $4$ hours and $22$ minutes.
• Next, calculate the time from midnight Friday to $4 : 15$ AM Friday:
Duration = $4$ hours and $15$ minutes.
• Total for this segment = $4$ hours $22$ minutes + $4$ hours $15$ minutes = $8$ hours $37$ minutes.
Total Duration:
• Add all segments: $48$ hours + $8$ hours $37$ minutes = $56$ hours $37$ minutes.
The total duration of the data transmission is $56$ hours and $37$ minutes.

Answer: A

Q4 Hard

A mobile phone plan offers two options:
• Plan X: A fixed monthly fee of $

25

plus $

0.15

per minute for calls.
• Plan Y: No fixed monthly fee, but $

0.25

per minute for calls.

If a customer uses an average of

M

minutes per month, which of the following statements is true regarding the total monthly cost for Plan X (

C_{X}

) and Plan Y (

C_{Y}

C_{X} < C_{Y}

M < 250

C_{X} = C_{Y}

M = 250

C_{X} > C_{Y}

M > 250

C_{X} = C_{Y}

M = 150

Show Solution

Let's set up equations for the total monthly cost for each plan:

• Plan X Cost ( $C_{X}$ ): $ $C_{X} = 25 + 0.15 M$
• Plan Y Cost ( $C_{Y}$ ): $ $C_{Y} = 0.25 M$
To determine when the costs are equal, set $C_{X} = C_{Y}$ :
$25 + 0.15 M = 0.25 M$
Subtract $0.15 M$ from both sides:
$25 = 0.25 M - 0.15 M$
$25 = 0.10 M$
Divide by $0.10$ :
$M = \frac{25}{0} .10$
$M = 250$
So, $C_{X} = C_{Y}$ when $M = 250$ minutes. This confirms option B is true.
Let's check the other options for clarity:
• If $M < 250$ (e.g., $M = 100$ minutes):
$C_{X} = 25 + 0.15 \times 100 = 25 + 15 = 40$
$C_{Y} = 0.25 \times 100 = 25$
In this case, $C_{X} > C_{Y}$ (since $40 > 25$ ). So, option A ( $C_{X} < C_{Y}$ ) is false.
• If $M > 250$ (e.g., $M = 300$ minutes):
$C_{X} = 25 + 0.15 \times 300 = 25 + 45 = 70$
$C_{Y} = 0.25 \times 300 = 75$
In this case, $C_{X} < C_{Y}$ (since $70 < 75$ ). So, option C ( $C_{X} > C_{Y}$ ) is false.
• Option D is clearly false as we found $M = 250$ for equal costs, not $M = 150$ .
The only true statement is that $C_{X} = C_{Y}$ if $M = 250$ .

Answer: B

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 $100$ is NOT the magic number for time; $60$ is. If you add $40 minutes$ and $30 minutes$ , you get $70 minutes$ , which is $1 hour$ and $10 minutes$ , not $1.10 hours$ .
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.

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