BECE JHS
A percentage is a fraction with denominator 100. Percent means out of 100.
To find a percentage of a quantity, write the percentage as a fraction over 100 and multiply. 15 percent of 80 is 15/100 × 80. To express one quantity as a percentage of another, divide the first by the second and multiply by 100. Always ask "percentage of what?". The answer depends on the base you were given.
Percentage increase is the increase divided by the original amount, times 100. Percentage decrease uses the decrease and the same original amount. Profit percent in a trading question is profit divided by cost price, times 100, unless the question clearly says to use the selling price. Read that instruction before you divide.
The mark for the fraction over 100 is separate from the mark for the arithmetic. Name the base. A profit of 50 cedis on a cost of 200 cedis is 25 percent, not 50 percent. If you divide by the selling price you are answering a different question. Units: if the question is in cedis, the money lines carry cedis, and the percentage line does not.
These are practice questions in the style of the paper, with a model answer and a mark scheme. They are not a promise of what your paper will ask.
3 marks
A shirt costs 80 cedis. A shop reduces the price by 15 percent in a sale.
(a) Find the reduction. (2 marks)
(b) Find the sale price. (1 mark)
(a) 15/100 × 80 = 12 cedis.
(b) 80 − 12 = 68 cedis.
3 marks
A trader buys a bag of rice for 200 cedis and sells it for 250 cedis. Calculate the profit percent. (3 marks)
Profit = 250 − 200 = 50 cedis. Profit percent = 50/200 × 100 = 25 percent.
2 marks
A class has 40 pupils. 18 of them walk to school. What percentage of the class walk to school? (2 marks)
18/40 × 100 = 45 percent.
More questions on this topic are inside GLearn, marked as you answer, with the reason written out. The first ones need no account.
Practise Mathematics freeOn the cost price, unless the question tells you to use the selling price. Profit divided by cost, times 100, is the usual BECE form. Read the last line of the question before you divide.
Out of 100. 15 percent is 15/100, which is the same as 3/20. Finding 15 percent of a sum means multiplying that sum by 15/100. All BECE Mathematics past questions