BECE JHS
Mean, median and mode are three different averages. Each one answers a different question about a list of numbers.
The mean is the sum of the values divided by how many values there are. The median is the middle value after the list has been arranged in order. If there are two middle values, the median is their mean. The mode is the value that appears most often. A list can have more than one mode, or no mode if every value appears once.
Arrange the data before you pick the median. The middle of an unordered list is not the median. Say which average you are finding. A question that says "average" in a BECE paper usually means the mean, but if it names median or mode you must use that one. For a frequency table, the mean is the sum of (value times frequency) divided by the total frequency.
Ordering is a method mark on a median question. A correct middle number taken from an unordered list does not earn it, because the method is wrong even when the number happens to match. For the mean, show the sum and the division. Units follow the data: a mean of scores has no unit, a mean of cedis is in cedis.
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.
5 marks
The scores of five pupils are 4, 6, 6, 9 and 15.
(a) Find the mean. (2 marks)
(b) Find the median. (2 marks)
(c) Find the mode. (1 mark)
(a) Sum = 40. Mean = 40/5 = 8.
(b) The ordered list is already 4, 6, 6, 9, 15. The middle value is 6.
(c) The mode is 6.
2 marks
The ages of four children, in years, are 3, 7, 8 and 10. Find the median. (2 marks)
The ages are already in order. There are two middle values, 7 and 8. Median = (7 + 8)/2 = 7.5 years.
2 marks
A mark sheet shows 5, 5, 5, 8, 8.
(a) State the mode. (1 mark)
(b) Explain why 8 is not the mode. (1 mark)
(a) 5.
(b) 5 appears three times and 8 appears twice, so 5 appears more often.
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 freeThe mean uses every value: add them and divide by how many there are. The median is only the middle value once the list is in order. One very large value pulls the mean up and leaves the median where it is.
Yes. The median is the middle of the ordered list. The middle of the list as it was written down is not the median, unless that list was already in order. All BECE Mathematics past questions