MoCA Calculation Skills 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: On the MoCA serial 7s task, a patient starts at 100 and correctly subtracts 7 three times in a row, then says 79 instead of 79. How many points have they earned so far after the third subtraction?
- 1 point
- 2 points
- 3 points (Correct answer)
- 0 points
Correct answer: 3 points
Three consecutive correct subtractions (93, 86, 79) each earn 1 point, totaling 3 points at that stage.
Question 2: A patient performing the MoCA serial 7s says: 100, 93, 87, 79, 72. Which subtraction was incorrect?
- 100 minus 7 = 93
- 93 minus 7 = 87 (should be 86) (Correct answer)
- 86 minus 7 = 79
- 79 minus 7 = 72
Correct answer: 93 minus 7 = 87 (should be 86)
93 minus 7 equals 86, not 87; that is the error in this sequence.
Question 3: If a MoCA patient answers the serial 7s as 93, 86, 79, 72, 65, what score do they receive?
- 2 points
- 3 points (Correct answer)
- 4 points
- 5 points (maximum)
Correct answer: 3 points
Scores of 3 correct = 3 points; all five correct = 3 points maximum since the scale caps at 3.
Question 4: What is 100 minus 7, then minus 7 again?
- 79
- 86 (Correct answer)
- 84
- 80
Correct answer: 86
100 − 7 = 93, and 93 − 7 = 86.
Question 5: On the MoCA, if a patient makes one error in the serial 7s but gets the other four correct, what is the likely score?
- 0 points
- 1 point
- 2 points (Correct answer)
- 3 points
Correct answer: 2 points
MoCA scoring awards 3 pts for 4–5 correct, 2 pts for 2–3 correct, 1 pt for 1 correct, and 0 for none; one error among five means four correct = 3 points — but if only 2–3 are independently correct, it drops; with four correct the score is 3.
Question 6: A clinician notes that a patient scored 0 on the serial 7s portion of the MoCA. What does this indicate about the patient's performance?
- The patient answered all five subtractions correctly
- The patient did not answer any subtraction correctly (Correct answer)
- The patient answered exactly one correctly
- The patient refused to attempt the task
Correct answer: The patient did not answer any subtraction correctly
A score of 0 on serial 7s means none of the five sequential subtractions were performed correctly.
Question 7: Which of the following correctly continues the serial 7s sequence started at 100: 93, 86, ___?
- 80
- 77
- 79 (Correct answer)
- 81
Correct answer: 79
86 minus 7 equals 79, which is the next correct value in the sequence.
MoCA Calculation Skills 2
On the MoCA serial 7s task, a patient starts at 100 and correctly subtracts 7 three times in a row, then says 79 instead of 79.
How many points have they earned so far after the third subtraction?