New Jersey Civil Service Exam Numerical Reasoning and Data 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A government vehicle gets 24 miles per gallon. If gas costs $3.60 per gallon, what is the fuel cost for a 360-mile trip?
- $52.50
- $54.00 (Correct answer)
- $57.60
- $60.00
Correct answer: $54.00
Gallons needed = 360/24 = 15; cost = 15 × $3.60 = $54.00.
Question 2: An agency's overtime costs increased from $84,000 to $112,000. What is the percent increase?
- 25%
- 28%
- 33% (Correct answer)
- 36%
Correct answer: 33%
Increase = $28,000; $28,000/$84,000 × 100 ≈ 33.3%.
Question 3: A scatter plot shows a strong positive correlation between overtime hours and error rates. Which conclusion is best supported?
- More overtime causes more errors
- As overtime hours increase, error rates tend to increase (Correct answer)
- Errors cause employees to work overtime
- The relationship proves a direct causal link
Correct answer: As overtime hours increase, error rates tend to increase
Correlation shows a tendency, not causation — as one variable increases, the other tends to increase.
Question 4: A civil service exam is scored on a scale of 0–100. Passing requires a minimum of 70. If a candidate answers 56 of 80 questions correctly, do they pass?
- Yes, with a score of 72.5%
- No, with a score of 68%
- No, with a score of 70%
- Yes, with a score of 70% (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Yes, with a score of 70%
56/80 = 0.70 = 70%, which meets the minimum passing score.
Question 5: A table shows annual leave balances: Employee 1=18 days, Employee 2=7 days, Employee 3=22 days, Employee 4=15 days, Employee 5=8 days. What is the average balance?
- 13 days
- 14 days (Correct answer)
- 15 days
- 16 days
Correct answer: 14 days
Sum = 70; 70/5 = 14 days.
Question 6: A township collected $2,340,000 in property taxes. Administrative costs were $117,000. What percentage went to administrative costs?
- 4%
- 5% (Correct answer)
- 6%
- 7%
Correct answer: 5%
$117,000/$2,340,000 = 0.05 = 5%.
Question 7: A stacked bar chart shows 3 departments' headcount over 2 years. Dept X grew from 45 to 54, Dept Y stayed at 30, Dept Z shrank from 25 to 20. What was the overall change in total headcount?
- +4 (Correct answer)
- +5
- +6
- +9
Correct answer: +4
Year 1 total = 100; Year 2 total = 104; net change = +4.
A government vehicle gets 24 miles per gallon.
If gas costs $3.60 per gallon, what is the fuel cost for a 360-mile trip?