Not so Numerate country

It appears that the geneal standard of numeracy in the UK has been falling year on year. Whether that is due to poor teaching or a rise in a range of electronic gadgets to do sums for you, it seems that at least a third of adults over the age of 18 find it difficult to do simple sums in their head.

To see if people are having trouble they have come up with several tests reflecting the general level of maths at set ages through school. You can take a sample of the test here to see what level you are it.

Numeracy Challenge

See if you can do it without resorting to a calculator and should only take about 20 minutes.

I remember being shocked when calculators started being recommended for kids in 4th class here (Primary 6 in UK schools). Before that, it was when they were in secondary school that calculators started being used. I notice with younger staff in my shop there's very little mental arithmetic they can do with confidence, but then does it matter if (and they always do) have a calculator on hand and know how to operate it?

FWIW I scored 100% in that quiz.

88%, drunk and without trying too hard. I only missed the last one. This test was just basic arithmetic put into word problems. Anything above this level would have...well, leveled me. :D