Civil Service Numerical Reasoning Test Budget and Resource Allocation 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A department's budget is cut by 12% from £350,000. What is the new budget?
- £298,000
- £304,000
- £308,000 (Correct answer)
- £315,000
Correct answer: £308,000
A 12% cut on £350,000 = £42,000 reduction; new budget = £350,000 - £42,000 = £308,000.
Question 2: Resources worth £90,000 are allocated to 4 regions in the ratio 1:2:3:4. How much does the third region receive?
- £18,000
- £22,500
- £27,000 (Correct answer)
- £36,000
Correct answer: £27,000
Ratio 1:2:3:4 totals 10 parts; the third region (3 parts) receives 3/10 × £90,000 = £27,000.
Question 3: A project overruns its £200,000 budget by 15%. What is the total actual cost?
- £215,000
- £225,000
- £230,000 (Correct answer)
- £235,000
Correct answer: £230,000
A 15% overrun on £200,000 = £30,000; total cost = £200,000 + £30,000 = £230,000.
Question 4: A local authority spends £2.4 million across 6 departments equally. Two departments merge and combine their budgets. How much does the merged department have?
- £480,000
- £600,000
- £800,000 (Correct answer)
- £1,200,000
Correct answer: £800,000
Each of the 6 departments receives £2,400,000 ÷ 6 = £400,000; the merged department combines 2 shares = £800,000.
Question 5: A project receives £75,000 for Year 1. Each subsequent year the budget increases by 8%. What is the budget for Year 3?
- £85,500
- £87,000
- £87,480 (Correct answer)
- £89,100
Correct answer: £87,480
Year 2 = £75,000 × 1.08 = £81,000; Year 3 = £81,000 × 1.08 = £87,480.
Question 6: A budget of £160,000 must cover 4 equal quarterly payments plus a one-off payment of £25,000. What is each quarterly payment?
- £31,250
- £33,750 (Correct answer)
- £35,000
- £36,500
Correct answer: £33,750
After the one-off payment: £160,000 - £25,000 = £135,000 ÷ 4 = £33,750 per quarter.
Question 7: A department underspends by £18,500, which represents 7.4% of its budget. What was the original budget?
- £240,000
- £245,000
- £250,000 (Correct answer)
- £255,000
Correct answer: £250,000
£18,500 represents 7.4% of the budget; full budget = £18,500 ÷ 0.074 = £250,000.
