GED Practice Question from Saru

A small farm with a market value of 120,000 was assessed for 60% of its market value. The farm is taxed at 2% of the assessed value. Find the tax on the farm.

Yo, Saru! Thanks for the question. Let’s see what I can do with it. So, first you gotta pick out all the important info. In math, that means looking for the numbers. What numbers are there? What do they mean? So, I skim through the text for numbers…

Market value = $120,000

“Assessed” = 60%

Tax = 2% “assessed” value = ?

That question mark there means what you’re s’posed to find. That’s the other important thing to figure out…what’s the question, at the end? In this question, it wants to know what’s the tax?

I can see you might get confused not knowin’ what “assessed” means. Well, skip it, that’s what I say. It’s important to learn new words, sure, but if you’re takin’ the GED, don’t let a new word stop you… all you need to see is that “assessed”= 60% of market value. You don’t really need to know what “market value” or “assessed” really mean… just how much they are. Get it?

So, the market value = $120,000.

The assessed amount is 60% of $120,000. When you see “of,” think “times.” So, it’s 60% times $120,000.

Now, you gotta multiply percents. Here’s the rule for a percent. To change it into a number, move the decimal point to the left two places. If the number don’t already got a decimal, like 60%, start with it at the end. So, 60% = .6

Now, the assessed amount = $120,000 x .6

But that ain’t really what you want to know. You want to know the tax. Well, the tax = 2% x assessed amount. So:

Tax = $120,000 x .6 x .02 (I added the 0 before the 2 so I could move the decimal over 2 places.)

Looks like a lot of math to multiply, huh? Well, .6 x .02 = .012 …. That’s not really hard. 6 x 2 = 12, and you add up the decimal places like this: .6 has 1 number after the decimal, and .02 has 2 numbers after the decimal. So the answer has 3 numbers after the decimal. I need another number, so I add a zero, and there you go, .012.

Now, tax = $120,000 x .012

Well, same deal here. 12 x 12 = 144. How do I know? I use a shortcut. It’s a square (a number times itself), and I know all the squares up to 12 x 12. It helps make my math faster. You can learn them here: http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0875883.html

So, 12 x 12 = 144, and 12 x 120,000 is 144 with 4 zeros: 1,440,000. But you’ve got three places after the decimal point you’ve got to account for. So move the period (I mean, decimal) over three spaces from the end: 1,440.

Tax = $1,440

Course, you could use a calculator, or write out the math. The most important thing is to figure out that tax = $120,000 x .6 x .02

Here are the things you got to know to figure this one out:

• How to figure out word problems
• How to change percentages to decimals
• How to multiply decimals

If there’s still part of it you don’t understand, or if you’ve got another quesiton to throw at me, send me a comment below.

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passged.com.