Estimation and Approximation

Practice bank for UCAT Quantitative Reasoning questions where you must estimate the answer rather than calculate it exactly. These questions reward speed and number sense over precision.

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Quick-Reference: Estimation Strategies

Rounding Strategy

1. Round each number to 1 significant figure
2. Perform the simplified calculation
3. Match to the closest answer option

Useful Benchmarks

Value	Approximation
1/3	33% or 0.33
1/7	14% or 0.14
1/9	11% or 0.11
sqrt(2)	1.41
sqrt(3)	1.73
pi	3.14

Bounding Technique

When options are close together, calculate a rough lower bound and upper bound to narrow down the answer.

Order of Magnitude

Quickly determine whether the answer is in the ones, tens, hundreds, or thousands. This alone can eliminate 1-2 options.

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Strategy