Extended: Limits of accuracy: past paper questions

Real questions on extended: limits of accuracy

The newest 13 of 13 written questions. Open one to see it on the real paper.

1. 0580/11 · May/June 2026 · Q22[2]
   22 The time, $t$ seconds, for the winner of a race is 12.7 seconds, correct to 3 significant figures. Complete this statement about the value of $t$. $⩽t<$See it on the paper →
2. 0580/12 · February/March 2026 · Q23[2]
   The height, $h$ metres, of a tree is $37.4\text{ m}$, correct to the nearest 10 centimetres. Complete this statement about the value of $h$. $\cdots ⩽h<\dots$See it on the paper →
3. 0580/01 · Specimen 2025 · Q8[2]

   2-mark question — its maths and diagrams are best seen on the paper.

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4. 0580/01 · Specimen 2025 · Q22[2]

   2-mark “Complete” question — its maths and diagrams are best seen on the paper.

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5. 0580/43 · October/November 2025 · Q25[3]
   Jenna has a length of wire measuring $68\text{ cm}$, correct to the nearest cm. From this wire she cuts off two smaller pieces • a piece of length $4.7\text{ cm}$, correct to the nearest mm • a piece of length $10.0\text{ cm}$, correct to the nearest mm. Work out the lower bound and the upper bound for the length of...See it on the paper →
6. 0580/23 · May/June 2025 · Q1[1]
   1 The probability of picking a green pen from a box is $0.17$. Find the probability of not picking a green pen from the box.See it on the paper →
7. 0580/31 · May/June 2025 · Q27[2]
   27 The height, $h$ metres, of a building is $105$ m, correct to the nearest metre. Complete this statement about the value of $h$. $⩽h<$See it on the paper →
8. 0580/42 · May/June 2025 · Q4[2]
   [Diagram: A trapezium $ABCD$ with parallel sides $DC$ and $AB$. $DC=10\text{ cm}$, $AB=12\text{ cm}$. A dashed perpendicular line from $D$ to the extension of $AB$ has length $8\text{ cm}$. The diagram is marked "NOT TO SCALE".] $ABCD$ is a trapezium. Work out the area of the trapezium.See it on the paper →
9. 0580/21 · May/June 2024 · Q22[4]
   Bag $A$ and bag $B$ each contain red counters and blue counters only. Stephan picks a counter at random from bag $A$ and Jen picks a counter at random from bag $B$. The probability that Stephan picks a red counter is $0.4$. The probability that Stephan and Jen both pick a red counter is $0.25$. Find the probability tha...See it on the paper →
10. 0580/41 · May/June 2024 · Q1b[3]
    (b) The Amazon river has a length of 6440 km, correct to the nearest 10 km. The Congo river has a length of 4400 km, correct to the nearest 100 km. Calculate the upper bound of the difference between the lengths of the Amazon river and the Congo river.See it on the paper →
11. 0580/41 · May/June 2024 · Q7b(i)[4]

    4-mark “Show” question — its maths and diagrams are best seen on the paper.

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12. 0580/21 · May/June 2019 · Q4[1]

    1-mark “Calculate” question — its maths and diagrams are best seen on the paper.

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13. 0580/42 · February/March 2019 · Q1d[1]

    1-mark “Find” question — its maths and diagrams are best seen on the paper.

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What examiners said

Comprehensive responses • The bounds question was answered correctly by some candidates. Limited responses • Some candidates combined decimals and mixture of units in their response. • Most were reluctant to write an answer with 2 decimal places. • A small proportion changed to centimetres but only gained one mark for a ‘correct’ answer if they did not change back to metres. • Another small propo...

— Examiner report, February/March 2026, 0580/12 Q23 (Cambridge)

Around a quarter of candidates were able to correctly complete the statement about the value of h. Most candidates did not understand the importance of the phrase ‘correct to the nearest metre’ and gave answers with whole numbers, e.g. 100 and 110 or 105 and 110 or 104 and 106. A few candidates gained one mark for answers of 104.5 and 105.4 or the correct answers reversed.

— Examiner report, May/June 2025, 0580/31 Q27 (Cambridge)

A large majority of candidates used the correct formula for the area of a trapezium and gave a correct answer. Although it was possible to split the shape up into triangles to obtain the correct answer, many who tried this were unsuccessful. Some used incorrect formulae for the trapezium, including 1 1 12 10 8 = 480 or 12 8 = 48. 2 2

— Examiner report, May/June 2025, 0580/42 Q4 (Cambridge)