Unit 7 · Data and Percentage
Competition Rankings — Who Is in Third Place?
Lesson 1 of 9
11 students, 2 jumps each — the longer jump counts. Student 6 turned a modest 4.6m into a 5.7m second jump. Student 9 peaked at 5.5m on their first attempt. One slip in the ranking and you'll call the wrong 5th place.
Table-reading and ranking questions appear regularly at the easier end of NSW Selective TS — they reward students who read the scoring rule carefully and process every row systematically before ranking.
The examiner tests whether students can apply a simple rule (take the maximum of two values), process all rows without skipping, and correctly sort a list — especially when the best attempt is the first one (a common trap).
A table gives two values per student (two attempts, two scores, two measurements). The 'result' is the larger (or smaller) value. Students calculate each result, rank all students, and identify who is in a specific position. Options include students near the target rank to test careful reading.
Best approach: Step 1: Read the rule — here it's max(attempt 1, attempt 2). Step 2: Go through every row and write the result next to it (don't skip any student). Step 3: Sort all results from highest to lowest. Step 4: Count down to the target position. Watch out: the best jump may be the FIRST attempt (students 7, 9) — don't automatically use attempt 2.
Question
In a competition, 11 students were allowed two attempts each at jumping as far as possible. The longer distance in the two attempts was counted as their ‘result’. The attempts for the 11 students are shown in the table.
| student number | attempt 1 (in metres) | attempt 2 (in metres) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4.9 | 5.0 |
| 2 | 5.7 | 5.8 |
| 3 | 4.8 | 4.9 |
| 4 | 4.6 | 4.7 |
| 5 | 5.0 | 5.1 |
| 6 | 4.6 | 5.7 |
| 7 | 5.6 | 5.4 |
| 8 | 5.1 | 5.3 |
| 9 | 5.5 | 4.8 |
| 10 | 4.4 | 4.5 |
| 11 | 5.9 | 5.2 |
Which student came 5th in the competition?
Select an answer to see the explanation.
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