In a race, you overtake the person in 2nd place. What place are you in now?
Round 3: be suspicious of the quick answer
The problems in this round are short, but they were chosen because the first idea usually leads to the wrong answer. Read the whole question calmly before looking at the options.
A good strategy is to picture the scene: who is in front, what day it is today, how much is left. Drawing a timeline or a simple diagram solves most of these puzzles.
When there are numbers, be wary of calculations that just repeat the numbers from the statement. Often the question mixes different quantities, such as amount and time, and you need to separate them.
And if the answer seems too easy, check it again: sometimes it is right, but it's worth being sure before moving on.
It also helps to replace the numbers in the problem with smaller ones and test them. If the idea works in the small case, it usually works in the large one.
None of these problems requires hard arithmetic: they can all be solved with addition, subtraction and attention to what the question actually asks. This round is about a different skill: being suspicious of your first impression.
