L1
Probability quiz
Level A
1. The probability of tossing a coin and getting 'heads' is 1 in 2.
A) True
B) False
2. The probability of rolling a dice and getting the number 3 is one-in-three .
A) False
B) True
3. If an event is certain to happen it has a probability of zero.
A) True
B) False
4. If an event is impossible it has a probability of zero.
A) True
B) False
5. What is more likely to happen?
A) Rolling a dice and getting a 6
B) Tossing a coin and getting 'heads'?
6. How many possible outcomes are there when you roll a dice?
A) One
B) Six
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
7. When you roll a dice...
A) You are more likely to get a 2 than a 6.
B) You have the same chance of getting a 2 as a 6
C) You are more likely to get a 6 than a 2.
8. You want to get at least a 4 when you roll a dice. How many possible, successful outcomes
are there?
A) Three
B) Two
9. Which event has a one-in-two chance of happening?
A) Getting a 2 when you roll a dice.
B) Getting 'heads' when you toss a coin
10. A group of 100 people are asked to state their favourite colour. 60 say blue. This experiment
says that the probability of someone choosing blue is 60%.
A) True
B) False
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
Level B
1. If an event has a probability of 0.8 it is...
A) Likely to happen.
B) Unlikely to happen.
2. If an event has a probability of 0.1 it is...
A) Very likely to happen.
B) Very unlikely to happen.
3. What is most likely?
A) Tossing a coin and getting 'heads'
B) Pulling a red card from a pack of 52 playing cards
C) Both are equally likely
4. What is the probability of getting an odd number when you roll a dice?
A) 1/3.
B) 1/2.
5. A card is pulled from a pack of fifty-two playing cards. What is the probability that it is an
'ace'?
A) 1/4.
B) 1/13.
6. A card is pulled from a pack of fifty-two playing cards. What is the probability that it is a picture
card?
A) 1/4.
B) 3/13.
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
7. Which is the most likely to happen of these probabilities?
A) probability of event A is 50%
B) probability of event B is 0.5
C) They are both equally likely
8. Which of the statements is true if a particular event has a probability of 10%?
A) It is likely to happen
B) There is a one-in-ten chance it will happen.
9. Which of these is most likely to happen?
A) Event A, which has a probability of 25%.
B) Event B, which has a probability of 0.75.
C) Event C, which has a probability of 0.5.
10. An event that has a probability of 50% is as likely to happen as an event that has a one-in-five
chance of happening.
A) True
B) False
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
Level C
1. If an event has an even chance of happening it has a probability of 2.
A) True
B) False
2. Put these events in order of probability, starting with the most likely:
A) A, B and then C
B) B, A and then C
C) C, A and then B
3. Where would you place the probability of rolling a dice and getting a 3?
A) Position A
B) Position B
C) Position C
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
4. Which is the correctly labelled probability scale?
A) Blue scale A
B) Red scale B
5. Two dice are rolled and the numbers are added together. The probabilty of the total being 1 is
0.
A) True
B) False
6. Two dice are rolled and the numbers are added together. The probability of the total being 12
is 1/36
A) True
B) False
7. What is the probability of scoring 11 when you roll two dice?
A) 2/36.
B) 1/36.
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
8. Look at the spinner below. Which is the correct probability for landing on blue?
A)
B)
C)
D)
3/10.
30%
0.3
All are true
9. Look at the spinner again. What is the probability of not landing on red?
A) 2/10
B) 8/10
10. If the probability of an event happening is 1/4 then the probability of it not happening is 3/4 .
A) True
B) False
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
Level A
1. The probability of tossing a coin and getting 'heads' is 1 in 2.
The correct answer is: A. True. There are two possible outcomes when you toss a coin:
'heads' or 'tails'. However, only one outcome will give you 'heads' so the answer is 1 in 2.
2. The probability of rolling a dice and getting the number 3 is one-in-three .
The correct answer is: A. False. There are six possible outcomes when you roll a dice: 1, 2, 3,
4, 5 or 6. Only one of these outcomes is 3 so you have a one-in-six chance of rolling a 3.
3. If an event is certain to happen it has a probability of zero.
The correct answer is: B. False. If something is definitely going to happen it has a probability
of one.
4. If an event is impossible it has a probability of zero.
The correct answer is: A. True. If something is never going to happen it has a probability of
zero.
5. What is more likely to happen?
The correct answer is: B. There are six possible outcomes when you roll a dice (1, 2, 3, 4, 5
or 6) but only two possible outcomes when you toss a coin ('heads' or 'tails'). This means it is
more likely that you will get 'heads' than a 6.
6. How many possible outcomes are there when you roll a dice?
The correct answer is: B. When you roll a dice there are six possible outcomes but you will
only get one of them.
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
7. When you roll a dice...
The correct answer is: B. There are six possible outcomes when you roll a dice: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or
6. You have the same chance of getting any of them. So the probability of getting a 2 is the
same as the probability of getting a 6.
8. You want to get at least a 4 when you roll a dice. How many possible, successful outcomes
are there?
The correct answer is: A. The successful outcomes could be 4, 5 or 6. This makes three
possible outcomes.
9. Which event has a one-in-two chance of happening?
The correct answer is: B. There are six possible outcomes when you roll a dice (1, 2, 3, 4, 5
or 6) so there is a one-in-six chance of rolling a 2. When you toss a coin there are two
possible chances ('heads' or 'tails'). This gives the one-in-two chance.
10. A group of 100 people are asked to state their favourite colour. 60 say blue. This experiment
says that the probability of someone choosing blue is 60%.
The correct answer is: A. True. If 100 people have been asked and 60 have said blue then we
can say that the probability of someone choosing blue is 60%.
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
Level B
1. If an event has a probability of 0.8 it is...
The correct answer is: A. 0.8 is close to 1 and a probability of 1 tells us an event is certain to
happen. So 0.8 must be likely to happen.
2. If an event has a probability of 0.1 it is...
The correct answer is: B. 0.1 is very close to 0 and a probability of 0 tells us that an event will
never happen. So a probability of 0.1 is very unlikely to happen.
3. What is most likely?
The correct answer is: C. The probability of getting 'heads' is 1 in 2 . The probability of getting
a red card is also 1 in 2 as half of the cards are red.
4. What is the probability of getting an odd number when you roll a dice?
The correct answer is: B. There are six possible outcomes when you roll a dice: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or
6. Three outcomes give you 1, 3 or 5. So the answer is 3/6 which is the same as 1/2.
5. A card is pulled from a pack of fifty-two playing cards. What is the probability that it is an
'ace'?
The correct answer is: B. There are four aces in a pack of cards which makes 4/52 which can
be simplified to 1/13.
6. A card is pulled from a pack of fifty-two playing cards. What is the probability that it is a picture
card?
The correct answer is: B. There are only 12 picture cards. This gives a probability of 12/52 =
3/13
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
7. Which is the most likely to happen of these probabilities?
The correct answer is: C. 50% is the same as 0.5 so the probabilities are equal.
8. Which of the statements is true if a particular event has a probability of 10%?
The correct answer is: B. a 10% chance is the same as one-in-ten chance of something
happening.
9. Which of these is most likely to happen?
The correct answer is: B. You need to compare all three probabilities to find out which is the
largest amount as that will tell you which is the most likely to happen. You can do this by
making them all decimals, fractions or percentages - whichever you prefer. In this case it is
easiest to turn them into percentages. 0.75 = 75%, 0.5 = 50% and the other probability is
already a percentage (25%). 75% is the largest amount so event B is most likely to happen.
10. An event that has a probability of 50% is as likely to happen as an event that has a one-in-five
chance of happening.
The correct answer is: B. False. A probability of 50% means that the event has an equal
chance of happening or not happening. It has a one-in-two chance of happening. A one-infive chance could be written as 1/5 which is 20% as a percentage.
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
Level C
1. If an event has an even chance of happening it has a probability of 2.
The correct answer is: B. False. Probabilities are always between 0 and 1, so if you ever work
one out and get an answer bigger than 1 you know that it cannot be right.
2. Put these events in order of probability, starting with the most likely:
The correct answer is: B. ‘B, A and then C.’ Sooner or later you will definitely finish this quiz that's certain. A baby has a one-in-two chance of being a boy - so that's a half chance (A).
And whilst you might win the lottery, this is the least likely option (C).
3. Where would you place the probability of rolling a dice and getting a 3?
The correct answer is: A. Position A. There are six possible outcomes when you roll a dice
(1,2,3,4,5 or 6) and only one would give you a 3 so the probability is 1/6 .
4. Which is the correctly labelled probability scale?
The correct answer is: B. Red scale B. In the blue scale A, 'unlikely' and 'likely' are in the
wrong place. Their positions need to be reversed.
5. Two dice are rolled and the numbers are added together. The probabilty of the total being 1 is
0.
The correct answer is: A. True. It is not possible to get a total of 1 when you add the numbers
of both dice together. The smallest total would be 2 (two 1s). So the probability is 0.
© BBC 2011
L1
Probability quiz
6. Two dice are rolled and the numbers are added together. The probability of the total being 12
is 1/36
The correct answer is: A. True. There are thirty-six possible totals but only one of them is 12.
This happens when you get both dice showing 6. So the probability of the total being 12 is
1/36.
7. What is the probability of scoring 11 when you roll two dice?
The correct answer is: A. True. There are thirty-six possible outcomes and two of these totals
are 11 (6-5 and 5-6). So the probability must be 2/36 and this simplifies to 1/18 .
8. Look at the spinner below. Which is the correct probability for landing on blue?
The correct answer is: D. 30%, 0.3 and 3/10 all mean the same thing.
9. Look at the spinner again. What is the probability of not landing on red?
The correct answer is: B. The probability is 8/10. Out of 10 parts, there are 2 parts that are
red. This makes the probability of getting red = 2/10. (This may be cancelled down to 1/5.) We
want the probability of not getting red. Out of 10 parts, there are 8 parts that are not red, so
the probability is 8/10 (or 4/5 or 80% or 0.8).
Did you notice how 2/10 + 8/10 = 10/10 = 1? We could have got the answer by doing 1- 2/10
= 8/10.
10. If the probability of an event happening is 1/4 then the probability of it not happening is 3/4 .
The correct answer is: A. True. The event can either happen or not happen, there are no
other outcomes. So you can do 1 minus 1/4 to find the answer. This gives 3/4.
© BBC 2011