The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
Gauss Contest
Grade 7
(The Grade 8 Contest is on the reverse side)
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
(in North America and South America)
Thursday, May 15, 2025
(outside of North America and South America)
Time: 1 hour ©2025 University of Waterloo
Calculating devices are allowed, provided that they do not have any of the following
features: (i) internet access, (ii) the ability to communicate with other devices,
(iii) information previously stored by students (such as formulas, programs, notes,
etc.), (iv) a computer algebra system, (v) dynamic geometry software.
Instructions
1. Do not open the contest booklet until you are told to do so.
2. You may use rulers, compasses and paper for rough work.
3. Be sure that you understand the coding system for your answer sheet. If you are not sure,
ask your teacher to explain it.
4. This is a multiple-choice test. Each question is followed by five possible answers marked
A, B, C, D, and E. Only one of these is correct. When you have made your choice, enter
the appropriate letter for that question on your answer sheet.
5. Scoring: Each correct answer is worth 5 in Part A, 6 in Part B, and 8 in Part C.
There is no penalty for an incorrect answer.
Each unanswered question is worth 2, to a maximum of 10 unanswered questions.
6. Diagrams are not drawn to scale. They are intended as aids only.
7. When your supervisor instructs you to start, you will have sixty minutes of working time.
The name, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on the website,
cemc.uwaterloo.ca. On this website, you will also be able to find copies of past Contests and
excellent resources for enrichment, problem solving and contest preparation.
Grade 7
Scoring: There is no penalty for an incorrect answer.
Each unanswered question is worth 2, to a maximum of 10 unanswered questions.
Part A: Each correct answer is worth 5.
1. In a group of 12 friends, each friend gives $5 to a charity. How much money does the
group give in total?
(A) $50 (B) $55 (C) $60 (D) $65 (E) $70
2. In the diagram, what fraction of the area of the regular
hexagon is shaded?
1 1 1
(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 7
1 1
(D) 2 (E) 6
3. The graph shows the number of apples that each of Apples Eaten
6
five students ate during a week. Which student ate the
Number of Apples
5
greatest number of apples? 4
(A) Dae (B) Joe (C) Etta 3
2
(D) Susie (E) Vinh 1
0
Susie
Joe
Etta
Vinh
Dae
Student
4. The equal-arm scale shown is balanced.
One has the same mass as
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
5. Which of the following is equal to the area of a square with side length 8?
(A) 8×2 (B) 2×(8+8) (C) 8×8 (D) 4×8 (E) 8×8×8×8
6. In the diagram, ∠P QR is a straight angle.
The value of x is
(A) 60 (B) 40 (C) 50 130° x°
P Q R
(D) 70 (E) 65
7. The list of seven numbers 3, 15, 8, 8, 9, 9, n has exactly one mode, which is 8. What
is the value of n?
(A) 15 (B) 9 (C) 3 (D) 8 (E) 10
8. Sam has only one measuring container. The volume of this container is 21 cup.
A recipe needs 2 21 cups of flour. How many times does Sam fill his 12 cup container
to accurately measure the flour for this recipe?
(A) 3 (B) 2 12 (C) 10 (D) 4 12 (E) 5
Grade 7
9. The month of June has 30 days. If in a certain year June 1 is on a Tuesday, on which
day of the week is June 30?
(A) Monday (B) Tuesday (C)Wednesday (D) Thursday (E) Friday
10. The words “P U G F O R S A L E” are written on a store window. How many of these
ten letters look the same when viewed from both sides of the window?
(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) 6 (E) 7
Part B: Each correct answer is worth 6. y
11. The coordinates of R are (2, 6), as shown. After which of
these translations will R move to the point (7, 0)?
R (2, 6)
(A) right 9, down 6
(B) left 5, up 6
(C) right 6, down 5
(D) left 6, down 5
(E) right 5, down 6 x
12. A train stops at Waterloo Station every 3 minutes. A bus stops at Waterloo Station
every 5 minutes. A train and a bus both stop at Waterloo Station at 6:25 a.m. The
next time that a train and a bus both stop at Waterloo Station at the same time is
(A) 6:28 a.m. (B) 6:30 a.m. (C) 6:33 a.m. (D) 6:40 a.m. (E) 6:55 a.m.
13. The numbers 2, 0, 2, 5 are repeated to form the pattern 2, 0, 2, 5, 2, 0, 2, 5, . . .
If a total of 50 numbers are written, how many times will the number 5 appear?
(A) 10 (B) 11 (C) 12 (D) 13 (E) 25
28 1
14. What number goes in the box so that + = 1?
32
(A) 24 (B) −3 (C) 7 (D) 16 (E) 8
15. Two standard six-sided dice are rolled. If the two numbers on the top faces are added,
which of the following sums is least likely?
(A) 7 (B) 8 (C) 9 (D) 10 (E) 11
16. Each of the digits 7, 1, 3, 6, 8, and 2 is placed into one of the squares below to make
an expression containing three 2-digit numbers.
+
When the first two 2-digit numbers are added and the third is subtracted, the greatest
possible result is
(A) 139 (B) 145 (C) 147 (D) 149 (E) 138
17. Savanah tossed a fair coin some number of times and 50% of those tosses resulted in
tails. She then tossed the coin one final time and the result was tails. If 60% of all
tosses resulted in tails, how many tosses did she make in total?
(A) 3 (B) 9 (C) 8 (D) 5 (E) 10
18. Four of the angle measurements 62◦ , 85◦ , 99◦ , 108◦ , 114◦ are the measures of the angles
in the same quadrilateral. Which angle measure is not?
(A) 62◦ (B) 85◦ (C) 99◦ (D) 108◦ (E) 114◦
Grade 7
19. Ten students each receive a card numbered with a Odd Number
different integer from 10 to 19. The students are each Even Number
given the checklist shown and they check off each box
Prime Number
that describes their number. How many students check
off exactly two boxes? Composite Number
(A) 10 (B) 9 (C) 8 Perfect Square
(D) 7 (E) 6
20. In the diagram, ∠P QR = ∠QRS = ∠T P Q = 60◦ .
Also, P T is parallel to SR and T S is parallel to QR. P
If P Q = 10 cm and T S = 6 cm, the perimeter of figure 60˚
P QRST is 10 cm 6 cm
T S
(A) 42 cm (B) 36 cm (C) 40 cm
60˚ 60˚
(D) 38 cm (E) 44 cm Q R
Part C: Each correct answer is worth 8.
21. Three circles have radii 1 cm, 5 cm, and x cm. If the mean (average) area of the
three circles is 30π cm2 , the value of x is
(A) 64 (B) 5 (C) 24 (D) 8 (E) 2
22. Each of three doors is painted one colour: either black or white or gold. Each colour
is equally likely to be chosen for each door. What is the probability that at least one
colour is not used?
(A) 97 (B) 95 (C) 20
27 (D) 29 (E) 23
23. Suppose a, b and c are the last three digits of the six-digit integer N = 111 abc.
If N is divisible by 18, how many possibilities are there for N ?
(A) 50 (B) 55 (C) 56 (D) 110 (E) 112
24. In the diagram, each row, each column, and each shape
shown by the thick lines must contain the letters A, B,
C, D, and E. If each square contains exactly one letter, D A
what letter must be placed in the shaded square? C
(A) A (B) B (C) C
(D) D (E) E B E
25. In an arithmetic grid, adjacent numbers increase by a fixed integer a > 0 moving left
to right within each row. Also, adjacent numbers increase by a fixed integer b > 0
moving top to bottom within each column. For example, the grid shown is a 3 × 3
arithmetic grid with a = 2 and b = 5.
1 3 5
6 8 10
11 13 15
Suppose that an 8 × 8 arithmetic grid has a 1 in the top left corner, and a number
less than 75 in the bottom right corner. How many such grids have a 45 somewhere
in column 5?
(A) 6 (B) 3 (C) 7 (D) 5 (E) 4
