PYQ Vault

Playbook

Time, Speed and Distance

75 q · 13% HARD · about 3.5 a paper. Average speed is 22 questions at 5%; races and speed changes are the only pages with any real cost.

Questions in the bank
75
q/paper (21 papers)
3.57
Tagged HARD
13%
Subtopics
7

Strand: Quick-Win

When you’ll see it

Speeds, times and distances: trains, boats, races, clocks or two people moving.

How this chapter is tested

75 questions, about 3.5 a paper, at 13% HARD. Average speed and speed-time ratios are the largest page (22 questions at 5% HARD); boats and streams has never set a HARD question.

Two ideas carry the chapter: total distance over total time, and relative speed as a sum (towards each other) or a difference (same direction).

The sub-skills

The distinct skills inside the chapter, in the order to learn them.

  • Average speed

    Total distance ÷ total time; equal distances at u and v give 2uv/(u + v).

  • Relative speed

    Add speeds for approaching objects, subtract for the same direction.

  • Trains

    A train passing an object covers its own length plus the object's.

  • Boats and streams

    Boat = (down + up)/2, stream = (down − up)/2.

  • Clocks

    The hands separate at 5.5° a minute.

Traps to expect

Distractor shapes this chapter reuses. The Traps page covers the ones that cut across chapters.

  • Average of the speeds

    (u + v)/2 is wrong when equal DISTANCES are covered.

  • Unit conversion

    km/h to m/s is × 5/18.

Learn it before you drill it

This chapter has full teaching notes — foundations, worked examples, self-checks and a mastery check for each subtopic. Read the notes once, then drill subtopic by subtopic below.

Time, Speed and Distance notes

Drill every Time, Speed and Distance question

75 questions from the bank, across 7 subtopics.

Drill one subtopic at a time

The 7 subtopics, in teaching order.

Related playbooks

Often paired with this one — the technique or the trap overlaps. Drill these next.