Worked examples
Two examples
Example 1
Women met at Seneca Falls, New York, to demand equal rights in 1848.In which century is the year 1848?A. the eighteenth century
B. the nineteenth century
C. the twentieth century
D. the seventeenth century
B. the nineteenth century
C. the twentieth century
D. the seventeenth century
- A century is a hundred years. Centuries are counted from the start of the calendar: the first century was the years 1 to 100, the second century was 101 to 200, and so on.
- So the number of a century is always one more than the hundreds in its years. The years in the 100s are in the second century; the years in the 1500s are in the sixteenth.
- Now the year 1848. Its first two digits, 18, tell you it is in the 1800s. Add one to 18: 19. So 1848 is in the nineteenth century, which can also be written the 19th century. That is B.
- A, the eighteenth century, reads the 18 in 1848 as the century’s number. That is the most common slip: the eighteenth century is the 1700s.
- C, the twentieth century, is the 1900s, which come after 1848. D, the seventeenth century, is the 1600s.
- A check: the nineteenth century and the 1800s are two names for the same hundred years.
Answer: B
Example 2
The Holland Tunnel, under the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey, opened in 1927.Which phrase describes the year 1927?A. the 1920s, in the twentieth century
B. the 1920s, in the nineteenth century
C. the 1930s, in the twentieth century
D. the 1910s, in the twentieth century
B. the 1920s, in the nineteenth century
C. the 1930s, in the twentieth century
D. the 1910s, in the twentieth century
- Two questions are packed into this one: which decade, and which century.
- A decade is ten years. A decade is named by its first year: the 1920s are the years 1920, 1921, and so on up to 1929. Every year whose first three digits are 192 is in the 1920s. So 1927 is in the 1920s.
- Decades are not like centuries: do not add one for a decade. C, the 1930s, adds one the way you would for a century. The 1930s begin with 1930, after 1927.
- D, the 1910s, is the decade before. The 1910s end with 1919.
- Now the century. 1927 is in the 1900s. Add one to the hundreds, 19, and you get 20: the twentieth century. B says the nineteenth century; that reads the 19 in 1927 as the century’s number.
- So 1927 is in the 1920s, in the twentieth century. That is A.
Answer: A
Where this is taught: Skills Quiz 4, Timelines and dates: First, the idea · Skills Quiz 4: the worked example · Skills Diagnostic, Part 4
In your Kaplan book: Unit 3, Chapter 1, Lesson 6: Interpret Data and Statistics · Map of the Terrain, topic 4: Timelines and dates
The drill
Ten questions
How many:
Read what is in the box first. Then tap your answer; a few questions ask you to choose words from a drop-down instead, the way the GED test does. Press Check my answers at the bottom.Read what is in the box first. Circle your answer; where there are brackets, circle the choice that fits. The answer key, with the reasoning, is on the last page.