Functional Question Foundation (Number 10)

1. Functional Question Foundation (Number 10) For the week beginning ….

2. Motorists should drive with a safe gap between their vehicle and the vehicle in front. This graph shows the minimum safe gap between vehicles at different speeds. Different gaps are recommended for wet roads and dry roads. (a)     The road is dry. A car is travelling at 30 miles per hour behind a lorry. What is the minimum safe gap between the car and the lorry? Answer .................................. (1) (b)     Tim is driving at 60 miles per hour on a dry road. He is driving with the minimum safe gap between his car and the car in front. It starts to rain heavily and both cars slow down to 40 miles per hour. Should Tim increase the gap between his car and the car in front to continue driving with the minimum safe gap? You must show clearly how you obtain your answer. (3) (Total 4 marks)

3. (a)     13 to 14 inclusive B1 - Marks awarded independent of method (b)     26 to 28 seen B1 - Marks awarded independent of method           35 to 37 seen B1 - Marks awarded independent of method Allow incorrect written values if they are correctlyand unambiguously indicated on the graph           Yes or increase gap (by 9 m) Or equivalent This mark can only be awarded if justified by(their) values from the graph. B1 - Marks awarded independent of method [4]

4. Common Mistakes – what did the examiners say? In part (a) many candidates managed to find the correct reading using the right line to score one mark but some of these were unable to use this skill to find a correct solution to the functional problem in part (b) with less than 40% scoring both marks. Other candidates misread the scales on the graph and some read values from the wrong lines. Most of the successful candidates showed their working very clearly. Unsuccessful candidates tended to show little or no working.