Difficulty: Rating: GCSE Marks:

GCSE Text:
A car is making a journey from Appleby to Charlestown, which is 48 miles away. The journey can be split into two portions. The first portion is 12 miles long between Appleby and Bellsford, and the average speed for that portion is 40mph.  The second portion between Bellsford and Charlestown has a higher average speed of 60mph.

a) How long (in mins) will the first portion of the journey take?

b) How long (in mins) will the second portion of the journey take?

c) If the driver leaves Appleby at 9.30am, what time can they expect to arrive in Charlestown?

Suggestions:
This is a basic speed/distance/time question, and students need to remember the formula and how to use it. This is an example of a basic GCSE question on this topic, and from experience an extension is useful which requires a rearranging of the formula to find either distance or average speed.

Extension Ideas:
Teachers could extend the learning by considering:

• The journey home from Charlestown to Appleby is made during rush hour, so the journey takes 2.5 hrs.  What is the average speed for the whole return journey?
• From Charlestown, a train can be caught to Danivale. The train’s average speed is 85mph, and it takes 1.5 hours to get to Danivale. How far away is Danivale from Charlestown?