Numbers That Stick — the figures, grouped

STORYLINE · EVERY CHAPTER — THE FIGURES

Numbers That Stick — the test’s figures, grouped

Scattered through the handbook are a few dozen numbers the test loves: seats, juries, ages, limits, fees. Collected here in families — because 650 is easier to remember as “the Commons” than as a stray fact in chapter 5.

The test itself Running the country Ages that matter On the road The people

How to use this storyline

Learn each family as a set — the numbers cue each other. Then press recall: every figure vanishes, and you fill the grids back in from memory. Where the law has moved on since the handbook was written, the test still expects the handbook’s figure — those are the ones used here.

Family 1 · The test itself

24questions in the real test

45minutes on the clock

18correct answers needed to pass (75%)

£50the fee per attempt, paid on GOV.UK

3 daysbook at least this far ahead

7 dayswait after a fail before retaking

🧠 The test in one breath: 24 in 45, 18 to pass, £50 a go.

Family 2 · Running the country

650MPs in the House of Commons

129MSPs in the Scottish Parliament

60MSs in the Senedd (Wales)

108MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly

5 yearsmaximum between general elections

12people on a jury in England, Wales & NI

15people on a jury in Scotland

£10,000small-claims limit in England & Wales

🧠 Seats shrink as the nations shrink: 650 → 129 → 108 → 60. Juries: 12, except Scotland’s 15.

Family 3 · Ages that matter

16National Lottery minimum age (handbook figure)

17youngest age to drive a car

18vote · jury service · buy alcohol

21the voting age everyone reached only in 1928

70top of the jury-service age range (18–70)

🧠 The ladder climbs 16, 17, 18 — then history’s answer, 21, and the jury ceiling, 70.

Family 4 · On the road (cars, unless signs say otherwise)

30 mphbuilt-up areas with street lights

60 mphsingle carriageways

70 mphmotorways and dual carriageways

🧠 Thirty in town, sixty on the open single road, seventy when the road doubles or becomes a motorway.

Family 5 · The people — a population that keeps growing

1801about 10 million

1901about 40 million

1951about 50 million

Todayover 67 million

A census counts everyone every 10 years. More than half the population lives in England; Scotland is the second most populous nation and Northern Ireland the smallest. Roughly one person in seven has a parent or grandparent born outside the UK — the modern country the other storylines built.

🧠 The population story in four beats: 10, 40, 50, 67 — a country that never stopped growing.

Check yourself — 10 questions on this story

Straight from the question bank, in story order. If you can answer these, the thread is yours.

Question 1 of 100 answered · 0 correct

Question 1 · Chapter 5: Government, Law & Your Role

How many members are elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly?

The official handbook states that 108 members, known as MLAs, are elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which meets at Stormont in Belfast. (The number was reduced to 90 in 2017, after the handbook was published — but 108 is the figure the test is based on.)

Question 2 · Chapter 5: Government, Law & Your Role

How many people sit on a jury in Scotland?

Scottish juries have 15 members — three more than the 12 used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Question 3 · Chapter 5: Government, Law & Your Role

In England and Wales, people in which age range can be called for jury service?

In England and Wales you can be summoned for jury service if you are aged between 18 and 70 and on the electoral register. (The upper age limit has since risen to 75, but 18 to 70 is the range the test is based on.)

Question 4 · Chapter 4: Modern Society

What is the national speed limit for cars on a UK motorway, unless signs show a lower limit?

The national speed limit for cars on UK motorways (and dual carriageways) is 70 mph.

Question 5 · Chapter 5: Government, Law & Your Role

What is the purpose of the small claims procedure?

The small claims process gives people a simpler way to pursue smaller amounts of money owed to them through the courts.

Question 6 · Chapter 2: What is the UK?

After England, which country of the UK has the largest population?

Scotland has the second-largest population of the four countries, ahead of Wales and then Northern Ireland.

Question 7 · Chapter 2: What is the UK?

Which country of the UK has the smallest population?

Northern Ireland has the smallest population of the four countries, at around two million people.

Question 8 · Chapter 5: Government, Law & Your Role

How often is a census of the population usually held in the UK?

A census — a survey counting and describing everyone in the country — is usually held every ten years, most recently in 2021 in most of the UK.

Question 9 · Chapter 3: History

The Equal Franchise Act of 1928 gave women the vote on the same terms as men, at the age of 21.

The Equal Franchise Act of 1928 finally put women on an equal voting footing with men at 21, a decade after some women first won the vote in 1918.

Question 10 · Chapter 1: Values & Principles

A candidate must answer 17 out of 24 questions correctly to pass the Life in the UK Test.

The pass mark is 75 per cent, which on a 24-question test means at least 18 correct answers.

Green = correct · red = wrong · red ring = marked for review · gold outline = current question

✕ Exit to Storylines

Keep the thread going

Put the figures to work in the 24-exam series, meet the machine they belong to in How Britain Is Run, or go back to all Storylines.