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Map scale – practice for Years 6–7

Sample questions on Map scale with the right answer and a worked solution, from easy to hard. In the Pickles Academy app a child gets new questions of the same kind every time, so they can't just learn the answers by heart.

Subject
Geography
Year
Years 6–7
Curriculum area
Maps, geographical information and data

Question types: Working with map scale

Rule: Map scale

A scale of 1 : 200 000 means 1 cm on the map is 200 000 cm, so 2 km in reality.

Real distance = map distance × scale number. From centimetres to kilometres divide by 100 000.

Example: 3 cm on a 1 : 200 000 map: 3 × 2 km = 6 km

Watch out: From centimetres to kilometres divide by 100 000 (five zeros), not 1000.

Sample questions

  1. Question 1 Easy

    On a map with a scale of 1 : 50 000, a route is 9 cm long. How many kilometres long is it in reality?

    Show the solution
    Answer: 4.5 km

    How it works: 1 cm on the map = 50 000 cm = 0.5 km in reality; 9 × 0.5 km = 4.5 km.

  2. Question 2 Normal

    On a map with a scale of 1 : 500 000, a route is 12 cm long. How many kilometres long is it in reality?

    Show the solution
    Answer: 60 km

    How it works: 1 cm on the map = 500 000 cm = 5 km in reality; 12 × 5 km = 60 km.

  3. Question 3 Hard

    A distance of 40 km is drawn on a map as 8 cm. The scale of the map is 1 : x. Find x.

    Show the solution
    Answer: 500 000

    How it works: 40 km = 4 000 000 cm; 4 000 000 ÷ 8 = 500 000, so the scale is 1 : 500 000.

Related topics

All Geography topics

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