KALA PRE-TRIAL EXAMINATION – 2025

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education

121/2 Paper 2
MATHEMATICS Alt. A
March 2025 – 2 12 hours

Name: ………………………………...………………….Adm Number: ………….Class: …….

Student’s Signature: …………………Date: ……………… School: ……...……….................

Instructions to candidates
(a) Write your name, Adm number, school and class in the spaces provided above.
(b) Sign and write the date of examination in the spaces provided above.
(c) This paper consists of two sections: Section I and Section II.
(d) Answer all the questions in Section I and only five questions from Section II.
(e) Show all the steps in your calculations, giving your answers at each stage in the spaces
provided below each question.
(f) Marks may be given for correct working even if the answer is wrong.
(g) Non–programmable silent electronic calculators and KNEC Mathematical tables may be
used, except where stated otherwise.
(h) This paper consists of 16 printed pages. Candidates should check the question paper to
ascertain that all the pages are printed as indicated and that no questions are missing.

For Examiner’s Use Only

Section I

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Total

Section II
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Total Grand
Total
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SECTION I (50 marks)

Answer all the questions in the spaces provided

1. Simplify leaving your answer in the form a  b c (3 marks)

sin 30  cos30
tan 45  tan 60

2. The base and height of a triangle were measured as 12.8cm and 7.5cm respectively.
Calculate, correct to four significant figures, the percentage error in the area of the triangle.
(3 marks)

3. Make 𝑘 the subject of the formula and simplify. (3 marks)

2y  4
t
2ky  k
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4. A buyer pays for a car on hire purchase in 15 equal monthly instalments. The cash price was
Ksh 300 000 and the interest rate was 15% p.a. A deposit of Ksh 75 000 was paid. Calculate
her monthly repayments to the nearest shilling. (3 marks)

5. Five men working for 8 hours a day take 2 days to cultivate an acre of land. How many days
would four men working 10 hours a day at double the rate take to cultivate 3 acres of land?
(3 marks)

6. In the figure below, PQ and QR are chords of a circle, centre O. If PQ = 4cm, QR = 9cm,
and OR = 5cm. Calculate angle PQR. (2 marks)
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log 6
7. Find the absolute value of 𝑦 in the equation, 1  log y ( y  1)  (3 marks)
log y

4
 x
8. Given that the coefficient of x in the expansion of  a   is 1, find the value of 𝑎.
3

 2
(2 marks)

5 2cos 2 x
9. Solve the equation  7  for 90  x  90 (4 marks)
sin x sin x
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10. A variable P varies directly as variable Q and inversely as the square root of R. Calculate,
correct to 3 significant figures, the percentage change in R if Q is doubled and P is increased
by 36%. (3 marks)

11. A regular pentagonal solid has its sides marked 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Another regular one has its
sides marked 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Both are tossed and sum of the numbers appearing on the
bottom face recorded.
(i) Draw a probability space to show the possible sums. (2 marks)

(ii) Find the probability of getting a sum greater or equal to 14. (1 marks)

12. A soccer ball of diameter 30 cm is placed right at a corner of a rectangular room. Find the
shortest distance of the ball from the corner of the room, correct to 2 significant figures.
(3 marks)
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13. The tangent to the circle x2  y 2  2 x  6 y  5 at the point (3, 4) meets the 𝑥 − 𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑠 at P.
Find the coordinates of P. (4 marks)

14. Given that a = 2i − 3j + k, b = − i − 2j and c = −2i + 2j +2k, evaluate |2a − 3b − 2c| to

2 decimal places. (3 marks)

15. The production of milk, in litres, of 10 cows on a certain week were:

90, 94, 96, 98, 99, 102, 105, 91, 102 and 99.
Using a working mean of 96 litres, Calculate correct to 3 significant figures;
(a) The actual mean. (2 marks)

(b) The standard deviation. (2 marks)

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16. The temperature of a cooling water was measured at intervals of two minutes and recorded
as shown in the table below.

Time (minutes) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Temperature (°C) 80 60 46 35 26 20 15

(a) On the grid provided, draw the graph of the temperature against time. (2 marks)

(b) Determine the average rate of cooling of water between the third and eleventh
minutes. (2 marks)
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SECTION II (50 marks)

Answer only five questions in this section in the spaces provided
17. The table below shows monthly income tax rates in a certain year.
Monthly income in Ksh % tax rate in Ksh
Up to 9 680 10
9 681 – 18 800 15
18 801 – 27 920 20
27 921 – 37 040 25
Over 37 041 30
In the month of May of that year, Yvonne paid a net tax of Ksh 9 000. She was entitled to
the following monthly allowances:
 Taxable allowances amount to Ksh 18 700.05
 Non-taxable allowances amount to Ksh 10 000
Yvonne contributes 5% of her basic salary towards Pension scheme. This contribution is
exempted from the taxation. She has a life insurance policy for which she pays a monthly
premium of Ksh 5 000 and claims tax relief at 7.5% on premium. She is entitled to monthly
personal relief of Ksh 1 202.
Calculate:
(a) Yvonne’s monthly taxable income. (5 marks)

(b) Yvonne’s monthly basic salary. (2 marks)

(c) The following deduction is also made from Yvonne’s gross salary. Sacco loan
repayment of Ksh 12 000. Determine Yvonne’s net pay in the month of May.
(3 marks)
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5
18. In the figure below, AC = 6AB, OY = 2OB, OX = OA, OA = a and OB = b.
2

(a) Express the following in terms of a and b.

(i) AB (1 mark)

(ii) OC (1 mark)

(b) Express XY and XC in terms of a and b. (3 marks)

(c) Show that X, Y and C are collinear. (3 marks)

(d) State the ratio in which C divides XY. (2 marks)

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19. The second, third and ninth terms of an arithmetic progression (AP) form the first three
terms of a geometric progression (GP)
(a) The common ratio of the GP. (4 marks)

(b) Given that the sum of the first ten terms of the AP is 1110, find:
(i) The first term and the common difference of the AP. (3 marks)

(ii) The number of terms of the AP that will give a sum of at least 2400. (3 marks)
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20. (a) Construct triangle ABC with AB = 7.5 cm, BC = 5.5 cm and AC = 6 cm. (2 marks)

(b) Draw a circle through points B and C which cuts AB at X and AC at Y such that BX
= 5.5 cm. (3 marks)

(c) Locate the locus of Q within the circle such that the area of triangle BQC is half the
area of triangle BYC. (3 marks)

(d) Locate by shading, the locus of point P within  BXC such that ∠BPC ≥ ∠BXC and
1
BP ≤ PC and area of  BQC ≥  BYC (2 marks)
2
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21. The marks obtained by 80 students in a test that was out of 50 marks are shown in the
following table:
Marks 0–4 5–9 10–14 15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35–39 40–44 45–49
Frequency 3 4 6 9 11 15 14 9 5 4

(a) Plot a cumulative frequency curve. (4 marks)

(b) Use your curve to estimate;

(i) The quartile deviation (2 marks)

(ii) The pass mark if 80% of the students are to be successful. (1 mark)
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(iii) The number of students who would pass if more than 40% is required to pass.
(1 mark)

(iv) Percentage score of the 90th percentile (1 mark)

(v) The 6th Decile (1 mark)

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22. The figure below is a cuboid ABCDEFGH such that AB = 8 cm, BC = 6 cm, and CF = 4 cm.
Given that M is the midpoint of line EH.

Calculate;
(a) The angle that line AF makes with the plane ABCD (2 marks)

(b) The length of line BM (2 marks)

(c) The angle between planes BHEC and EFGH (2 marks)

(d) The angle between line MG and line BC (1 mark)

(e) The angle line MB makes with plane BDEG (3 marks)

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23. (a) Two towns P and Q are located at P (600 N, 290 W) and Q (600 N, 310 E). Taking
22
π and R = 6370 km, calculate the distance between P and Q;
7
(i) Along the parallel of latitude in km. (2 marks)

(ii) Along the parallel of latitude in nm (2 marks)

(iii) If the local time at P is 1200hrs, determines the local time at Q. (2 marks)

(b) An airplane left town P above at 12 pm and flew due west at a speed of 500 knots.
At the same time, another plane left town Q above and flew due North also at a
speed of 500 knots. If the two planes met at the same latitude at town R.
Determine the time they arrived at R (4 marks)
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24. A triangle T whose vertices are A (2, 3), B (5, 3) and C (4, 1) is mapped onto a triangle T1
whose vertices are Aʹ (–4, 3), Bʹ (–1, 3) and Cʹ (𝑥, 𝑦) by a transformation M.
Find;
(a) The transformation matrix represented by M (4 marks)

(b) Co-ordinates of Cʹ (2 marks)

(c) Triangle T2 is the image of triangle T1 under a reflection in the line y  x . Use the
unit square to find the matrix representing this transformation hence the
coordinates Aʺ, Bʺ, Cʺ of T2. (2 marks)

(d) Find a single matrix that maps T2 onto T. (2 marks)