A clock's minute hand points to the 6 and the hour hand is between 9 and 10. What time does the clock show?
A9:00
B10:30
C9:30
D6:45
When the minute hand is on the 6, it is always 30 minutes past the hour. The hour hand is between 9 and 10 — it has passed 9 but has not yet reached 10. That means it is still the 9 o'clock hour, so the time is 9:30. Option B (10:30) is the most common wrong answer: students see the hour hand heading toward 10 and name the upcoming hour instead of the one that just passed.
Question 2 Multiple Choice
Why is 7:30 described as 'half past seven' rather than 'half before eight'?
ABecause the minute hand is pointing down instead of up
BBecause 30 minutes is exactly half of one full hour, and that half-hour has elapsed since 7 o'clock
CBecause the hour hand is closer to 7 than to 8
DBecause clocks count forward, not backward
'Half past seven' means you are halfway through the hour that started at 7:00. Thirty minutes is exactly half of sixty minutes — so at 7:30, exactly half an hour has passed since 7 o'clock. The hour hand reflects this: it has moved precisely halfway between 7 and 8. The name 'half past' describes elapsed time since the last o'clock mark, not time remaining until the next one.
Question 3 True / False
At any half-hour time, the minute hand always points to the 6.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: True
True. The minute hand travels the full clock face in 60 minutes. When it points to the 6, it has completed exactly half of that circuit — 30 minutes. This is always and only true at the half-hour. Whether it's 2:30 or 11:30, the minute hand will always be on the 6.
Question 4 True / False
At 7:30, the hour hand points directly at the 8 because the clock is almost at 8 o'clock.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
False. At 7:30, the hour hand is exactly halfway between 7 and 8 — not pointing at 8. The hour hand moves slowly and continuously, so at the halfway point of the 7 o'clock hour it is precisely between the two numbers. It will only reach the 8 when the minute hand completes its full loop back to the 12, marking 8:00.
Question 5 Short Answer
When the hour hand is between two numbers at a half-hour time, how do you decide which hour to name?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: You name the number the hour hand has already passed — the one it most recently traveled through — not the number it is heading toward.
The hour hand shows which hour is currently happening. At 7:30, the clock is still in the 7 o'clock hour because the minute hand hasn't completed a full revolution back to 12 yet. Naming the forward number (8) is the most common mistake: it confuses the current hour with the upcoming hour. The backward-looking rule works because time is counted from the o'clock mark that just occurred.