Measuring at an appropriate level

General information
"Measuring at a level of precision appropriate to the task" is part of the Measurement area in Level 6 Mathematics and Statistics of the New Zealand national curriculum. Questions assessing this often ask the student to select an appropriate unit of measurement for a certain length, mass, time, etc, although this is also shown in most tasks that do not provide the student with a unit of measurement.

What you need to know
This is likely one of the simplest things you need to know for the Geometry and Measurement part of Level 6. Appeal to your common knowledge and sense of logic, and the answer should come easily to you. If you are ever in doubt, a good rule of thumb is to select the smallest answer that is above 1.

Practice Questions
These are some practice questions we have come up with to help with revision, and the answers are down below.

Choose the most appropriate unit of measurement for:
 * 1) The volume of a lunchbox
 * 2) The length of a desk
 * 3) The time taken for your computer to start up
 * 4) The distance between countries
 * 5) The mass of a person

Answers

 * 1) litres
 * 2) centimetres
 * 3) seconds
 * 4) kilometres
 * 5) kilograms

Useful Links
The following are some links to resources that, as of the time this page was created, are helpful and do not require an account to access.

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/units-in-modeling/appropriate-units/e/appropriate-units

https://www.ncetm.org.uk/public/files/573268/M4L4_00_12.pdf.pdf (ignore imperial units)

https://www.worksheetworks.com/math/measurement/best-units.html （use metric units, click 'create worksheet' and click on the picture to open)