Good point, Zen! And I agree ultramarina, I don't know why they are so obsessed with rounding! I feel like it puts the cart before the horse. Once you are really comfortable with solving the actual problems, the rounding just becomes a sensible short cut that we use to save time. I've never felt like it makes sense to "teach" them how to round before teaching them how to calculate the actual problems since it is a less accurate approach. We have had multiple homework assignments in 2nd & 3rd where he was told to estimate the answer first and then find the actual answer second. He almost always does the calculation first and then goes back and does the rounding and I let him. When the actual calculation only takes a second for him to do, estimating does not seem useful to me (or him!).

And, I do hope that the answer they were looking for was that Sasha made a mistake. But I am just not sure because the similar question on the review sheet was just a straightforward estimation question. But who knows? At this point, I will give them the benefit of the doubt, especially since there were no $60 bills on the test! smile