Mathematical Problem

Here are two actual questions I came across recently which I would like you to think not the answer, but other issues such as whether we are doing justice to the subject and the students who learn the subject in school.

Question 1: A tap flowing at the rate of 500 ml per minute, took 5 minutes to fill Tank A. Tank B, which was twice the volume of Tank A, was already 4/5 filled. If some water was poured from Tank A to Tank B until Tank B was completely full, how much of water was left in Tank A?

Question 2: A lift goes down 2 floors a second on a 56-storey building. Melissa wants to go down 56 storeys. How long will she take if she use the lift?

Question 2 is taken from a homework given to Form Two students at a secondary school in Malaysia while Question 1 is taken from a test given to Primary 5 pupils at a primary school in Singapore.