CHAPTER 3
GMAT Pretest
HOW TO TAKE THIS TEST
Before taking this Pretest, find a quiet place where you can work uninterruptedly for a little over 2.5 hours. Make sure you have a comfortable desk, scratch paper, and something to write with. Have a watch or other timepiece that you can use to time yourself; to emulate test-like conditions, allow 75 minutes for each of the two sections. You may take an 8-minute break between the sections.
This is not a full-length practice GMAT. Rather, this test comprises the two multiple-choice sections on the GMAT: the Quantitative and Verbal sections. These are the two sections that determine your 200–800 score, which is the most important score for business school admissions. (We have not included the Analytical Writing or Integrated Reasoning sections on this Pretest, as we believe it is a better use of your time to first learn about and practice these question types in the relevant chapters of this book. You will have the opportunity to practice these sections as part of a full-length practice test in your online resources.)
This test is designed to accurately reflect the question types and content of the GMAT Quantitative and Verbal sections. The most important benefit you’ll get from taking this test is the ability to assess your strengths and areas of opportunity. As you review this test, take note of the question types and topics that gave you the most trouble so that you can prioritize your studies in those areas for the maximum score improvement.
Since this test is not adaptive, the 200–800 score you will calculate at the end of the test is just a rough estimate of your ability level. Once you’ve spent some time learning the Kaplan Methods and strategies taught in this book, you should take a full-length computer-adaptive test in your online resources to gauge your progress, to experience the test interface, and to get a more accurate sense of your score. Use this test primarily as a way to get familiar with the test content and assess your highest-yield areas for further study.
To make it easier to grade your test, use the answer sheet that follows to record your multiple-choice answers. You’ll find the answer key and explanations following the test. As is the case throughout this book, answer choices are referred to in the answer key and explanations as (A), (B), (C), (D), and (E), even though the test questions are formatted as you’ll see them on Test Day: preceded by ovals, not letters.
Since the computer-adaptive GMAT does not allow test takers to skip questions or answer questions out of order, you can emulate that experience on this paper Pretest by answering each question in order, guessing where necessary, and not going back to check your work on previous questions.
Good luck!
GMAT PRETEST ANSWER SHEET
Quantitative |
Verbal |
1. _______ |
1. _______ |
2. _______ |
2. _______ |
3. _______ |
3. _______ |
4. _______ |
4. _______ |
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25. _______ |
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32. _______ |
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34. _______ |
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35. _______ |
35. _______ |
36. _______ |
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37. _______ |
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38. _______ |
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39. _______ |
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40. _______ |
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41. _______ |
GMAT Pretest
37 Questions
Time—75 minutes
In the Quantitative section, there are two types of questions: Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency.
Directions: For each Problem Solving question, solve the problem and select the best of the answer choices given.
Each Data Sufficiency problem consists of a question and two statements, labeled (1) and (2), which contain certain data. Using these data and your knowledge of mathematics and everyday facts (such as the number of days in July or the meaning of the word counterclockwise), decide whether the data given are sufficient for answering the question and then select one of the following answering choices:
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
BOTH statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question asked, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question asked.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question asked.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data specific to the problem are needed.
Note: In Data Sufficiency problems that ask for the value of a quantity, the data given in the statements are sufficient only when it is possible to determine exactly one numerical value for the quantity.
Example:
In ΔPQR, what is the value of x?
(1) PQ = PR
(2) y = 40
Explanation: According to statement (1), PQ = PR; therefore, ΔPQR is isosceles and y = z. Since x + y + z = 180, it follows that x + 2y = 180. Since statement (1) does not give a value for y, you cannot answer the question using statement (1) alone. According to statement (2), y = 40; therefore x + z = 140. Since statement (2) does not give a value for z, you cannot answer the question using statement (2) alone. Using both statements together, since x + 2y = 180 and the value of y is given, you can find the value of x. Therefore, BOTH statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
For all questions in the Quantitative section you may assume the following:
Numbers: All numbers used are real numbers.
Figures:
For Problem Solving questions, figures are drawn as accurately as possible. Exceptions will be clearly noted.
For Data Sufficiency questions, figures conform to the information given in the question, but will not necessarily conform to the additional information given in statements (1) and (2).
Lines shown as straight are straight, and lines that may appear jagged are also straight.
The positions of points, angles, regions, etc., exist in the order shown, and angle measures are greater than zero.
All figures lie in a plane unless otherwise indicated.
You may review these directions at any time during the Quantitative section.
If j and k are integers and jk = 12, what is the value of k?
(1) 
is an integer.
(2)
is an integer.
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
In the diagram above, if AB = AD = BD = DC, then x =
30
35
40
45
60
Tara has 12 coins in her pocket. How many of them are quarters?
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
To meet a government requirement, a bottler must test 5 percent of its spring water and 10 percent of its sparkling water for purity. If a customer ordered 120 cases of spring water and 80 cases of sparkling water, what percent of all the cases must the bottler test before it can send the water out?
Company C sells a line of 25 products with an average retail price of $1,200. If none of these products sells for less than $420 and exactly 10 of the products sell for less than $1,000, what is the greatest possible selling price of the most expensive product?
$2,600
$3,900
$7,800
$11,800
$18,200
How many members of Group G are less than 25 years of age?
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
If 
and b2 − a2 ≠ 0, then b − a =
Andrea makes a certain trip in her car. On the first leg of her trip, she drives 40 miles per hour to her destination. On the second leg, she turns around and returns by the same route in 5 hours. How long does she spend driving on the first leg?
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
If p3 ≥ −125 and p is an integer, what is the value of p?
(1) 3p + 16 ≤ 4
(2) p2 > 16
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
A cube of white Styrofoam is painted red and then cut in half parallel to a pair of parallel sides to form two rectangular solids of equal volume. What percent of the surface area of each of the new solids is not painted red?
15%
20%
25%
How many multiples of 3 are there among the integers 15 through 105 inclusive?
In the equation b = ka + 3, k is a constant. If the possible solutions are in the form (a, b), is (2, 3) a solution to the equation?
(1) (1, 4) is a solution to the equation b = ka + 2.
(2) (3, 5) is a solution to the equation b = ka − 1.
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
Ann and Bob drive separately to a meeting. Ann’s average driving speed is greater than Bob’s average driving speed by one-third of Bob’s average driving speed, and Ann drives twice as many miles as Bob. What is the ratio of the number of hours Ann spends driving to the meeting to the number of hours Bob spends driving to the meeting?
If 0 < p < 1, which of the following has the least value?
If Z1, Z2, Z3, …, Zn is a sequence of consecutive positive integers, is the sum of all the integers in this sequence odd?
(1) 
is an odd integer.
(2) n is odd.
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
Sets X and Y consist solely of positive integers. Each set contains at least two elements, and no element appears more than once within a set. Sets X and Y contain the same number of elements. Is the standard deviation of set X greater than the standard deviation of set Y?
(1) The positive difference between the range of set X and the range of set Y is 12.
(2) Each element of set Y is the square of an element of set X.
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
In a certain game, each player scores either 2 points or 5 points. If n players score 2 points and m players score 5 points, and the total number of points scored is 50, what is the least possible positive difference between n and m?
Machine A can process 6,000 envelopes in 3 hours. Machines B and C working together but independently can process the same number of envelopes in 
hours. If machines A and C working together but independently process 3,000 envelopes in 1 hour, then how many hours would it take machine B to process 12,000 envelopes?
If the probability of rain on any given day in City X is 50 percent, what is the probability that it rains on exactly 3 days in a 5-day period?
At a laboratory, white rats are fed 6 pellets of food per day, and black rats are fed 8 pellets of food per day. If the laboratory fed a total of 120 pellets of food to white and black rats on a certain day, were more black rats than white rats fed?
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
Four different prime numbers, each less than 20, are multiplied together. What is the greatest possible result?
21,879
28,728
40,755
46,189
49,742
A baseball card collector has 1,100 cards that are in mint condition and 400 cards that are not. Of those cards in mint condition, 60 percent are rookie cards. If 740 of the cards in his collection are not rookie cards, then how many cards in the collection are rookie cards that are not in mint condition?
If m and n are both two-digit numbers, and m − n = 11x, is x an integer?
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
Which of the following must equal zero for all real numbers x?
x3 − x2
x0
x1
None
I only
II only
I and II only
II and III only
What is the value of x?
(1) x2 − 4 = 20
(2) 
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
The population of City A is three times the population of City B. Together, Cities A and B have twice the population of City C. What is the ratio of the population of City C to the population of City B?
If the fraction 
is negative, which of the following CANNOT be true?
The speed of a train pulling out of a station is given by the equation s = t2 + t, where s is the speed in kilometers per hour and t is the time in seconds from when the train starts moving. The equation holds for all situations where 0 ≤ t ≤ 4. In kilometers per hour, what is the positive difference in the speed of the train 4 seconds after it starts moving compared to the speed 2 seconds after it starts moving?
If Rebecca made $60,000 last year after taxes and put all of this money toward living expenses, travel, and savings, how much did she spend on travel?
(1) Rebecca’s expenditure on travel was 20 percent of her expenditure on living expenses.
(2) The total amount of money that Rebecca put toward living expenses and savings was 800 percent greater than the amount that she spent on travel.
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
If Lisa walks t blocks in 3 minutes, how many minutes will it take her to walk s blocks at the same rate?
A chemist has 10 liters of a solution that is 10 percent nitric acid by volume. He wants to dilute the solution to 4 percent strength by adding water. How many liters of water must he add?
What is the slope of line m in the figure above?
(1) w − q = 14
(2) p − v = −15
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
If a3, b3, and c3 are all positive, does 
?
(1) 
(2) 
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
Molly purchased Brand A binders at $8.00 apiece and Brand B binders at $5.60 apiece. If she bought a total of 12 binders for $84.00, how many Brand A binders did she buy?
A local farmer grows wheat on land he rents for a fixed cost of $200,000 per year. The variable cost of growing one bushel of wheat is $10. In a certain year, the farmer grows and sells 50,000 bushels of wheat and makes a profit of $150,000, after paying the fixed cost to rent the land. If every bushel sold for the same price, what was the selling price, in dollars, of a bushel of wheat?
If a and b are integers and a = |b + 2| + |3 − b|, does a = 5?
Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) is not sufficient.
Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) is not sufficient.
BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
In a certain laboratory, chemicals are identified by a color-coding system. There are 20 different chemicals. Each is coded with either a single color or a unique two-color combination. If the order of colors in the pairs doesn’t matter, what is the minimum number of different colors needed to code all 20 chemicals with either a single color or a unique pair of colors?
GMAT Pretest
41 Questions
Time—75 minutes
There are three types of questions in the Verbal section: Critical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, and Sentence Correction.
Directions: For each question, select the best answer of the choices given.
Each of the Critical Reasoning questions is based on a short argument, a set of statements, or a plan of action.
Each of the Reading Comprehension questions is based on the content of a passage. After reading the passage, answer all questions pertaining to it on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
Each of the Sentence Correction questions presents a sentence, part or all of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. Follow the requirements of standard written English to choose your answer, paying attention to grammar, word choice, and sentence construction. Select the answer that produces the most effective sentence; your answer should make the sentence clear, exact, and free of grammatical error. It should also minimize awkwardness, ambiguity, and redundancy.
You may review these directions at any time during the Verbal section.
Countries A and B are in competition to draw tourists to their countries. In Country A, about 2,500 violent crimes are reported per year. In Country B, about 1,000 violent crimes are reported per year. Trying to draw tourists away from Country A, officials in Country B use these violent crime statistics to claim it has a lower violent crime rate than Country A.
Which of the following, if true, would most undermine Country B’s argument that it has the lower violent crime rate?
Most violent criminals in Country B are repeat offenders.
White-collar crime is higher in Country B than in Country A.
The population of Country A is 20 times greater than the population of Country B.
Country B has fewer tourists than Country A.
Country A has a better prison system than Country B.
It can be difficult for small investors to sell their shares of stock in companies whose policies they disagree with, because small investors’ assets are less robust than large investors.
than
than those of
than is true of
compared with
relatively to those of
The workers’ union of GrainCorp, a grain-processing plant, is attempting to obtain a pay raise from GrainCorp management. To pressure GrainCorp management into accepting the union’s proposal, the president of the union has proposed organizing a consumer boycott against SquareMart food stores, which are owned by MegaFood, the parent company of GrainCorp.
The answer to which of the following questions is LEAST directly relevant to the union president’s consideration of whether a boycott of SquareMart will lead to acceptance of the union’s pay rate proposal?
Would the loss of business at SquareMart stores materially affect MegaFood?
Are the staple food products purchased by consumers at SquareMart stores readily available at other stores not owned by MegaFood?
How many SquareMarts are within the region of the GrainCorp plant?
Have other unions successfully employed the same strategy?
Is MegaFood the only corporation that operates both grain-processing plants and food stores?
Questions 4–7 are based on the following passage
An important feature of the labor market in recent years has been the increasing participation of women, particularly married women. Many analysts suggest, however, that women comprise a secondary labor market where rates of pay and promotion prospects are inferior to those available to men. The principal reason is that women 5have, or are assumed to have, domestic responsibilities that compete with paid employment. Such domestic responsibilities are strongly influenced by social values, which require women to give priority to home and family over paid employment.
The difficulties that women face in the labor market and in their ability to reach senior positions in organizations are accentuated with the arrival of children. In order to 10become full-time employees, women with children must overcome the problems of finding good, affordable child care and the psychological barriers of workplace marginality. Some women balance domestic and workplace commitments by working part-time. However, part-time work is a precarious form of employment. Women part-timers are often the first laid off in a difficult economy. These workers are often referred to as the 15“reserve army” of female labor.
One researcher has found that approximately 80 percent of women in their twenties who have children remain at home. Such women who later return to work represent another sector of the workforce facing difficulties. When the typical houseworker returns to the labor market, she is unsure of herself in her new environment. This 20doubt is accentuated by her recent immersion in housework, a very private form of work. Without recent employment experience, these women confront a restricted range of opportunities and will almost certainly be offered low-status jobs with poor prospects.
Even women professionals who interrupt their careers to have children experience 25difficulties. Their technical skills may become rusty or obsolete, important networks of business contacts are broken, and their delayed return to work may mean that they are likely to come up for promotion well after the age that would be otherwise normal. Consequently, women, even those of high ability, may find themselves blocked in the lower echelons of an organization, overlooked, or even “invisible” to senior 30management.
The author of the passage is primarily concerned with
advocating changes in employers’ practices toward women with children.
examining some of the reasons women rarely reach the higher echelons of paid labor.
describing the psychological consequences for women of working outside the home.
taking issue with those who believe women should not work outside the home.
analyzing the contribution of women to industry and business.
The passage provides information to support which of the following statements about women workers?
It is the responsibility of employers to provide child care accommodations for women workers with children.
Women in high-status positions are easily able to integrate career and children.
Conditions for working mothers are much better today than they were 20 years ago.
The decision to work outside the home is often the source of considerable anxiety for women with children.
With the expense of child care, it is often not profitable for women with children to work.
The author’s discussion of women professionals in the last paragraph serves to
show that the difficulties of integrating careers and motherhood can be overcome.
indicate that even women of higher status are not exempt from the difficulties of integrating careers and children.
defend changes in the policies of employers toward working mothers.
modify a hypothesis regarding the increased labor force participation of women.
point out the lack of opportunities for women in business.
According to the passage, men generally receive higher salaries and have a better chance of being promoted because women
tend to work in industries that rely almost exclusively on part-time labor.
lack the technical and managerial experience of their male counterparts.
have responsibilities outside of the workplace that demand considerable attention.
are the first to be laid off when the economy grows at a very slow pace.
suffer discrimination in the male-dominated corporate environment.
Because the city’s files covered only the years 1934 through 2002, so the potential buyers were unable to determine the year of originally construction.
2002, so the potential buyers were unable to determine the year of originally
2002, and the potential buyers were unable to determine the year of originally
2002, the potential buyers were unable to determine the year of original
2002, therefore the potential buyers were unable to determine the year of originally
2002; therefore, the potential buyers were unable to determine the year of original
Those who study ancient European history soon realize that before Greece was Greece, it was a collection of small city-states that were intensely jealous of one another and were only occasionally able to work together for common goals.
before Greece was Greece, it was a collection of small city-states
before there was Greece, it was a collection of small city-states
before Greece, it was a collection of small city-states
it was a collection of small city-states that was Greece
Greece had become a collection of small city-states
The local high school students have been clamoring for the freedom to design their own curricula. Allowing this would be as disastrous as allowing three-year-olds to choose their own diets. These students have neither the maturity nor the experience to equal that of the professional educators now doing the job.
Which of the following statements, if true, would most strengthen the above argument?
High school students have less formal education than those who currently design the curricula.
Three-year-olds do not, if left to their own devices, choose healthful diets.
The local high school students are less intelligent than the average teenager.
Individualized curricula are more beneficial to high school students than are the standard curricula, which are rigid and unresponsive to their particular strengths and weaknesses.
The ability to design good curricula develops only after years of familiarity with educational life.
In order to document their contribution to the field of structural engineering, the curators at the university’s art museum organized a comprehensive exhibition of the work of leading Swiss designers, including photographs, diagrams, and models of their most famous bridges and buildings.
In order to document their contribution to the field of structural engineering, the curators at the university’s art museum organized a comprehensive exhibition of the work of leading Swiss designers, including photographs, diagrams, and models of their most famous bridges and buildings.
In order to document the contribution of the Swiss to the field of structural engineering, the curators at the university’s art museum organized a comprehensive exhibition of the work of leading Swiss designers, including photographs, diagrams, and models of their most famous bridges and buildings.
In order to document the contribution of the Swiss to the field of structural engineering, the curators at the university’s art museum organized a comprehensive exhibition of the work of leading Swiss designers, including photographs, diagrams, and models of its most famous bridges and buildings.
In order to document their contribution to the structural engineering field, a comprehensive exhibition was organized by the curators at the university’s art museum of their photographs, diagrams, and models of the most famous bridges and buildings of leading Swiss designers.
The curators at the university’s art museum, in order to document their contribution to the field, organized a comprehensive exhibition of the work of leading Swiss designers, including photographs, diagrams, and models of their most famous bridges and buildings.
Questions 12–14 are based on the following passage
A 1973 Supreme Court decision and related Senate hearings focused congressional criticism on the 1966 Freedom of Information Act. Its unconditional exemption of any material stamped “classified”—i.e., containing information considered relevant to national security—forced the Court to uphold nondisclosure in EPA v. Mink. 5Justice Potter Stewart explained that the Act provided “no means to question a decision to stamp a document ’secret.’” Senate witnesses testified that the wording of certain articles in the Act permitted bureaucrats to discourage requests for newsworthy documents.
In response, a House committee drafted HR 12471, proposing several 10amendments to the Act. A provision was reworded to ensure release of documents to any applicant providing a “reasonable description”—exact titles and numbers were no longer to be mandatory. The courts were empowered to review classified documents and rule on their status. The Senate companion bill, S 2543, included these provisions as well as others: standardization of 15search and copy fees, sanctions against noncompliant federal employees, and a provision for nonexempt portions of a classified document to be released.
The Justice and Defense departments objected to the changes as “costly, burdensome, and inflexible.” They argued that the time limits imposed on response “might actually hamper access to information.” The Pentagon 20asserted that judicial review of exemptions could pose a threat to national security. President Ford, upon taking office in August 1974, concurred.
HR 12471 passed in March 1974; S 2543 was approved in May after the adoption of further amendments to reduce the number of unconditional exemptions granted in 1966. The Hart Amendment, for instance, mandated 25disclosure of law enforcement records, unless their release would interfere with a trial or investigation, invade personal privacy, or disclose an informer’s identity. This amendment provoked another presidential objection: millions of pages of FBI records would be subject to public scrutiny, unless each individual section were proven exempt.
30Before submitting the legislation to Ford, a joint conference of both houses amalgamated the two versions of the bill, while making further changes to incorporate Ford’s criticisms. The administration of disciplinary sanctions was transferred from the courts to the executive branch; provisions were included to accord due weight to departmental expertise in the evaluation of “classified” exemptions. 35The identity of confidential sources was in all cases to be protected. Ford nevertheless vetoed the bill, but the veto was overridden by a two-thirds vote in both houses.
According to the passage, the Justice and Defense departments opposed the proposed revision of the Freedom of Information Act on the grounds that it
was an attempt to block public access to information.
would violate national security agreements.
would pose administrative problems.
was an attempt to curtail their own departmental power.
would weaken the president’s authority.
Which of the following statements, if true, supports the assertion that “judicial review of exemptions could pose a threat to national security” (lines 20–21)?
Judges lack the expertise to evaluate the significance of military intelligence records.
Many of the documents that are presently stamped “classified” contain information that is inaccurate or outdated.
It would be time-consuming and expensive for judges to review millions of pages of classified records.
Some judges are likely to rule on exemptions in accordance with vested interests of political action groups.
The practice of judicial review of exemptions will succeed only if it meets with presidential approval.
Which of the following statements is in accordance with President Ford’s position on disclosure of FBI records?
FBI records should be exempt from the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
FBI records should only be withheld from release if such release constitutes a threat to national security.
It would be too expensive and time-consuming to identify exempt sections of FBI records.
Protection of the identity of confidential sources is more important than the protection of personal privacy or investigative secrecy.
FBI records should not be reviewed section by section before being released to the public.
Although some ornithologists contend that the precursors of birds are arboreal creatures that glide from tree to tree, others believe that they were runners whose front limbs evolved into wings.
Although some ornithologists contend that the precursors of birds are arboreal creatures that glide from tree to tree
However it may be that some ornithologists contend that the precursors of birds were arboreal creatures that glide from tree to tree
Despite that the precursors of birds were, according to some ornithologists, arboreal creatures that glide from tree to tree
Although some ornithologists contend that the precursors of birds were arboreal creatures that glided from tree to tree
According to some ornithologists gliding from tree to tree, the precursors of birds are arboreal creatures, that
A recently published article on human physiology claims that Enzyme K contributes to improved performance in strenuous activities such as weight lifting and sprinting. The article cites evidence of above-average levels of Enzyme K in Olympic weight lifters and sprinters.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the article’s conclusion?
Enzyme K levels tend to peak when people feel most alert.
Enzyme K has no other function in the human body.
Enzyme K levels are closely correlated with those of Enzyme L, a known stimulant.
Enzyme K helps weight lifters more than it helps sprinters.
Strenuous activities do not cause the human body to produce unusually high levels of Enzyme K.
The Dancing Doll line sold slightly more than $3.5 million worth of toys last year, 40 percent more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line did and nearly three times as much as the Basic Blocks line’s sales.
the Teeny Tiny Trucks line did and nearly three times as much as the Basic Blocks line’s sales
the Teeny Tiny Trucks did and nearly three times what the Basic Blocks’ sales were
the Teeny Tiny Trucks line sold and nearly three times as much as Basic Blocks’ sales
the Teeny Tiny Trucks line and nearly three times as much as Basic Blocks’ sales
the Teeny Tiny Trucks line sold and nearly three times as much as the Basic Blocks line sold
Without hiding the fact that the destruction of Athens was one of their most important objectives, the multitudinous Persian army, led by Xerxes and nine of his generals, marched westward toward Greece in the spring and summer of 480 bce.
was one of their most important objectives
was one of its most important objectives
was one of the objectives they considered to be most important
having been one of its most important objectives
is one of its most important objectives
The owner of a four-story commercial building discovered termites in the building’s first and second floors and called an exterminator. The exterminator pumped gas into the walls on both the first and second floors. Due to the exterminator’s work, the termites on those floors were killed quickly.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the validity of the explanation for the speed with which the termites were killed?
The third floor had no termite infestation.
Even though the exterminator did not pump gas into the walls of the fourth story, the previously undiscovered termites there died as quickly as they did on the first and second stories.
The speed at which termites are killed increases as the concentration of an exterminator’s gas increases.
The speed with which the exterminator’s gas kills termites drops off sharply as the gas dissipates throughout the building’s walls.
The exterminator’s gas-pumping system works efficiently even when pumping gas into both the first and second stories of the building simultaneously.
Questions 20–23 are based on the following passage
Modern methods of predicting earthquakes recognize that quakes, far from being geologic anomalies, are part of the periodic accumulation and discharge of seismic energy. As continents receive the horizontal thrust of seafloor plates, crustal strains develop. Accumulation of strain can take 5anywhere from 100 years in certain coastal locations to over a millennium in some inland regions before a critical point is reached and a rupture occurs. In both areas, the buildup of strain is accompanied by long- and short-range precursory phenomena that are crucial to earthquake prediction.
Quakes along active faults—like those along the Pacific coasts—are usually 10frequent; scientists designate such areas as quake-prone. However, when the time interval between quakes is great, as in inland regions, locating active faults is only a beginning. Geological scars of past subsidence, cracks, and offsets are useful in determining potential quake locations, as are seismicity gaps, areas where no small quakes have been recorded. Seismologists may 15also consult the historical record. Primary sources range from eyewitness accounts of ancient quakes to recent official documentation of quake-related damage.
Once the perimeters of a quake-prone zone are established, a network of base stations can monitor precursory phenomena. Stations must extend over 20a wide area yet be placed at measured intervals to obtain precise readings. Changes in geochemical readings (electric currents, radon concentrations) and in groundwater levels, as well as the occurrence of microearthquakes, are valuable precursors. Crustal movements—tilting, rising, and expansion or contraction of the ground’s surface—can be read through triangulation and 25leveling surveys taken over the course of decades. Theoretically, if an area’s critical strain—the magnitude of strain necessary to produce a rupture—is known, subtracting the measured accumulated crustal strain from the critical strain will indicate a time frame for an impending quake.
Violent tilting and foreshocks are among phenomena classified as short-term 30precursors. Many are still being identified as new quakes occur. Such precursors are valuable since their appearance can permit prediction of a quake to within hours of the primary rupture. Here, too, historical documents are useful. Seismologists recognized the liquefaction of sand as a precursor after a 1964 quake in Japan.
Acording to the passage, a major difference between coastal regions and inland regions is that in coastal regions
crustal strain does not occur.
earthquakes are less numerous.
critical points are reached more quickly.
precursory phenomena are seldom observed.
seafloor plate action is less powerful.
The primary purpose of the passage is to
clarify the way in which earthquakes develop in inland locations.
show that earthquakes are a result of the normal accumulation and discharge of seismic energy.
discuss the accumulation of crustal strain in coastal regions.
argue that precursory phenomena should be disregarded in attempts at quake prediction.
describe methods of earthquake prediction and explain the importance of precursory phenomena.
The primary function of the third paragraph is to
explain the relationship between accumulated and critical strain.
describe the use of precise intervals in establishing networks of base stations.
summarize the differences between earthquakes in coastal and inland regions.
outline some of the methods used by seismologists to predict earthquakes.
suggest that critical strain is not spread evenly along most major fault lines.
According to the passage, knowledge of an area’s critical strain can help seismologists
estimate the date of a future earthquake.
calculate the severity of an initial rupture.
measure the seismic force along a fault.
revise the distances between base stations.
predict the rate of future crustal movement.
Scoliosis, a condition when the spine curves abnormally and throws the body out of line, can cause heart and lung problems as well as physical deformity.
a condition when the spine curves abnormally and throws the body out of line
a condition in which an abnormal curvature of the spine throws the body out of line
a condition of the spine curving abnormally and in which the body is thrown out of line
where the body is thrown out of line by an abnormal curvature of the spine
a condition of an abnormal curvature of the spine throwing the body out of line
The state legislature has proposed a new law that would provide a tax credit to people who install alarm systems in their homes. Members of the legislature claim that the new law will reduce crime, citing studies showing that crime rates fall as the percentage of homes with alarm systems rises.
Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the claim that the new law will reduce crime?
No law can prevent crime altogether.
The amount of the tax credit is so low relative to the cost of alarm systems that very few people will install alarm systems to obtain this credit.
Neighborhood crime prevention programs can reduce crime as effectively as alarm systems can.
The state would have to build more prisons to house all the people caught by the new alarm systems.
The state can afford to reduce taxes further.
Corporation X spends a larger percentage of its revenue on insurance than Corporation Y does on employee salaries.
Corporation X spends a larger percentage of its revenue on insurance than Corporation Y does on employee salaries.
In Corporation X, a larger percentage of the revenues is spent on insurance than is spent on employee salaries in Corporation Y.
In Corporation X, they spend a larger percentage of revenues on insurance than Corporation Y does on employee salaries.
A larger percentage of Corporation X’s revenue is spent on insurance than Corporation Y spends on employee salaries.
Of the Corporations X and Y, a higher percentage of revenues is spent on insurance by the former than the latter spends on employee salaries.
In a certain state, the rate at which inhabitants of City X contract a certain disease is significantly lower than the rate at which inhabitants of City Y contract the disease. So if a couple originally from City Y relocates to City X and raises a family there, that couple's children will be significantly less likely to contract this disease than they would have, had they remained in City Y.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion drawn in the passage?
Many health experts do not believe that moving to City X will lead to a significant increase in the average person’s immunity to the disease.
The mayor of City Y has falsely claimed that statistics relating to the incidence of the disease in his city are not accurate.
The lower incidence of the disease in City X can be ascribed mostly to genetically determined factors.
Some inhabitants of City Y possess a greater immunity to the disease than do the healthiest inhabitants of City X.
Smog levels in City X are significantly lower than those of any other city in the state.
Museum-goers who glanced up into the building’s five-story atrium often notice birds nesting in the rafters, whose behavior was being studied by the museum’s staff.
notice birds nesting in the rafters, whose behavior was being studied by the museum’s staff
notice birds nesting in the rafters, which were being studied by the museum’s staff
notice that birds, whose behavior was being studied by the museum’s staff, are nesting in the rafters
noticed that birds, whose behavior was being studied by the museum’s staff, were nesting in the rafters
noticed that birds, with the behavior that was being studied by the museum’s staff, were nesting in the rafters
Since 1993, when it passed a referendum approving casino gambling, the town of Riverside, Missouri, was using casino tax revenue to improve its streets, sewers, buildings, and other public works.
approving casino gambling, the town of Riverside, Missouri, was using
for the approving of casino gambling, the town of Riverside, Missouri, has used
approved casino gambling, the town of Riverside, Missouri, has used
approving casino gambling, the town of Riverside, Missouri, has used
approving casino gambling, the town of Riverside, Missouri, was to be using
Retail clothing stores should hold “one-day-only” sales to clear merchandise that has been returned because it is defective in some way. The stores should sell this merchandise for up to 70 percent less than the original retail price. Stores will find these sales to be an effective way of getting rid of defective merchandise as long as they inform customers that the discounted merchandise is nonreturnable.
The author assumes which of the following about the “one-day-only” sale merchandise in predicting the effectiveness of these sales?
The defects in the merchandise are not so significant that customers will be unwilling to pay even the sale price.
The rate of returns when merchandise is new makes these “one-day-only” sales key to a store’s profitability.
Too few shoppers purchase merchandise at full retail price.
If these sales become popular, stores will have to have them more often.
The majority of the “one-day-only” sale merchandise will be purchased by shoppers who would otherwise not shop at those stores.
Researchers have found that the human body can use protein derived from whey more efficiently than it can use protein from other sources such as soy, eggs, or drinking milk.
protein from other sources such as soy, eggs, or drinking milk
protein from other sources like soy, eggs, or drinking milk
protein from other sources such as soy, eggs, or milk
protein which it has derived from other sources such as soy, eggs, or drinking milk
its protein from other sources such as soy, eggs, or milk
It was decided by the National Weather Service to purchase a forecasting system that combines 44 computers linked together with each other to form the world’s sixth-largest supercomputer.
It was decided by the National Weather Service to purchase a forecasting system that combines 44 computers linked together with each other to form the world’s sixth-largest supercomputer.
A forecasting system that combines 44 computers linked together with each other to form the world’s sixth-largest supercomputer was selected to be purchased by the National Weather Service.
It was decided by the National Weather Service to purchase a forecasting system that links 44 computers together to form the world’s sixth-largest supercomputer.
The National Weather Service decided to purchase a forecasting system that links 44 computers together to form the world’s sixth-largest supercomputer.
The National Weather Service decided to purchase a forecasting system that combines 44 computers linked together with each other to form the world’s sixth-largest supercomputer.
Questions 33–35 are based on the following passage
Contamination is the unintended presence of harmful substances or organisms in food. While it is true that recent scientific advances have resulted in safer foods, better methods of preservation, and improved storage practices, it is still necessary to guard against the practices that can 5increase the likelihood of food contamination. Because food-borne illness poses a potentially serious threat to public health, preventing contamination of safe food needs to be a prime objective of every food service manager. Furthermore, a food service manager must possess accurate information on the different hazards associated with the contamination of food in the event 10that a food-borne illness crisis does arise. A full understanding of the biological, chemical, and physical hazards allows the food service manager to implement the control measures necessary to minimize the health risks associated with food and, thus, to decrease the possibility of contamination.
The most serious risk associated with food is the biological hazard. 15Biological hazards are dangers to food from pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi, and from toxins that occur in certain plants and fish. When biological hazards result in food-borne illnesses, these illnesses are generally classified as either infections or intoxications. A food-borne infection is a disease that results 20from eating food containing living harmful microorganisms. One of the most frequently reported diseases of this type is salmonellosis, which results from the consumption of food contaminated with live pathogenic Salmonella.
The other major form of biologically induced food-borne illness is intoxication, which results when toxins, or poisons, from bacterial or mold 25growth are present in ingested food and cause illness in the host (the human body). These toxins are generally odorless and tasteless and are capable of causing disease even after the microorganisms have been killed. Staphylococcus food intoxication is one of the most common types of food- borne illness reported in the United States.
Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?
Despite recent scientific advances, food-borne illness continues to present a serious risk to public health.
Although chemical and physical hazards can cause a food-borne illness, biological hazards pose the most serious risk of food contamination.
Knowledge of contamination sources is essential for a food service manager to safely operate a food establishment.
Biological, chemical, and physical hazards represent the main sources of food contamination.
The illnesses caused by the contamination of food by biological hazards take the form of either a food-borne infection or a food-borne intoxication.
The author of the passage would most likely agree that a food service manager’s comprehension of the nature of potential food hazards is
crucial to the safety of a food service operation.
necessarily limited due to the complexity of contamination sources.
the primary factor in an employer’s decision to hire that manager.
utilized exclusively for the prevention of food-borne illness.
vitally important but nearly impossible to attain.
According to the passage, pathogenic microorganisms
are the most common form of biological hazard.
can only trigger a food-borne illness when alive.
are toxins that occur in certain plants and fish.
include life forms such as bacteria and parasites.
are difficult to detect because they are odorless and tasteless.
The education offered by junior colleges just after World War II had a tremendous practical effect on family-run businesses throughout the country. After learning new methods of marketing, finance, and accounting, the sons and daughters of merchants returned home, often to increase significantly the size of the family’s enterprise or to maximize profits in other ways.
Which of the following statements is best supported by the information above?
The junior colleges principally emphasized methods of increasing the size of small businesses.
The business methods taught in the junior colleges were already widespread before World War II.
The business curricula at junior colleges did not include theoretical principles of management.
Without the influence of junior colleges, many family-run businesses would have been abandoned as unprofitable.
Business methods in many postwar family-run businesses changed significantly as a result of the junior colleges.
Since the new manufacturing process for plastic containers was introduced 10 years ago, the average size of plastic manufacturing plants have dropped from 200,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet, an area that is about a football field’s size.
have dropped from 200,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet, an area that is about a football field’s size
have dropped from 200,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet, about the size of a football field
has dropped from 200,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet, about the size of a football field
has dropped from 200,000 square feet down to 50,000 square feet, about the size of a football field’s
has dropped from 200,000 square feet down to 50,000 square feet, about a football field’s size
A researcher has discovered that steel containing Element X is stronger and more flexible than ordinary steel because Element X reduces the occurrence of microscopic fractures. The level of Element X in much of the steel produced in Canada is naturally high because the ore deposits from which the steel is produced also contain Element X.
Which of the following can be correctly inferred from the statements above?
Steel from Canada is stronger and more flexible than steel from any other country.
Steel that is not from Canada is highly likely to develop microscopic fractures after years of use.
Producing steel from ore deposits containing Element X is the best way to make steel that is stronger and more flexible.
Some steel produced in Canada is less likely to develop microscopic fractures than other steel.
Steel produced from Canadian ore deposits contains the highest levels of Element X found in any steel.
The newly elected baseball commissioner has asked that a federal arbitrator would mediate negotiations between representatives of the umpire’s union, which has threatened to go on strike, and lawyers representing major league franchise owners.
that a federal arbitrator would mediate negotiations between representatives of the umpire’s union, which has threatened
that a federal arbitrator mediate negotiations between representatives of the umpire’s union, which have threatened
of a federal arbitrator that he mediate negotiations between representatives of the umpire’s union, which have threatened
a federal arbitrator that he mediate negotiations between representatives of the umpire’s union, which has threatened
that a federal arbitrator mediate negotiations between representatives of the umpire’s union, which has threatened
Sky Airlines recently announced aggressive cost-cutting measures ranging from new airport check-in procedures that encourage passengers to use self-service kiosks and reductions in the size of its fleet.
ranging from new airport check-in procedures that encourage passengers to use self-service kiosks and reductions
ranging from new airport check-in procedures that encourage passengers to use self-service kiosks and to reductions
such as improvement of airport check-in procedures, encouragement of passengers to use self-service kiosks and reducing
ranging from new airport check-in procedures that encourage passengers to use self-service kiosks to reducing
ranging from new airport check-in procedures that encourage passengers to use self-service kiosks to reductions
The latest census of the town in which Jacob’s hardware store is located has revealed that the population of new residents has increased tenfold since 1980. Though Jacob has not encountered any new competition for business during this time period, his inventory records indicate that the average number of lawnmowers and snowblowers that he sells per year has risen only slightly over the average number of lawnmowers and snowblowers he sold yearly prior to 1980.
Which of the following, if true, best explains the discrepancy outlined above?
Since 1980, many of the single-home properties have been subdivided into smaller single-home parcels.
Inflation has caused the prices of the machines to increase every year since 1980.
All of the housing built in Jacob’s town since 1980 has been large apartment complexes.
The average snowfall since 1980 has decreased from 6 feet per year to 4 feet per year.
Jacob’s store only carries two brands of lawnmowers and snowblowers.
Answer Key
GMAT Pretest
1. E |
2. A |
3. C |
4. B |
5. D |
6. C |
7. C |
8. D |
9. C |
10. D |
11. B |
12. D |
13. B |
14. E |
15. A |
16. B |
17. B |
18. E |
19. C |
20. D |
21. D |
22. A |
23. C |
24. A |
25. B |
26. C |
27. D |
28. C |
29. B |
30. B |
31. A |
32. C |
33. D |
34. D |
35. E |
36. C |
37. B |
Answer Key
GMAT Pretest
1. C |
2. B |
3. E |
4. B |
5. D |
6. B |
7. C |
8. C |
9. A |
10. E |
11. B |
12. C |
13. A |
14. A |
15. D |
16. E |
17. E |
18. B |
19. B |
20. C |
21. E |
22. D |
23. A |
24. B |
25. B |
26. A |
27. C |
28. D |
29. D |
30. A |
31. C |
32. D |
33. C |
34. A |
35. D |
36. E |
37. C |
38. D |
39. E |
40. E |
41. C |
Answers and Explanations
GMAT Pretest
1. (E)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Number Properties: Factors and Multiples
This question stem states that j and k are integers and jk = 12. Think about sets of integers whose product is 12. The variables j and k could be any of the following sets of factors: 1 and 12; 2 and 6; 3 and 4. Remember, however, that j and k could also be negative.
Statement (1) tells you that j must equal ±6 or ±12. Since jk = 12, it follows that k must equal ±2 or ±1. But since you can’t determine the unique value of k, the statement is insufficient to answer the question. Eliminate (A) and (D).
Statement (2) tells you that k must be one of the integers ±2, ±4, ±6, or ±12. Again, you can’t determine the unique value of k, so the statement is insufficient. Eliminate (B).
Since the statements were both insufficient individually, you must now combine them. Comparing the possible values for k you determined by both statements, you have k = ±2. But you still can’t determine whether k is positive or negative, so you can’t answer the question. Choice (E) is correct.
2. (A)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Geometry: Triangles
This question tests two common shapes: equilateral triangles and isosceles triangles. The key to this question, as in most geometry questions, is to put what the text of the question stem tells you into the figure so that you can visualize the relationships clearly. Four lines are of equal length:
Because all the sides of triangle ABD are equal, its angles must all be 60°. And because DC = BD, the measure of angle DBC is the same as that of angle DCB:
Now you could solve for x if you knew the measure of angle BDC; since the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180°, you can set up this equation: 180° = BDC + 2x°. Can you figure angle BDC out? Absolutely. Supplementary angles add up to 180°. Since angle BDA is 60°, angle BDC = 180° − 60° = 120°.
|
180° = BDC + 2x° |
Substitute BDC: |
180° = 120° + 2x° |
Subtract 120°: |
60° = 2x° |
Divide by 2: |
30° = x° |
Choice (A) is correct.
3. (C)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Algebra: Systems of Linear Equations
This question stem leaves a lot of questions unanswered. All it tells you is that Tara has 12 coins. You can anticipate that the statements will give more information about the types of coins Tara has and enable you to set up one or more algebraic equations to solve for the number of quarters.
Statement (1) says that the total value of the coins is $1.80. It is possible that Tara has 6 quarters and 6 nickels. Tara could also have 7 quarters and 5 pennies. Statement (1) is insufficient. You can eliminate (A) and (D).
Now, take a look at Statement (2), forgetting anything you read in Statement (1). Statement (2) says Tara has only quarters and dimes. So of the 12 coins she has, there could be 5 quarters and 7 dimes. She could also have 8 quarters and 4 dimes. Statement (2) is insufficient. You can eliminate (B).
Now take the statements together. Because Statement (2) says that she only has quarters and dimes, you could say that q is the number of quarters Tara has and d is the number of dimes Tara has. From the question stem you know that q + d = 12. From Statement (1), if you say that the total value is 180 cents, then 25q + 10d = 180. Now you have two different linear equations that contain two variables. By applying the rules that govern systems of linear equations, you know that these two equations will have a solution with a single value for q and a single value for d. You could solve them using combination or substitution, but since this is Data Sufficiency, you don’t need to waste time solving for the exact values. Since there is only one possible value for q, the statements taken together are sufficient to answer the question. Choice (C) is correct.
4. (B)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Proportions: Percents
You are asked to find the percentage of all cases that must be tested. The total number of cases is 120 + 80 = 200. For the spring water, the bottler must test 0.05(120) = 6 cases, and for the sparkling water, it must test 0.1(80) = 8 cases. The total number of cases to be tested for the spring and sparkling water combined is 6 + 8 = 14, which is 
of all cases. Choice (B) is correct.
5. (D)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Math Formulas: Averages
Since the 25 products sell at an average price of $1,200, to buy one of each, you’d have to spend 25 × $1,200 = $30,000. You want to find the greatest possible selling price of the most expensive product. The way to maximize this price is to minimize the prices of the other 24 products. Ten of these products sell for less than $1,000, but all sell for at least $420. This means that (in trying to minimize the price of 24 items) you sell 10 at $420. That leaves 14 more that sell for $1,000 or more. So in order to keep minimizing the price of these other items, you’ll price these at $1,000. That means that out of the $30,000, you know it will take at least 10($420) + 14($1,000) = $18,200 to purchase the 24 other items. The final, most expensive item can thus cost as much as $30,000 − $18,200 = $11,800. Choice (D) is correct.
6. (C)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Proportions: Ratios, Percents
The question stem gives no information, so look at the statements.
Statement (1) says that 
of the members are 25 years of age or older, so the remaining 
of the members must be under 25 years of age. However, this statement does not give the actual number of members. It is therefore impossible to determine how many people constitutes. Statement (1) is insufficient, so you should eliminate (A) and (D).
Statement (2) allows you to determine the total membership of the group (24 = 0.3G, so G = 80), but it tells you nothing about the members’ ages. Statement (2) taken by itself is also insufficient, so eliminate (B).
Combining Statements (1) and (2), you know the total number of members (80) from Statement (2), and you know what fraction of those members are under 25 years of age 
from Statement (1). You could thus easily calculate the total number of members under age 25 to be 
. The statements combined are sufficient, so Choice (C) is correct.
7. (C)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Algebra: Isolating a Variable, Quadratic Equations
x − y = −(y − x) is an important idea for the GMAT. You will most frequently use this property to re-express algebraic expressions to match the given answer choices, but here it shows up in the question stem: a2 − b2 = −(b2 − a2). Notice also that the given equation involves a − b, but you’re solving for b − a, which you can also express as −(a − b).
Use the property a2 − b2 = −(b2 − a2):
Cancel common factors:
Multiply by −1:
Choice (C) is correct.
8. (D)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Math Formulas: Rates and Speed
This is a Value question: how long is the first leg of the trip? This question involves rates, which is one of the common math formulas you should memorize for Test Day: Distance = Rate × Time.
Make a table to organize the information you know:
|
distance |
rate |
time |
First Leg |
d |
40 mph |
t |
Second Leg |
d |
r |
5 hours |
The question asks for the time (t) of the first leg of the trip. Since you already have the rate, if you knew the distance (d), you would be able to solve for t. Thus, any piece of information that allows you to determine d will give you sufficiency.
Statement (1) gives a value for the average speed for the entire trip; this allows you to determine the rate of the second leg of the trip, which in turn allows you to find d. Thus, the statement is sufficient. Although you wouldn’t do the math on Test Day, let’s look at how this works. You know that Average speed = 
, and you have the average speed (30 mph), the total distance (2d), and the total time (t + 5). This is one equation with two variables, but remember that you have another equation relating d and t: using the formula Distance = Rate × Time, you can say d = 40t. Thus, with two variables and two equations, you could solve for each of the variables. Statement (1) is sufficient, so you should eliminate (B), (C), and (E).
Statement (2) is also sufficient. This gives a value for d, which is exactly what you need to solve directly for t. Since both statements are sufficient individually, Choice (D) is correct.
9. (C)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Arithmetic: Exponents, Inequalities
From the question stem, you know that p must be an integer greater than or equal to −5. To have sufficiency, you need information that will allow you to narrow this range down to one possible value for p.
Statement (1) gives you an inequality that you could solve for p, resulting in the inequality p ≤ −4. The information in the question, p3 ≥ −125, tells you that p ≥ −5. Since p is an integer, it could be either −4 or −5. You cannot find a single value for p, and Statement (1) is insufficient. You can eliminate (A) and (D).
Statement (2) tells you that p2 > 16, so you know that p > 4 or that p < −4. The information in the question stem, p3 ≥ −125, tells you that p ≥ −5. So p could be either any integer greater than 4, or it could be −5. This does not allow you to find a single value for p, so Statement (2) is insufficient. You can eliminate Choice (B).
Combining Statements (1) and (2), you have p < −4. Taken in conjunction with the question itself, which tells you that p ≥ −5, you know that p must equal −5. Choice (C) is correct.
10. (D)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Geometry: Solids
In the figure above, meant to represent one of the two half cubes, the three unseen sides (the back, bottom, and left side) are also shaded. Only the top—the surface that used to be “inside” the cube—is still white. Count up the surfaces, calling a full cube face (a face on the original cube) 1 unit. Then find the areas of the faces of the half cube.
You have the bottom and top here, which makes 2 square units. Each of the other four faces has an area of half a square unit, so that’s 4 × 
, or another 2 square units. The total surface area of the cube, then, is 2 + 2 = 4 square units. One whole cube face (the top), which has an area of 1 square unit, is still white, so 
, or 25 percent, of the surface area is not red. The answer is (D).
11. (B)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Statistics: Sequences of Integers; Number Properties: Multiples
It wouldn’t be too ridiculously time-consuming just to list out all the multiples of 3 in question (15, 18, 21, 24, 27, …, 102, 105) and then count them. You have on average two minutes per question on the Quantitative section, and it would take about that long—perhaps less—to solve the problem that way. The key here would be to begin that solution quickly and not waste 90 seconds looking for a faster way.
If you happen to see the faster way, then of course that’s a great solution. As with many hard GMAT questions, the solution involves factoring. Since these numbers are all multiples of 3, they can all be re-expressed as 3 × something:
So, counting the multiples of 3 in the list of 15 through 105 is exactly the same as counting the numbers 5 through 35. Now 35 − 5 = 30, but don’t forget to add 1 to that result to account for the fact that both endpoints are included in the set. (In counting 1 through 10, for instance, there are not 10 − 1 = 9 numbers but 9 + 1 = 10 numbers.) The correct answer is 31, Choice (B).
12. (D)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Algebra: Isolating a Variable
This problem illustrates a Data Sufficiency pitfall that can trap even the most math-savvy GMAT student. If you don’t remember that your goal is to determine whether the question can be answered, rather than whether it can be answered affirmatively, you can get all the math right and still pick the wrong answer.
Here’s the math part of the solution: to determine whether any particular ordered pair (a, b) is a solution to the equation b = ka + 3, you need to find the value of k. Specifically, to find out if (2, 3) is a solution, you need to know whether 3 = 2k + 3. That’s the same as asking whether 0 = 2k, or, more simply, whether k = 0.
Statements (1) and (2) say that (1, 4) and (3, 5), respectively, are solutions of other equations that also involve k. Plugging the appropriate ordered pair into the equation in Statement (1) gives you k = 2. So you can give a definite answer to the question—the answer is definitely “no.”
Doing the same thing for Statement (2) also gives k = 2 and also gives a definite negative response. Since each statement is sufficient to give a definitive answer to the question, the correct answer is (D).
13. (B)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Math Formulas: Rates and Speed; Proportions: Ratios
With multiple unknowns (the two speeds, two distances, and two times), this is a great question to use the strategy of Picking Numbers. Since Ann drives 
faster than Bob, pick a number for Bob’s speed that’s a multiple of 3, such as 3. You can say that Bob drives 3 miles per hour. Then Ann drives faster, or 4 miles per hour. Now, the other information you have to consider is how far each travels. Ann drives twice as far as Bob. You can pick 12 as the number of miles she drives (it’s a multiple of both 3 and 4, the numbers you’ve already chosen). If Ann drives 12 miles, then Bob drives 6 miles. So now how much time will each spend driving? Ann will drive 12 miles at 4 miles per hour:
Bob will drive for 6 miles at 3 miles per hour:
So the ratio of the amount of time that Ann will drive to the amount of time that Bob will drive is 3:2. Choice (B) is correct.
Notice that (D) is the correct ratio reversed. Be careful to note exactly what you are looking for. You would solve for (A) if you multiplied the distance by the speed instead of dividing. Choice (E) is simply the reverse of (A).
14. (E)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Arithmetic: Exponents and Radicals
Since there are variables in the answer choices, Picking Numbers is a workable approach.
Before you start solving, remember to consider the question. You’re looking for the answer choice with the least value. And look at those answers … all fractions with the same numerator, 1. Positive fractions with the same numerator get smaller as the denominator increases. Likewise, they get larger as the denominator shrinks. For instance, is twice as large as and ten times larger than 
. So you can re-express the question as follows: Which has the largest denominator?
Your answer choices will have you both squaring and taking the square root of your fraction p. So you want to build this fraction out of a numerator and denominator that are small (so the numbers don’t get unwieldy when squared) and perfect squares (so you can easily take a square root). The two numbers that fit the best are 1 and 4. So say that p equals .
(A)’s denominator is now 
, which is 
. (B)’s denominator is 
, or . (B)’s denominator is considerably larger. (C)’s denominator is 
, which is much larger still. So far (C) is the winner.
(D) is hard to compare to (C) directly, so move on to something easier—a comparison of (C) to (E). (E)’s denominator is 
, or 
, or 
. That’s bigger than (C).
Now you have to compare (D) to (E). Notice that the expressions are very similar. (D) takes the square root of p + 1, whereas (E) squares it. p + 1 is 
, which is bigger than 1. Squaring a number greater than 1 produces a larger result; taking the square root of a number greater than 1 produces a smaller result. So (E) has the largest denominator and, therefore, is the least of the answer choices.
15. (A)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Number Properties: Sequences, Odds and Evens
A sequence of consecutive positive integers is just a string of regular counting numbers (such as 3, 4, 5, 6 or 101, 102, 103). Whether you do so while analyzing the question stem or while evaluating the statements, you’ll have to experiment to see what happens to the sum of the terms when the sequence starts with an odd or an even number and when the sequence has an odd or an even number of terms. The best way to do this is to pick simple numbers, knowing that the results you come up with will always hold true due to the predictability of the rules that govern odd and even numbers. (Just remember to pick more than one set of numbers and to pick different kinds of numbers.)
Here Statement (2) looks much simpler, so turn to it first. n is the number of terms (that’s what Zn in the question stem tells you), so the sequence has an odd number of terms, but not necessarily an odd sum. For instance, the sum of {2, 3, 4} is odd, but the sum of {1, 2, 3} is even. So Statement (2) is insufficient, and you can eliminate (B) and (D).
Statement (1) says that dividing the sum of the terms by the number of terms yields an odd integer. You may have recognized that this statement paraphrases the average formula: 
= Average. Statement (1) thus means that the average of the numbers in the sequence is an odd integer. It also implies that the sequence has an odd number of terms, because the average of an even number of consecutive integers cannot be an integer. Pick simple numbers to see the pattern, and you’ll notice that sequences in which the middle term is odd have an odd average. The statement tells you that 
= odd. You can get rid of the denominator by multiplying both sides by n: Z1 + Z2 + Z3 + … + Zn = n × odd. Since n is odd, Z1 + Z2 + Z3 + … + Zn = odd × odd. When you multiply an odd number by another odd number, the result is always an odd number. Therefore, Z1 + Z2 + Z3 + … + Zn, the sum of all of the integers in the sequence, is odd. Statement (1) alone is sufficient, and Choice (A) is correct.
16. (B)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Statistics: Standard Deviation
Standard deviation is a measure of dispersion—in other words, how spread out the elements of a set are.
Statement (1) tells you that one of the sets has a larger range than the other, which is insufficient for two reasons. The first is that you don’t know whether X or Y is the larger-range set. The second, and more important, is that even if you did know which one had the larger range, you still wouldn’t know how spread out the set was. For example, the range of one set could be much larger due to one distant number, but its standard deviation could be smaller because most of the set elements are much closer to the mean, thus making the overall dispersion of the data smaller. Eliminate choices (A) and (D).
Statement (2) is sufficient because squares of positive integers are always larger than the integers; thus, the set must contain larger numbers that are further apart. (The integer 1 is an exception to this rule, but this set must contain at least two distinct positive integers, so at least one of those integers is greater than 1.) If you’re unsure, you can test this statement yourself by Picking Numbers for each set. Statement (2) alone is sufficient, so Choice (B) is correct.
17. (B)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Algebra: Translating Words into Expressions and Equations
Here’s a great example of a question that rewards you if you are in the habit of analyzing before you do math.
Studying the question stem, you see that players are restricted to scoring either 2 or 5 points and that the sum of all the points is 50. You’re asked to find the least possible difference between n and m, which is to say that you need to get the number of 2-point scorers as close as possible to the number of 5-point scorers. How could you approach this if no straightforward math occurs to you? What strategy could you use? With multiple variables in the question stem, you can use Picking Numbers.
As long as the number of possibilities is reasonably small and you’ve analyzed the problem so that you aren’t working randomly, trial and error is a fine approach. You could start off with a nice clear set and give all 50 points to the 5-point players. So m = 10 and n = 0. Clearly, a difference of 10 is possible. But is it the least possible difference? No. For one thing, 10 is not an answer choice. So you’ll need to change these numbers. You might try one lower and have m = 9. That would be 45 points, leaving 5. But players who score only 2 points can’t combine for 5. So m = 9 is not permissible. How about m = 8? That’s 40 points, leaving 10. The 10 points can be scored by the other players, if n = 5. That’s a difference of 8 − 5 = 3, which is an answer choice.
But (B) isn’t the smallest answer choice given, so you have to keep going. Try m = 6, as you discovered that odd values of m won’t be permissible. That’s 30 points, leaving 20. In that case, n = 10. The difference is now 10 − 6 = 4. You’re not getting smaller numbers at this point but bigger ones. So (B) is as small as you can get.
18. (E)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Math Formulas: Combined Rates and Combined Work
You’re asked for the time it takes machine B to process 12,000 envelopes. You’ll need to be careful about the size of the job, as the data are given for different-sized jobs.
Machines B and C together can process 6,000 envelopes in 
hours. Using the combined work equation, you can say that 
for 6,000 envelopes. So you could solve for B if you knew how long C took by itself. To know that, you’ll use the fact that machines A and C together take 1 hour for 3,000 envelopes, or 2 hours for 6,000. So 
= 2. Since machine A alone takes 3 hours for 6,000, that’s 
= 2. So 3C = 6 + 2C. That means C = 6. Plugging that back into 
, you get 
. Cross multiplying gives 30B = 12B + 72. Subtract 12B from each side to get 18B = 72, or B = 4. But since that amount of time was only for 6,000 envelopes, you need to double that to 8 hours for 12,000 envelopes. Choice (E) is correct.
19. (C)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Statistics: Probability
For this question, use the probability formula:
First, determine the number of possible outcomes of rain for City X over a 5-day period. There are two possibilities for each day—rain or no rain—so the total number of possible outcomes would be 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 32.
Next, determine the desired outcomes. One approach is to list the ways in which you could get rain on exactly 3 days. They are as follows:
RRRNN, RRNRN, RRNNR, RNRRN, RNRNR, RNNRR, NRRRN, NRRNR, NRNRR, NNRRR
There are 10 desired outcomes in all, and a systematic run-through of the possibilities should account for them all. There are other ways to count the ways in which you could have gotten rain on 3 days out of 5. Perhaps you recognized this as a combinations question: you are choosing 3 days out of 5 to have rain. That’s 5C3, or
So the probability is 
, and Choice (C) is the correct answer.
20. (D)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Algebra: Systems of Linear Equations, Translating Words into Expressions and Equations
This Yes/No question asks simply whether more black rats than white were fed. Note that for sufficiency you don’t need to calculate the actual numbers of rats, as long as you know you can answer the question in one definitive way.
According to the stem, white rats are fed 6 pellets of food per day and black rats are fed 8 pellets of food per day. Since a total of 120 pellets were used on a particular day, you can set up this equation, where w and b represent the number of white rats and black rats, respectively: 6w + 8b = 120. This is one linear equation. If you had another distinct linear equation involving w and/or b, you would be able to calculate how many rats were white and how many were black.
Statement (1) lets you set up the equation b + w = 17. Now you have two equations and two unknowns; you can solve for each variable and see which is larger. Remember, if you had to solve, you would solve for one variable in terms of another and then substitute, like this: w = 17 − b, so 120 = 6(17 − b) + 8b. Then solve this equation to get b. But try to learn the math concepts tested on the GMAT well enough that you never have to waste time solving on Data Sufficiency. Statement (1) is sufficient, so you can eliminate (B), (C), and (E).
The information in Statement (2) allows you to answer the question more directly. Multiplying the number of white rats by 6 pellets per white rat would give you the total number of pellets fed to white rats on that day. Subtracting that product from 120 would give you the number of pellets fed to black rats on that day. Dividing that difference by 8 pellets per black rat would give you the number of black rats, which you could compare to the number of white rats and thus answer the question. Of course, the numbers themselves are immaterial—all you care about is the sufficiency of the information. Statement (2) is also sufficient. Choice (D) is correct.
21. (D)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Number Properties: Factors and Primes
To find the greatest product, you could multiply the greatest four primes less than 20. If you suspect that such a solution would be far too much calculation, that’s a great GMAT instinct—look for a pattern that will help you get to the solution more efficiently. Since a prime number, by definition, has no factors other than 1 and itself, 19 × 17 × 13 × 11 cannot have any other prime factors. So you can eliminate any answer that’s a multiple of a smaller prime. This is a chance to use what you know about factoring and divisibility rules. (B) and (E) are clearly multiples of 2, and (C) is clearly a multiple of 5. Testing for multiples of 3 is fairly straightforward—the digits must sum to a multiple of 3. The digits of (A) sum to 27, so (A) is a multiple of 3. Since (D) is the only answer choice you haven’t eliminated, it must be correct.
22. (A)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Math Formulas: Overlapping Sets
These overlapping set problems are often best solved by organizing the data into a chart:
|
Rookie |
Not Rookie |
Total |
Mint |
0.6(1,100) = 660 |
|
1,100 |
Not Mint |
|
|
400 |
Total |
|
740 |
|
Then you can just add or subtract to fill in the other spots until you arrive at your answer:
|
Rookie |
Not Rookie |
Total |
Mint |
660 |
440 |
1,100 |
Not Mint |
100 |
300 |
400 |
Total |
760 |
740 |
1,500 |
He has 100 rookie cards that are not in mint condition. Choice (A) is correct.
23. (C)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Number Properties: Multiples
If you have trouble finding an approach to a difficult Data Sufficiency problem, you may want to rephrase the given information. Here, m and n are both greater than or equal to 10 and less than or equal to 99. You’re supposed to determine if their difference is a multiple of 11.
Statement (1) implies that m is a two-digit multiple of 11. At this point, you can use Picking Numbers to show that this statement is insufficient. If m = 22 and n = 11, then m − n is a multiple of 11, but if m = 22 and n = 18, then m − n is not a multiple of 11. Statement (1) is insufficient, so you can eliminate (A) and (D).
If m + n is a multiple of 11, as Statement (2) says, then m could be 10 and n could be 12, and m − n will not be a multiple of 11. But m could also be 22 and n could be 11, in which case m − n is a multiple of 11. Statement (2) is also insufficient, so you can eliminate (B).
Putting the statements together, m must be a multiple of 11 from Statement (1), and that means that n must be a multiple of 11 in order to make Statement (2) true (if you’re unsure, you can use Picking Numbers to try out a few examples to confirm this rule). And any multiple of 11 minus a multiple of 11 is a multiple of 11 (remember, it’s fine if x = 0).
If you find the unknowns too abstract to deal with, use Picking Numbers. Pick any two- or three-digit multiple of 11 to represent m + n, per Statement (2). Then pick any two-digit multiple of 11 to represent m, per Statement (1). The difference between those two numbers will be n. If you then subtract n from m, the difference will still be a multiple of 11. And remember, there’s nothing special about the number 11 here; the same properties would be true with multiples of another number (if you want, you can use Picking Numbers to try out a few examples to confirm this rule). The statements together are sufficient, so Choice (C) is correct.
24. (A)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Arithmetic: Exponents
For a Roman numeral problem, you want to find the statement that appears in the most answer choices and work with it first. If you can eliminate it, you can quickly reduce the number of possible choices.
Here, statement II shows up three times, so you can start there. By definition, any number raised to the exponent zero is equal to 1, so x0 cannot equal zero. Thus, you can eliminate (C), (D), and (E). Based on the remaining choices, you can see that either statement I must equal zero or none of the statements must equal zero.
The next step is to evaluate statement I. You can use Picking Numbers: if x is 1, then x3 − x2 is 1 − 1 = 0. But if you try x = 2, you find that x3 − x2 = 23 − 22 = 8 − 4 = 4. So this statement might be equal to zero, but it doesn’t have to be. You can eliminate (B). In fact, none of the statements has to equal zero, so (A) is correct.
25. (B)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Algebra: Isolating a Variable, Quadratic Equations
The question stem gives you no information about x, so move on to the statements.
Statement (1) gives you a quadratic, not a linear, equation. Adding 4 to both sides of the equation x2 − 4 = 20, you have x2 = 24, so x could be either 
or 
. Statement (1) is insufficient, so you can eliminate (A) and (D).
Statement (2) gives you a complicated-looking equation containing the variable x. A closer look, however, reveals that this is just a single-variable linear equation with x. You can solve for the one value of x, although you don’t need to solve now—just knowing that you could is enough. Keep in mind that when a GMAT question gives you a square root sign, as this one does with 
, the square root symbol refers to the principal, or positive, square root of 6. So unlike Statement (1), which leaves us unable to determine whether x is positive or negative, Statement (2) gives us enough information to solve for a single, definitive value for x. Statement (2) is sufficient, so Choice (B) is correct.
26. (C)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Proportions: Ratios
Let a be the population of City A, let b be the population of City B, and let c be the population of City C. Since a is three times larger than b, a = 3b, and the population of A and B together is 3b + b, or 4b.
Furthermore, since the population of A and B together (which you’ve calculated to be 4b) is twice the population of C, you can write the equation 4b = 2c, or c = 2b. Dividing both sides by b gives 
= 2, so the ratio of c to b is 2:1.
Alternatively, you could solve this problem by Picking Numbers. For City A, pick any small number easily divisible by 3; in fact, picking 3 works well. If the population of A is 3, then the population of B must be 1, and their combined population must be 4. (Don’t worry if the populations seem unrealistic. Remember, it’s permissibility and manageability that matter, not realism.) Since C’s population is half that of A and B together, it must be 2. Thus the ratio of C to B is 2:1, and the answer is (C).
27. (D)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Number Properties: Positives and Negatives
This is a number properties question, so Picking Numbers will work. Since m divided by n must be negative, one of the two numbers m or n must be negative, and the other must be positive. So you’ll test two pairs of numbers: you can try m = 3, n = −1 and m = −3, n = 1. Because the question asks, “Which of the following …,” start with Choice (E) and work your way up through the answer choices.
(E): Using the first pair of values, m − n = 3 − (–1) = 4. That’s greater than zero, so (E) could be true; there is no need to test the second pair of values. You can eliminate (E).
Testing (D), you find
Both pairs give values less than zero, so (D) is not true in either case. (D) looks good, but on a “cannot be”/“must be” problem, you need to make sure you didn’t get a false positive. This can be confirmed either by testing the other choices or by recognizing an important pattern: here, since one and only one of the two numbers must be negative, and any negative number cubed will still be negative, mn3 will either involve multiplying a positive m times a negative n3 or a negative m times a positive n3 and, therefore, the product mn3 could never be positive. Choice (D) is correct.
28. (C)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Algebra: Isolating a Variable
As in many GMAT word problems, the initial presentation is a little confusing. Don’t try to comprehend everything all at once. When you read the question stem the first time, focus on understanding the basic situation. Here, you’re given a formula for figuring out the speed of a train at any given time. You’re asked for the difference between the speed at 4 seconds and the speed at 2 seconds.
To answer this question, all you need to do is use the formula you’re given to calculate the speeds, then subtract.
| |
Speed formula: |
|
s = t2 + t |
| |
Solve for t = 4 seconds: |
|
s = 42 + 4 = 16 + 4 = 20 |
| |
Solve for t = 2 seconds: |
|
s = 22 + 2 = 4 + 2 = 6 |
| |
Difference: |
|
20 − 6 = 14 |
Choice (C) is correct.
29. (B)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Proportions: Percents; Algebra: Systems of Linear Equations
Call Rebecca’s expenditure on travel t, her expenditure on living expenses l, and the amount of her savings s. Then you know that 60,000 = t + l + s, and you need the value of t to have sufficiency.
Statement (1) tells you that t = 0.2l, or 5t = l, and you can substitute in the original equation. Now you have 60,000 = t + 5t + s, but without the value of s, you can’t solve for t. In other words, there are three unknowns but only two linear equations. So Statement (1) is insufficient and you can eliminate (A) and (D).
Statement (2) tells you that t + 8t = l + s, so you can substitute in the original equation. This becomes 60,000 = t + (t + 8t), which is a single-variable equation you could easily solve for t. Statement (2) is sufficient, so Choice (B) is correct.
30. (B)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Algebra: Translating Words into Expressions and Equations
Use the formula Distance = Speed × Time. In this case, you want to find the time required to walk s blocks, so divide both sides of the formula by speed to get 
= Time. You are told that the distance is s blocks, so you just need to find Lisa’s speed.
If you go back to the distance formula and divide both sides by time, you see that Speed = . Lisa walked t blocks in 3 minutes, so her speed is 
blocks per minute. So 
minutes. Choice (B) is correct.
Sound complicated? Picking Numbers makes fast work of this problem. Pick a manageable number of blocks to walk in 3 minutes: 3 blocks in 3 minutes sounds pretty straightforward, so say t = 3. Now, let s equal 2. The question then is “If Lisa can walk 3 blocks in 3 minutes, how many minutes does it take her to walk 2 blocks?” 3 blocks in 3 minutes is 1 block per minute; 2 blocks will take 2 minutes.
Plug t = 3 and s = 2 into the answer choices. Only (B) yields the number you want, 2. So (B) is correct.
31. (A)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Proportions: Mixtures
In “changing mixture” problems, the first thing to identify is which components change and which stay the same. In this case, water is being added, so its volume, as well as that of the total mixture, is changing; however, nitric acid is neither added nor removed, so that volume is constant.
You can calculate the volume of that original nitric acid content with a simple equation—multiply the volume by the percent concentration.
(Volume1)(Concentration1) = Acid1
The same formula applies to the new solution that you’ll have after more water is added.
(Volume2)(Concentration2) = Acid2
But the amount of acid is unchanged between mixtures. Thus, you can set the two expressions equal to each other:
(Volume1)(Concentration1) = Acid1 = Acid2 = (Volume2)(Concentration2)
(Volume1)(Concentration1) = (Volume2)(Concentration2)
Plugging in the values from the question stem, you get this:
Note that (D) is a trap answer for those who stop too soon; this question is asking how much water was added, not what the final volume was. Since you started with 10 liters of liquid and ended with 25, you added 15 liters of water, so (A) is correct.
32. (C)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Geometry: Coordinate Geometry
This is a Value question dealing with coordinate geometry. You are given the two points (p, q) and (v, w) on a line, and asked for the slope. According to the slope formula, the slope of the line going through the points (p, q) and (v, w) is 
. If you knew the values of each of p, q, v, and w, you would have sufficient information to find the slope. You would also have sufficiency if you knew the value of w − q and v − p.
Statement (1) gives you the value of w − q. If you knew v − p also, this would be sufficient, but this statement alone doesn’t give you any information about v or p. Statement (1) is insufficient. You can eliminate (A) and (D).
Statement (2) gives you the value of p − v. So you can find the value of v − p because v − p = −(p − v). If you knew w − q also, this would be sufficient, but this statement alone doesn’t give you any information about w or q. Statement (2) is insufficient. You can eliminate (B).
Together, however, the two statements tell a different story. You know the value of w − q, and you can find the value of v − p, since v − p = −(p − v). You can divide the value of w − q by the value of v − p to get the slope of the line. The statements together are sufficient, so the correct answer is (C).
33. (D)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Algebra: Isolating a Variable; Arithmetic: Exponents
The fact that a3, b3, and c3 are all positive means that a, b, and c are all positive. Knowing this, consider the statements.
Statement (1) gives you an equation with a, b, and c. Simplifying the denominator of the right side of the equation 
, you have 
. Multiplying both sides of the equation by a2, you have 
. Dividing both sides of the equation by c, you have 
. This is the exact equation that the question stem asks about. Statement (1) leads to the answer “yes” to the question. Statement (1) is sufficient. You can eliminate (B), (C), and (E).
Statement (2) gives you another equation with a, b, and c. This equation is also equivalent to the equation in the question stem. Notice that in the fraction on the right side of the equation, the numerator and denominator are both raised to fractional exponents with denominators of 3. A denominator of 3 in an exponent tells you that cube roots are involved. Therefore, to get rid of the fractional exponents, you’ll need to cube both sides of the equation. Start on the left, where c becomes c3. Now cube the right side. Remember that to cube a fraction, all you have to do is cube the numerator and the denominator separately. Start with the numerator. When you raise a number that already has an exponent to another exponent, you multiply the exponents together. So the numerator becomes 
. The denominator becomes 
. Thus, 
. Multiplying both sides of the equation 
by a2, you have a2c3 = b. Dividing both sides of the equation a2c3 = b by c3, you have 
. This is the exact equation that the question stem asks about. Statement (2) leads to the answer “yes” to the question, so Statement (2) is also sufficient. Since each statement is sufficient by itself, the correct answer is (D).
34. (D)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Algebra: Systems of Linear Equations
This classic word problem illustrates the importance of studying the question stem and answer choices, as well as determining what’s asked, before starting to work on the problem. It’s tempting to write down a = 8.00 and b = 5.60, because you’re given price first. But you aren’t asked for price; you’re asked for the number of Brand A binders. So those two equations will make your life quite complicated, as you’d now need two new variables for the number of binders.
By determining what you’re asked before you start solving, though, you know to let a equal the number of Brand A binders and to let b equal the number of Brand B binders. For the number of binders purchased, you have a + b = 12, and for the amount spent, you have $8a + $5.60b = $84.
To use combination to solve the equations, you need one of the variables to have the same coefficient in both equations so that it will cancel out. If you multiply the first equation by 8, you get 8a + 8b = 96.
So you can write the two equations as follows:
If you subtract the bottom equation from the top one, you get (8a − 8a) + (8b − 5.60b) = 96 − 84, or 2.4b = 12. If you divide both sides by 2.4, you are left with b = 5. Thus, Molly must have purchased 12 − b = 12 − 5 = 7 Brand A binders. Choice (D) is the correct answer.
This is also a great Backsolving opportunity. Let’s say you started with (B). That means Molly would have bought 5 Brand A binders at $8 apiece and 12 − 5 = 7 Brand B binders at $5.60 apiece. That’s 5 × $8 = $40.00 for the Brand A binders and 7 × $5.60 = $39.20 for the Brand B binders. You get $40.00 + $39.20 = $79.20, which is less than she actually spent. She needs more of the expensive Brand A binders, so (A) and (B) are eliminated.
You would next test Choice (D): she buys 7 Brand A binders at $8 apiece and 12 − 7 = 5 Brand B binders at $5.60 apiece. That’s 7 × $8 = $56.00 for the Brand A binders and 5 × $5.60 = $28.00 for the Brand B binders. You add $56.00 + $28.00 = $84.00, which is exactly what you’re looking for. Choice (D) is correct.
35. (E)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Algebra: Translating Words into Expressions and Equations
Studying the question stem and the answer choices would allow you to make some quick eliminations with no calculation at all. You’re told that the farmer makes a profit selling his wheat and that his costs include $10 per bushel. To make a profit, he would have to sell each bushel for more than $10 apiece. Otherwise, he’d lose money on every bushel sold. So (A) and (B) can be thrown away immediately.
Backsolving is a straightforward approach to this problem. You would start with (D), since (B) has already been eliminated. The 50,000 bushels sold for $13 each give $650,000 of revenue. The farmer’s costs are $10 per bushel, or $500,000, plus $200,000 rent. That’s a total of $700,000 of costs but only $650,000 of revenue. So selling wheat at $13/bushel still loses the farmer money. (E), as the only number larger than 13, must be correct.
Algebraically, if p = selling price per bushel in dollars and Profit = Revenue − Fixed cost − Variable cost, the following equation can be written: 150,000 = 50,000p − 200,000 − (50,000 × 10). Solving this for p will result in 850,000 = 50,000p, or p = 17. This is Choice (E).
36. (C)
Question Type: Data Sufficiency
Question Topic: Arithmetic: Absolute Value, Inequalities; Number Properties: Integers
This question stem contains variables, so you can try Picking Numbers. Substitute 5 for a into the equation with absolute value signs and test out values for b that make the equation true. You will find that a = 5 when −2 ≤ b ≤ 3. You will therefore have sufficiency if you know that b must or must not lie within this range. If you didn’t think to do this analysis up front, you could use Picking Numbers to test out each statement.
You can evaluate Statement (1) by Picking Numbers that meet the constraint of the statement. If b = 0, then a = 5. But if b = −3, then a = 7. Since a may or may not equal 5, this statement is insufficient. Eliminate (A) and (D).
Statement (2) says that b > −2. If b = 1, then a = 5. But if b = 9, then a = 17. Since a may or may not equal 5, the statement is insufficient. Eliminate (B).
When you consider Statements (1) and (2) together, you know that −2 < b < 3, so all possible values for b will result in 5 as the value for a. The answer to the question is “yes,” and Choice (C) is correct.
37. (B)
Question Type: Problem Solving
Question Topic: Statistics: Combinations and Permutations
Because the order of colors in the pairs doesn’t matter, the number of two-color codes that can be made will be the number of ways one can select two colors from the total number of colors; that is, you would use the combinations formula to determine how many two-color codes can be created.
Since you’re asked for the minimum possible number of colors, you’ll have to Backsolve a little differently. If you test (B) and discover that 6 colors are enough to code all 20 chemicals, that wouldn’t prove that 5 isn’t also enough. So you’ll have to start with (A). If 5 is enough, (A) is the right answer because there’s nothing smaller. If 5 isn’t enough, you’ll test (B) and work your way up if necessary.
If you have 5 colors, there are 5 possible single-color codes. As for the two-color codes, you can use the combinations formula to calculate 5C2. That’s 
. So the total of one- and two-color codes is 5 + 10 = 15. That’s not enough for all 20 chemicals, so you’ll try (B).
If you have 6 colors, there are 6 possible single-color codes. For the number of two-color codes, you can calculate 6C2. That’s 
. So the total of one- and two-color codes is 6 + 15 = 21. That’s enough for your 20 chemicals, so (B) is correct.
If guessing on this problem, you could have eliminated (D) and (E). Because some chemicals will use pairs of colors, there is no need to have as many colors as chemicals, as in (D), or more colors than chemicals, as in (E).
Answers and Explanations
GMAT Pretest
1. (C)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Weaken
Country B has fewer violent crimes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it has a lower crime rate, or fewer violent crimes per person. If the populations of the two countries are similar, or if B has more residents, then B does in fact have a lower crime rate. However, if A’s population is substantially larger than B’s, A may in fact have the lower crime rate. The question stem asks you to identify the fact that will most undermine, or weaken, the argument. Thus, a good prediction would be “Country A has many more people in it than Country B.” Choice (C) fits the bill: Country A has 2.5 times more crimes but a population 20 times larger. That means Country A actually has a crime rate that’s one-eighth that of Country B.
(A), (B), and (E) aren’t relevant to the relative rates of violent crime in the two countries. (D) is irrelevant because it doesn’t tell us which country has more people in it.
2. (B)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Comparison
The fact that the word than is underlined is a clue that there may be a comparison problem here. As written, the sentence actually compares the assets of small investors to the large investors themselves, which doesn’t make sense. You need to compare either investors to investors or assets to assets. Only (B) and (E) make the comparison clear: small investors’ assets are being compared to those of large investors. Those two differ at the beginning: than/relatively to. The correct construction is only less … than. (E), as well as (D), can be eliminated on those grounds. Choice (B) is correct.
3. (E)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Evaluation
You need to find the one question that does not help you decide whether the boycott of SquareMart would lead to the acceptance of the pay rate proposal. The question stem itself gives you a lot of information. There’s one important piece of evidence in the stimulus—namely that SquareMart and the company that employs the union workers in question are owned by the same parent company. As with any question that asks you to evaluate a plan, you need to consider other factors that might influence the situation and whether the proposed solution would be effective.
With (A), if a loss of business would hurt the parent company’s bottom line, the boycott would put a great deal of pressure on management and would be more likely to work. Similarly, if SquareMart were an insignificant piece of the MegaFood empire, the boycott wouldn’t work. So this is an important question. (B) raises the possibility that SquareMart might be the only place some people can buy staple items. That would make the boycott less likely to succeed, as people couldn’t refuse to patronize the store. If, per (C), there are many SquareMarts in the area, then a boycott could be easily organized and highly effective. But if no SquareMart stores are nearby, the union members may not be able to execute a successful boycott. For one thing, they wouldn’t be customers themselves and couldn’t take their business away from a store that they already didn’t use! As for (D), if boycotts have been successful before, they may well be so again. And if they’ve failed in the past, they’d be more likely to fail now. (E) is the correct answer, as whether other companies have a similar corporate structure has no bearing on the likelihood of the boycott’s success.
On the left, we’ve shown how keywords help you to identify the major elements of the passage and its structure and what you could skim over. On the right, we’ve shown what you might be thinking as you read the passage strategically.
Passage for Questions 4–7 |
Analysis |
An important feature of the labor market in recent years has been the increasing participation of women … Many analysts suggest, however, that women comprise a secondary labor market where rates of pay and promotion prospects are inferior to those available to men. The principal reason is that women have, or are assumed to have, domestic responsibilities …
|
The topic is clear right at the start—women in the labor market.
Women don’t seem to be paid or promoted as much, and domestic responsibilities seem to take the blame. (Note the “assumed,” though … that opens the door for the author to put the blame somewhere else later.) |
The difficulties that women face in the labor market … are accentuated with the arrival of children … Some women balance domestic and workplace commitments by working part-time. However, part-time work is a precarious form of employment … |
Children don’t help much. And part-time work is not a good solution. Note how the “distancing” word choices of ¶1 (“analysts suggest” and “assumed”) are gone.
We are now looking at the author’s own viewpoint. |
… Such women who later return to work represent another sector of the workforce facing difficulties … these women confront a restricted range of opportunities and will almost certainly be offered low-status jobs with poor prospects. |
Lots of detail here, but the keywords at the end of the paragraph make it clear:
Women who return to work don’t get good offers. |
Even women professionals who interrupt their careers to have children experience difficulties … Consequently, women, even those of high ability, may find themselves blocked in the lower echelons of an organization, overlooked, or even “invisible” to senior management. |
Women professionals have it no better.
(Note all the negative emphasis words at the end of the paragraph.) |
Passage Map
Here is a sample Passage Map you might have created as you took notes on each paragraph:
4. (B)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Global
The right answer to Global questions must reflect the passage’s topic, scope, purpose, and overall point of view. Your prediction for the answer would be something like “Explain the difficulties faced by women in the labor market.” (B) is the only choice that fits.
(A) incorrectly broadens the scope to employers’ practices in general, whereas the author is concerned only with pay and promotion. Besides, the author restricts himself to discussing the current state of affairs; he doesn’t advocate anything.
(C) takes a detail in paragraphs 2 and 3 and wrongly blows it up into the author’s primary concern.
(D) and (E) are completely off the topic, and contrary to what (D) says, the author doesn’t take issue with others’ views.
5. (D)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Inference
Lines 9–11 suggest that it is up to working women themselves, not employers (A), to make child care arrangements. You might anticipate that the author of this passage would agree with (A), but no support for this position is actually given. That’s an important aspect of GMAT Inference questions—the right answer isn’t just probably true but definitely true.
(B) is a 180 trap, meaning that it is the exact opposite of what the passage states. Paragraph 4 says that women in high-status positions, such as professionals, face problems advancing their careers while caring for their children.
The passage doesn’t compare conditions for today’s working mothers with those that existed 20 years ago, so eliminate (C).
Choice (D) is based on lines 18–19, which say, “When the typical houseworker returns to the labor market, she is unsure of herself in her new environment.” (D) is correct.
Although lines 10–11 imply that reasonably priced child care can be difficult to find, (E), the passage doesn’t go so far as to suggest that the expense of child care often makes it unprofitable for mothers to work.
6. (B)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Logic
The gist of paragraph 4 is that even women of high ability and status—professionals—face career problems if they decide to have children.
(A) is a 180 trap. The point of paragraph 4 is to explain that even the most able women may not be able to “overcome” the difficulties “of integrating career and motherhood.”
Paragraph 4 does not address labor policies (C) or increasing female participation in the labor force (D). Moreover, the author doesn’t ever “defend changes” or “modify a hypothesis.”
(E) is too vague. Paragraph 4 draws a definite link between career opportunities and children: it’s not about a general lack of career opportunities for women. Choice (B) is correct.
7. (C)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Detail
The question sends you to the second sentence of paragraph 1, which discusses “pay and promotion prospects … inferior to those available to men.” Context is key for detail-oriented questions. The very next sentence blames the disparity on “domestic responsibilities.” That fits only with (C).
The passage states that some women work part-time (line 12), not that women in general tend to get work in industries that rely on part-time labor (A).
Paragraph 4 indicates that some women—those who took time off to raise children—can lack technical skills. But (B) suggests that all women lack those skills. Furthermore, paragraph 4 is not the part of the passage addressed by the question stem.
According to lines 13–14, women who work part-time, not women in general (as Choice (D) says), are likely to be laid off in an economic slowdown. Besides, this fact has nothing to do with inferior pay and promotion rates.
(E) is incorrect because the author doesn’t discuss general workplace discrimination against women.
8. (C)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Other (Clauses and Connectors)
There are two splits among these choices, one at the beginning and one at the end. The former is so/and/the/therefore. Since the sentence already contains a connecting word that links the two clauses (that word is because), no other such word is needed. Only (C) can be correct. Had you started with the difference at the end, you’d be comparing originally to original. Since the word modified is a noun (construction), you need an adjective; (A), (B), and (D) must be eliminated.
9. (A)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Pronouns; Usage/Style
The underlined portion includes the pronoun it. At first glance, it seems like it could refer either to Greece or to the phrase ancient European history. However, the logical structure of the sentence clearly identifies the pronoun: “Before A was X, it was Y,” makes the meaning of it unambiguously Greece. Things look good, but you might still be hesitant; you should check the rest of the answers.
(E) removes the it, playing it safe. However, (E) incorrectly uses the past perfect tense; had become would imply that becoming city-states happened before some other event, but there isn’t a second past event anywhere else in the sentence. (B), (C), and (D), meanwhile, keep the it but eliminate the sentence structure in (A) that identifies the pronoun; in all three, it seems to refer to European history, which logically cannot be a collection of small city-states.
10. (E)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Strengthen
First, you have to understand the argument. The author claims that high school students should not design their own curricula, because they don’t have the maturity or experience of professional educators. What if experience and maturity weren’t necessary for the design of good curricula? The author’s argument would completely fall apart. So to strengthen it, you need the answer to explain why curriculum design requires both experience and maturity. (E) does exactly that and is the correct answer.
(A) just restates the last piece of evidence, and right answers on the GMAT always deal with the assumption, not the evidence. (B) reinforces the author’s rhetorical flourish about three-year-olds, but that is just window dressing, not the heart of the author’s point; you didn’t need to bring three-year-olds into your paraphrase at all. So (B) does not strengthen the main argument. The comparison made in (C) is irrelevant; teenagers who don’t go to the local high school have no bearing on the argument, which is about what one needs to design curricula. Besides which, “intelligence” is not exactly the same thing as “experience and maturity.” (D) is also irrelevant, as it discusses what kind of curriculum is best, not who designs it (and if anything, (D) weakens the argument, as it suggests that there needs to be a change in curriculum design).
11. (B)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Pronouns; Modification
When faced with choices that are this long, it may be easier to scan two answers at a time rather than all five at once. Scanning (A) and (B), notice their contribution versus the contribution of the Swiss. So pronoun ambiguity may be the issue. Is their ambiguous? It sure is, as it may refer either to leading Swiss designers or to the curators. Eliminate answers that repeat that error; a quick scan shows those to be (A), (D), and (E). Comparing the two that remain shows you only one difference: their most famous bridges versus its most famous bridges. Its could only possibly refer to the museum, which makes no logical sense—these are the designers’ buildings. So (B) is correct. Also note the passive construction of (D): “organized by the curators.” (D) also has a modification error: the modifying phrase that begins the sentence is intended to describe the curators, but “exhibition” is the first noun following the comma.
On the left, we’ve shown how keywords help you to identify the major elements of the passage and its structure and what you could skim over. On the right, we’ve shown what you might be thinking as you read the passage strategically.
Passage for Questions 12–14 |
Analysis |
A 1973 Supreme Court decision and related Senate hearings focused congressional criticism on the 1966 Freedom of Information Act. … |
A whole lot of detail about the Freedom of Information Act. We learn that Congress didn’t like it. |
In response, a House committee drafted HR 12471, proposing several amendments to the Act. … The Senate companion bill, S 2543, included these provisions as well as others … |
Congress responds by proposing some laws. Don’t worry about what those laws are until you get a question about them. |
The Justice and Defense departments objected … They argued that … The Pentagon asserted that judicial review of exemptions could pose a threat to national security. President Ford, upon taking office in August 1974, concurred. |
Now the executive branch gets in the game. Seems that it didn’t like the changes. |
HR 12471 passed in March 1974; S 2543 was approved in May after the adoption of further amendments … The Hart Amendment, for instance … This amendment provoked another presidential objection … |
The laws were passed anyway, and the president was not thrilled. |
Before submitting the legislation to Ford, a joint conference of both houses amalgamated the two versions of the bill, while making further changes to incorporate Ford’s criticisms. … Ford nevertheless vetoed the bill, but the veto was overridden by a two-thirds vote in both houses. |
Congress tried to compromise with the president, but he still vetoed the bill. It passed anyway, however. |
Passage Map
Here is a sample Passage Map you might have created as you took notes on each paragraph:
12. (C)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Detail
Lines 17–18 say that the Justice and Defense departments objected to revision as “costly, burdensome, and inflexible.” They opposed revision, in other words, for administrative reasons.
According to lines 18–19, the Justice and Defense departments argued that changes “might actually hamper access to information.” But they did not go so far as to suggest that the revision was an attempt to limit public access to information (A).
Although the Pentagon thought that revision might pose national security problems, it didn’t argue that changes violated specific national security agreements (B).
(D) and (E) are beyond the scope: neither the Justice nor the Defense department protested revision on the grounds that it would weaken either its power or presidential authority. Choice (C) is correct.
13. (A)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Strengthen
The Pentagon doesn’t offer much justification for its assertion that judicial review would cause national security problems. You know that the president agreed, but you don’t learn why. You need an answer that explains the connection between judges and national security dangers. (A) does this; if judges don’t have the necessary expertise, they might release information that would endanger national security.
(B) and (C) don’t explain the danger posed by judicial review. (D) may seem tempting, but no explicit link is drawn between political interests and security concerns. (Compare that to the use of “military intelligence” in (A).) Same problem with (E)—there’s no reason given to think that presidential approval necessarily has anything to do with national security. Perhaps the president would disapprove for other reasons.
14. (A)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Application
Lines 27–29 indicate that Ford was opposed to the release of FBI records. He didn’t want them to be open to public scrutiny.
(B) and (E)—180 answer choices—wrongly suggest that Ford was open to the idea of a release of FBI records.
(C) is incorrect. Based on lines 27–29, you can infer that Ford perceived barriers to exemption of individual FBI records, but you can’t assume that expense was one of these barriers.
There is no hint in the passage that Ford believed it was more important to protect confidential sources than personal privacy or investigative secrecy (D). Paragraph 4 tells you that all three are protected by the Hart amendment, but no distinction like (D)’s is drawn. Choice (A) is correct.
15. (D)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Verbs
Since the sentence is about precursors, or forerunners, and since the non-underlined part of the sentence uses the past tense verb were, the answer has to use were, not are as in (A) and (E). Also, however it may be that in (B) and despite that in (C) are unidiomatic. (E) drops the contrast altogether. Note that (E) also makes it seem that the ornithologists are the ones gliding from tree to tree. (D) is correct.
16. (E)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Strengthen
Because the article claims that Enzyme K causes better performance, this is an example of a causality argument—an “X causes Y” situation. The evidence is that Olympic weight lifters and sprinters have above-average levels of Enzyme K. This is evidence only of correlation. It could be that the strenuous activities of weight lifting and sprinting produce Enzyme K (as part of the body’s recovery process, perhaps). In other words, it could be that “Y causes X.” The author assumes that high levels of the enzyme cause better athletic performance (X does cause Y), not that athletic performance produces the enzyme (Y does not cause X). Your prediction, then, would be something like “The enzyme does, in fact, aid athletic performance,” or “Athletic performance does not, in fact, produce the enzyme.” (E) matches the second prediction. It removes “Y causes X” as a possibility, making it more likely that “X caused Y.”
(A) simply adds another correlation, this time between Enzyme K and alertness. It does nothing to strengthen the causal relationship in the argument. (B), which states that Enzyme K doesn’t do anything other than help the body perform strenuous activities, is tempting. But consider the possibility that Enzyme K simply has no function in the body at all. Enzyme K could be a useless byproduct of other biological processes. Choice (B) requires the assumption that every bodily enzyme has at least one function. Without that additional fact, (B) doesn’t work as a strengthener. If anything, (C) weakens the argument by raising the possibility that the improved performance is actually caused by another enzyme whose levels are correlated with those of Enzyme K. (D) is an irrelevant comparison; both weight lifters and sprinters are presented as equal evidence.
17. (E)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Comparison; Parallelism
The word than preceding the underlined portion of the sentence tells you that the underlined portion is a comparison. Items compared must be parallel. Here, the money the Dancing Doll (DD) line received from sales is compared to that received by the Teeny Tiny Trucks (TT) and Basic Blocks (BB) lines, so all of these quantities should be stated the same way. Only the name of the toy line and the amount should change from item to item, and the verb form used should be consistent throughout. Since (A) includes did with the TT sales but no verb with the BB sales, these forms are not parallel; eliminate (A).
(B) is not parallel because it uses did with TT sales and were with BB sales. (C) includes sold with TT sales but no additional verb with BB, so it’s out. (D) uses Basic Blocks’ sales—something not parallel to Dancing Dolls line and Teeny Tiny Trucks line. Only (E) uses exactly the same form for all three items, so it is correct.
18. (B)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Pronouns; Verbs
If you saw the pronoun error as you read, you quickly eliminated (A) and (C), as the pronoun refers to the singular army, not to the plural Xerxes and nine of his generals. You could also have seen that pronoun agreement was being tested by scanning the answer choices, as their/its is the only difference between (A) and (B). The other major split among the answer choices is a 3-1-1—was/having been/is. The sentence is clearly set in the past (it’s describing 480 BCE). So the present is and the present perfect having been are wrong; (D) and (E) can be eliminated. Only (B) remains, and it is correct. To continue training your ear to spot awkward sentences, compare (C) to (B).
19. (B)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Weaken
The question stem tells you very clearly what you are to weaken—the explanation for the speed with which the termites were killed. Reading the stimulus tells you the reason: gas was pumped directly into the walls in the first and second floors. This is another classic example of the GMAT’s cause-and-effect arguments. Your prediction should be along the lines of “Something other than the direct pumping of gas was responsible for the speedy deaths.” (B) does this. It doesn’t outright tell you what the other factor was. But if termites died with equal speed on floors into which no gas was being pumped, then it’s pretty likely that the direct pumping wasn’t the cause of the rapid deaths.
Taken by itself, (A) is irrelevant. (C) and (D) appear to support, rather than weaken, the argument, because they suggest that a higher density of gas kills termites more rapidly. (E) doesn’t weaken the argument because it offers no information to help you compare the speed of termite deaths in gassed and nongassed areas of the building.
On the left, we’ve shown how keywords help you to identify the major elements of the passage and its structure and what you could skim over. On the right, we’ve shown what you might be thinking as you read the passage strategically.
Passage for Questions 20–23 |
Analysis |
Modern methods of predicting earthquakes recognize that quakes, far from being geologic anomalies, are part of the periodic … long- and short-range precursory phenomena that are crucial to earthquake prediction. |
Stay focused on the big picture: quakes aren’t anomalies but part of a cycle. There are long- and short-range phenomena that allow quakes to be predicted. |
Quakes along active faults … are usually frequent … However … locating active faults is only a beginning [detail] are useful in determining potential quake locations, as are [more detail]. Seismologists may also [again, detail]. |
Lots of ways to predict quake locations. |
Once the perimeters of a quake-prone zone are established, a network of base stations can monitor precursory phenomena. … [science detail] are valuable precursors. … Theoretically, if an area’s critical strain [complicated detail] is known … will indicate a time frame for an impending quake. |
Steering clear of the complicated detail, you see why it’s here: predicting a quake’s time frame. |
Violent tilting and foreshocks are among phenomena classified as short-term precursors. … Such precursors are valuable since … |
Short-term precursors. |
Passage Map
Here is a sample Passage Map you might have created as you took notes on each paragraph:
20. (C)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Detail
Paragraph 1 contrasts coastal regions, where crustal strains build rapidly, with inland regions, where strains build more slowly. (C) paraphrases that distinction.
(A) flatly contradicts the passage—the first paragraph states that crustal strain is great in coastal regions. (B) contradicts the passage—quakes are less numerous in inland areas. (D) also contradicts the passage—you can infer that in coastal areas, which experience frequent quakes, precursory phenomena must be common. (E) contradicts the passage—paragraph 1 indicates that coastal regions confront thrusting sea floor plates.
21. (E)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Global
Choice (E) encompasses the passage’s topic and scope plus the content of all four paragraphs—the importance of precursors.
(A) is too narrow—the passage says little about earthquakes in inland areas. (B) mentions introductory information in paragraph 1, but it neglects the passage’s topic—methods of earthquake prediction. (C) has the same problem as (A)—it’s too narrow. Coastal regions are only part of the picture in this passage. (D) is also too narrow, and it’s inconsistent with the passage. Precursory phenomena are key to earthquake prediction.
22. (D)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Logic
Paragraph 3 lists a lot of details that are useful for predicting when an earthquake will strike. That fits very nicely with (D).
(A) and (B) are the sorts of answers you can fall for if your reading becomes too detail oriented. They both represent details in paragraph 3 but not the main function of the paragraph. (C) addresses details in paragraphs 1 and 2. The paragraph never suggests “that critical strain is not spread evenly along most major fault lines,” (E).
23. (A)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Detail
“Strain” is mentioned in paragraph 1, but the question asks about “critical strain,” which is discussed only at the end of paragraph 3. There, you read “critical strain will indicate a time frame for an impending quake.” That fits perfectly with (A).
There is nothing anywhere about calculating “the severity of an initial rupture,” (B). It’s unclear what the term seismic force means, so (C) is no good. (D) refers to an unrelated detail from the beginning of the paragraph. (E) is tempting because “crustal movement” is discussed in the context, but it is ultimately wrong because it leaves out the idea of predicting a time frame for the next earthquake.
24. (B)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Other (Which, Where, and When)
When should be used only for references to a time, and where should be used only for references to a place, so (A) and (D) are incorrect. (C) and (E) are both awkward, and they use the unidiomatic phrase a condition of. Choice (B) is correct.
25. (B)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Weaken
This argument has elements of both causality (“X causes Y”) and plans/proposals/predictions. So there are many good ways to approach this question. As with all Weaken questions, begin by understanding the argument. You are to believe that a new law that will give people a tax credit if they install an alarm system will reduce crime. The evidence is a correlation between lower crime and more alarm systems. There are several assumptions. Perhaps you noticed that the link between alarm systems and low crime is only a correlation. The argument assumes that the alarm systems are causing the reduction in crime. There’s also the assumption that the tax credit will cause more alarm systems to be installed. Or you could look at this argument through the plan/proposal/prediction lens and say that it assumes that there’s nothing self-defeating about the plan.
To weaken the first assumption, you’d look for an answer that says, “The drop in crime noted by the studies was caused by something other than installation of alarm systems.” To weaken the second, you’d say, “The tax credit won’t lead to more alarm installations.” To weaken the third, you’d say, “Explain why the tax credit won’t lead to lower crime, even though alarm sales correlate with low crime.” Choice (B) fits nicely with the second two, as it explains how the tax credit would fail to result in more alarm system installations. It turned out that the right answer wasn’t built on the first assumption. But kudos to you for noticing it, as differentiating between correlation and causation will serve you well on many GMAT questions.
(A) uses extreme language and is also irrelevant; the issue is whether this particular law can reduce crime, not whether crime can ever be eradicated. (C) presents an irrelevant comparison. Even if it is true, it does not provide any reason why the new tax law would not reduce crime. (D) is irrelevant. The possible need for more prisons is irrelevant to the author’s conclusion that alarm systems will lower crime rates. (E) actually makes the proposal more likely to work and thus strengthens the assumption.
26. (A)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Comparison
The sentence compares the percentage of revenue that Corporation X spends on insurance with the percentage that Corporation Y spends on salaries. Since these two things have the same form, the comparison is clear and grammatically correct. (A) is the right answer. In (B), the phrase In Corporation X modifies the rest of the sentence, illogically making it seem as if X spends a percentage of its revenue on employee salaries in Corporation Y. It also needlessly uses the passive voice. In (C), they has no clear antecedent; because corporation is singular, they seems to refer to some other, unspecified subject. (D) compares Corporation X’s percentage with Corporation Y’s actual amount. (E) is awkwardly worded and seems to compare a percentage to an amount.
27. (C)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Weaken
To weaken the argument, you need to find the choice that contradicts its key assumption. The conclusion is that moving from City Y to City X will lower the likelihood of contracting the disease, since the disease occurs at a much lower rate in City X. The assumption is that living in City X reduces the risk of contracting the disease; in other words, environmental factors (such as lifestyle, air quality, or health care costs) in City X are responsible for the low incidence of the disease. Whenever you have to weaken a cause-and-effect assumption, you want to look for an answer that suggests another cause. In this case, then, your prediction would be “a reason other than the environment in City X that explains the lower incidence of the disease.” That’s what (C) gives you; if genetic factors are the reason for the lower incidence of the disease, moving won’t help. Moving might change your environment but will not change your genes.
(A) is irrelevant; the rates of incidence in the two cities, not the opinion of professionals, are at issue here. Also, this type of “appeal to authority” is rarely correct on the GMAT. (B) would strengthen the argument; the statistics state that the incidence is higher in City Y, and if the mayor were proven to have falsely suggested otherwise, it would still make sense to move to City X, where the incidence is lower. (D) is irrelevant. Even if true, it would not imply that the risk for the average person is lower in City Y. (E) is likewise irrelevant; you have no information on whether smog has anything to do with the disease in question. Furthermore, this would, if anything, strengthen the conclusion by providing at least one sense in which City X is a more healthful place to live.
28. (D)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Verbs; Modification
There are two problems with this sentence. First, the unchangeable verb glanced is in the past tense, but the underlined notice is in the present tense. Since museum-goers would have noticed the birds at the same time that they glanced up, both verbs must be in the past tense. So notice must become the past tense noticed. On this basis, you can eliminate (A), (B), and (C).
The other problem involves modification, as evidenced by the changing position and wording of the modifying phrase among the answer choices. The clause that begins whose behavior is intended to describe birds, as rafters do not have behavior. This also gets rid of (A). (B) solves the problem but by changing the meaning, so it should be eliminated. (C) and (D) get the modification right. (E) attempts to do so but rewrites the modifier awkwardly. (D) is correct.
29. (D)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Verbs; Usage/Style
The word since in a sentence is a big clue that verb tenses are being tested. Sure enough, there’s a 1-3-1 split at the end of the choices involving verbs: was using/has used/was to be using. When was the casino tax revenue used? Since 1993 lets you know that the use of the revenue began in the past but is still continuing, so eliminate (A) and (E). The other split is at the beginning: approving/for the approving of/approved. (B) is awkward, and it should be tossed for that. (C) incorrectly changes the active participle approving to the passive approved. (D) is the correct answer.
Look out for words like since, during, before, and after. They indicate sequence of events, so noticing them will make verb tense questions much easier.
30. (A)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Assumption
This question stem gives you a lot of information. You know not only that it’s an Assumption question but also that the conclusion is a prediction about the effectiveness of a “one-day-only” sale. Treat predictions just like plans and proposals—the central assumption is that there’s nothing inherently self-defeating about the prediction. As you read, you’ll hunt for anything that catches your eye as a possible problem.
The prediction is that “one-day-only” sales will be a good way of getting rid of merchandise that has previously been returned as defective. The stores will offer steep discounts and be clear that the merchandise is nonreturnable. If you don’t see the potential problem that the assumption has to clear up (namely, that people might not want to buy defective merchandise in the first place), the Denial Test can lead you to the right answer.
If (A) were negated, then no one would be willing to pay even the sale price for the defective merchandise. If that were the case, then the sale wouldn’t be effective. So this is the right answer. If (B) were negated, then the stores would be profitable without the sales. That doesn’t damage the argument, as the author is only speculating about the store’s ability to get rid of defective merchandise. (C) isn’t necessary for similar reasons; the store could be selling plenty of merchandise and still need to clear out the returns. If (D) is negated, then the store could get away with having very few sales. That hardly implies that the sales are failing to meet their goal of clearing out defective merchandise. In fact, it would seem to indicate the sales’ success. (E) is irrelevant, as the issue of who would buy the merchandise doesn’t matter—it only matters whether it would be bought.
31. (C)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Parallelism; Comparison
The underlined portion contains a list of three sources of protein. Whenever you see a list, check for parallel structure. The three sources must have parallel forms, but soy, eggs, and drinking milk do not. A parallel construction would be soy, eggs, or milk. So (A), (B), and (D) are out. (E) adds its, which seems to refer to the human body. The sentence is not about protein in the human body but rather protein that the human body can use, so (E) can be eliminated. Note the like in (B) is incorrectly used—on the GMAT, like cannot mean “for example.” Choice (C) is correct.
32. (D)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Verbs; Usage/Style
While this sentence is long and wordy, you needn’t be intimidated as long as you scan for differences. There’s a pretty clear 2-1-2 split right at the start: It was decided by the National Weather Service/A forecasting system/The National Weather service decided. The first of these, It was decided by … , is passive construction and not preferred by the GMAT. That eliminates (A) and (C). What about (B)? It’s structured slightly differently, but does it share the passive voice error? It does! The whole thing reads “A forecasting system … was selected to be purchased by the National Weather Service.” Eliminate (B) as well. Comparing (D) to (E), you see this difference: links 44 computers together versus combines 44 computers linked together with each other. (E) is redundant. Just saying linked together is enough—if things are “linked together,” they are already “combined” and “with each other.” (This redundancy error is shared by (A), (B), and (E).) Choice (D) remains, and it is correct.
On the left, we’ve shown how keywords help you to identify the major elements of the passage and its structure and what you could skim over. On the right, we’ve shown what you might be thinking as you read the passage strategically.
Passage for Questions 33–35 |
Analysis |
Contamination is the unintended presence of harmful substances or organisms in food. While … it is still necessary to guard against the practices that can increase the likelihood of food contamination. Because food-borne illness poses a potentially serious threat to public health, preventing contamination of safe food needs to be a prime objective … Furthermore … |
Food contamination seems to be the topic. It’s a serious threat, so managers need to guard against it. |
The most serious risk associated with food is the biological hazard. Biological hazards are … One of the most frequently reported diseases of this type is salmonellosis … |
Biological hazards and the most common disease |
The other major form of biologically induced food-borne illness is intoxication … Staphylococcus food intoxication is one of the most common types … |
Another kind—food-borne intoxication |
Passage Map
Here is a sample Passage Map you might have created as you took notes on each paragraph:
33. (C)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Global
You need the answer that reflects the passage’s topic, scope, purpose, and overall structure. (A) and (E) may be tempting but only tell parts of the story. (A) is the point of paragraph 1, and (E) is the point of paragraphs 2 and 3. (C) correctly expresses the gist of all three paragraphs working together. The last two paragraphs summarize the knowledge of contamination sources, and the first paragraph discusses why this knowledge is essential.
(B) and (D) both distort paragraphs 2 and 3, as well as leaving out paragraph 1.
34. (A)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Inference
The author discusses food service managers in paragraph 1. The author uses a lot of strong, prescriptive language: “preventing contamination of safe food needs to be a prime objective of every food service manager” and “a food service manager must possess accurate information on the different hazards associated with the contamination of food.” The author clearly thinks that a food service manager’s comprehension of food hazards is very important. This fits perfectly with (A).
(B) is a distortion. Although the sources of contamination seem varied and complex, there is nothing here to suggest that a diligent food service manager can gain only a limited understanding of contamination.
(C) misses the scope of the passage by focusing on the decision to hire a manager. Even if you infer that a manager’s understanding of these issues must be a consideration in hiring, since it’s so important, you still can’t say it’s the primary consideration.
(D) uses the extreme word exclusively and consequently is too extreme. In fact, the author states that prevention is only part of the battle—knowledge is also necessary so that a manager knows what to do “in the event that a … crisis does arise.”
(E)’s pessimism is reminiscent of (B). A clear understanding of the author’s purpose and tone allows you to eliminate choices like these that don’t match either. The first few words of (E) are on the right track; in fact, “vitally important” is synonymous with (A)’s “crucial.” But the whole choice needs to fit, and the rest of (E) misses the point.
35. (D)
Question Type: Reading Comprehension
Question Topic: Detail
The striking term pathogenic organisms that appears in the question stem is relatively easy to locate in paragraph 2. Correct Choice (D) comes right out of lines 15–17, with the keywords such as acting as the link between pathogenic microorganisms and bacteria and parasites. Even in a passage with lots of unfamiliar terms, it all boils down to good strategic reading. Take a look at the wrong choices. In (A), the passage doesn’t tell you what the most common form is. Nothing in paragraph 2 suggests (B), but paragraph 3 actually suggests the opposite—some microorganisms can cause disease even after being killed. A careful reading of the sentence in which “pathogenic organisms” appears shows that (C) distorts the meaning of the sentence. Toxins are not the same as pathogenic microorganisms. (E)—how hard it is to detect pathogenic organisms—is not addressed (only the detection of toxins is mentioned).
36. (E)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Inference
This question asks, “Which of the following statements is best supported by the information above?” In other words, what can be inferred from the stated material? The author in this question asserts that junior college education had a big impact on family-run businesses after WWII, as the new methods of accounting, marketing, and finance allowed business size to grow and profits to be maximized.
It’s difficult to make a specific prediction on most Inference questions. It’s often best to say, “The answer must be true based on the stimulus; it won’t go beyond the scope or read a detail in an extreme way.”
In (A), the disqualifying word is principally. The information presented does not specify what the junior colleges emphasized. This choice reads too much into the fact that often family businesses increased in size because of the newly acquired knowledge. (B) is wrong because you really can’t infer how popular or widespread these methods were before the war. For all you know, these could have been revolutionary techniques or well-kept secrets. In (C), you know junior colleges taught new methods of marketing and finance and stuff like that; you do not know how much management theory was or was not presented. This choice relies on data you aren’t given—a sure sign of an incorrect or unwarranted inference. (D) takes the facts in the stimulus too far. You’re told that profits increased thanks to the influence of junior colleges, so you could infer that family-run businesses would have been less profitable without them. But there’s a world of difference between less profitable and unprofitable. (E) is certainly true. Business methods did change because of the education—the stimulus calls them “new methods,” after all. It’s a common mistake to throw out an answer because it seems somehow “too obvious.” Some Inference answers are tough to prove, but many are very straightforward.
37. (C)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Verbs; Modification
Notice the descriptive phrase of plastic manufacturing plants between the subject size and the verb phrase have dropped. That’s your clue to check for subject-verb agreement. In fact, size is singular, but have dropped is plural. (A) and (B) contain have and should be eliminated. There’s also another split: The down in (D) and (E) is redundant with dropped. If something has dropped, it’s gone down! This quickly leaves you with only (C). To improve your ear’s ability to spot awkward phrasing, check out the end of (A), (D), and (E). (D)’s ending is not only awkward but also redundant, as the implied word at the end is size: “about the size of a football field’s [size].”
38. (D)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Inference
You need to find the choice that must logically follow if the stimulus is true. If making steel with Element X reduces the level of microscopic fractures, and if some Canadian steel contains Element X, it follows that some Canadian steel will be less likely to develop such fractures. So (D) can be inferred.
(A) is too extreme to be inferred. It might be true, but nothing says that at least one other country can’t produce steel as strong and flexible as Canada’s. (B) wrongly introduces the idea of “years of use”; you know nothing about when these fractures would start to appear. Furthermore, the stimulus only tells you about some Canadian steel. You know nothing about steel from other countries. Perhaps many countries make steel with Element X; perhaps none do. You just don’t know. (C) and (E) are both too extreme. The stimulus never says that there isn’t a better steel out there somewhere, nor does it say that Canadian ore has more Element X than any other kind, only that it has a lot.
39. (E)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Other (Subjunctive Mood; Which, Where, and When)
There are clear differences at the beginning of the choices: that a federal arbitrator/of a federal arbitrator/a federal arbitrator. In (C), asked of is unidiomatic. For verbs like ask, there are two correct forms: ask + object + to or ask + that + (subject of clause) + (infinitive without to). The former construction is attempted by (D), but this choice uses that inappropriately. (A), (B), and (E) try the latter, but (A) uses would inappropriately. (B) and (E) both open correctly, but they differ at the end; (B) uses have, while (E) uses has. The verb in question is part of a modifying clause that describes union, so the singular has is correct. Eliminate (B) (and (C), if you haven’t already eliminated it). (E) is the correct answer.
Note that all verbs that are synonyms of request or order, such as ask, mandate, or require, can be used in either of the two ways described in this explanation: “The GMAT requires test takers to be on time,” or “The GMAT requires that test takers be on time.”
40. (E)
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Parallelism
The sentence contains two parallel elements—procedures and reductions—that are incorrectly joined by the construction from … and. The construction should be from … to. Eliminate (A) and (B). (C) changes the parallel structure format with such as, but reducing is not parallel with improvement and encouragement. Moreover, reducing can’t be followed by the preposition in from the original sentence. Eliminate (C). (D) correctly uses from … to but includes the nonparallel procedures and reducing. That leaves (E), which is correct.
41. (C)
Question Type: Critical Reasoning
Question Topic: Explain
As with any Explain question, you should make sure that you understand what the discrepant pieces of information are. The stimulus tells you that despite no increase in competition and a large increase in local population, a hardware store has seen little increase in snowblower or lawnmower sales. Your prediction should be “the answer that explains why snowblower and lawnmower sales have not gone up, even though there are more people and the same number of competitors.”
(A) doesn’t explain the slow sales, because although the area to be mown or blown may not be increasing, the number of people responsible for doing the job is going up; there’s no reason to think that they’re all sharing equipment. (B) doesn’t explain things because wages may have risen right along with inflation. Inflation tells you nothing about relative buying power or the demand for equipment. (C) is the correct answer, because apartment-dwellers don’t require snowblowers or lawnmowers. The maintenance crews of the buildings do, but sales have increased a little—so those sales are accounted for in the stimulus. (D) may explain the slow sales of snowblowers (they may be used less and therefore need replacement less often) but not of lawnmowers. (E) is ruled out by the stimulus, which explicitly says that Jacob’s store has no competition; there’s no better selection anywhere else in town.
of the members of Group G are 25 years of age or older.
