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Get Your Fresh GMAT Practice Question Here!

Kaplan 1
Get Your Fresh GMAT Practice Question Here!

Yesterday, we posted a GMAT practice question on Facebook. It got a lot of attention and many responses. Here it is again:

What is the value of b if a = ?

(1)

(2) and

Our Facebook audience mostly answered A, with a few votes for D. The correct answer is indeed A, and here's why...

First, you can multiply both sides of the equation in the question stem by  to make it clear that . Then, look for values a, c and .

  • Statement (1) is exactly what is needed - it gives you a precise value for . Statement (1) is sufficient, so eliminate answer choices C and E.
  • Statement (2) alone, however, leads to two possible values for b, because you'd have to substitute the square roots of 25 for a, and those square roots are BOTH positive AND negative 5 (remember this! The GMAT likes to test you on your knowledge that both a positive and negative number can be squared to produce a positive result.) Therefore, Statement (2) is insufficient because it does not give you one single value. Eliminate answer choices B and D.

The correct answer is A.

Questions about data sufficiency? Topics you'd like to see covered in future blog entries? Talk to me in the comments!

The post Get Your Fresh GMAT Practice Question Here! appeared first on Kaplan GMAT Blog.

  1. Thanks to share this GMAT practice question. This question like fresh question really helpful for GMAT preparation

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