Try and reason out the answers logically if possible... that will give you a lot of confidence...
To understand the question, say
Had the student answered all correctly, he would have scored 50.
One mistake would have cost him 3 points : 49 points for correct answers, 2 points subtracted for 1 incorrect answer.
This means every one incorrect answer leads to a loss of 3 points.
Since he lost a total of 12 points, he must have had 4 questions incorrect.
So he must have answered 46 questions correctly.
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If x is the number of mistakes, then the score is (50-x)-2x=50-3x
50-3x=38
3x=12
x=4

So, the number of right answers is 50-4=46. The answer is E

Yeah common sense tells me answer will be greater than 38. So only choices are d or e

Posted from my mobile device

x - #of correct answers
y - # of incorrect answers

x + y = 50
x - 2y = 38

so 3y = 12 => y = 4, so x = 46.

Answer is E.
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Karishma
your way of handeling problems is awesome
this is infact real GMAT approach
hats off to you

Try plugin answers
A. 19-2(31) != 38
B. 38-2(12) !=38
C. 41-2(9) !=38
D. 44-2(6) !=38
E. 46-2(4) =38

Ans E.

Total questions: 50
Score per correct: 1
Total scores:50
Scores received:38
Scores missed:50-38=12
Incorrect:12/2=6

Therefore, number of questions students answered correctly=50-6=44
I know the OA is E. Please explain.

thanks.

Do you mean the answers like following?

A. 19-2(31) != -43, so it is wrong, because the score is 38.
B. 38-2(12) != 14, so it is wrong again.
C. 41-2(9) != 23, so it is wrong
D. 44-2(6) != 32, wrong.
E. 46-2(4) =38, correct because that's the score.

Does your explaination mean above?

Try plugin answers
A. 19-2(31) != 38
B. 38-2(12) !=38
C. 41-2(9) !=38
D. 44-2(6) !=38
E. 46-2(4) =38

if u need it the mathematical style

let c = no. of correct answers
w = no. of wrong answers.

we know total questions = 50

==> c+w = 50 => c = 50-w --------- (1)

the teacher removed 2 times wrong answers from correct answer and gave the score as 38

==> c - 2w = 38 ----------- (2)

substitute (1) in (2)

50 - w - 2w = 38 => 50 - 38 = 3 w

=> w = 4 Therefore no. of wrong ans = 4 which implies no. of right = 46, E

Student got 38 points, he had to get well over 40 correct since if he got 40 he'd have gotten only 30 points. Test 44 and 46.

44 - 2*6 = 32 --> nope
46 - 2*4 = 38 --> yay
E

That's what I mean in my previous reply.

let x be number of correct questions . => 50-x is the number of incorrect questions.

so the professor scored the questions as x + 2(50-x).

given x + 2(50-x) = 38

=> x= 46

Answer is E.

let x be no. of correct answers
since all questions are attempted
no. of incorrect answers =50-x

according to given conditions,

x-2*(50-x)=38
3x=138
x=46

questions by subtracting 2 times the number of incorrect answers from the number of correct answers, this means
x number of correct answers, y number of incorrect answers
x - 2y = 38
x + y = 50(given)

50 - y - 2y = 38
y = 4

x = 46

E
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Let # of correct Q = C
# of incorrect Q = 50 - C

C - (50-C)*2 = 38
C - 100 + 2C = 38
3C = 138

C = 46

ANSWER: E

I find logical solutions easier to calculate. is it a good thing for a great score ? VeritasKarishma

If you can arrive at logical solutions quickly, it is great for GMAT.
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