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# Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps

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SVP
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 1692
Schools: CBS, Kellogg

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Updated on: 05 Apr 2008, 04:00
3
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Hi friends,

I open this thread because, I think, recognizing a pattern is very helpful in Math, expecially in DS with a very tricky problems. When we are in the battle, time is a gold.

In one long post of Traps Collection of the forum, I found that there was no general discription to differentiate the trap called SPY GIRL. So, if you dont mind, let paste here any problem has E choice as correct one. From that, may we have a rule? what do you think?

I am first.

I. SPY GIRL
1.
What fraction of this year's graduating students at a certain college are males?

a. Of this year's graduating students, 33 percent of the males and 20 percent of the females transferred from another college.
b. Of this year's graduating students, 25 percent transferred from another college.
AC=E

II THE TWIN
1.
Martha bought an armchair and a coffee table at an auctio and sold both items at her store. Her gross profit from the purchase and sale of the armchair was what percent greater than her gross profit from the purchase and sale of the coffee table?

a. Marth paid 10 percent for the armchair than for the coffee table
b. Marth sold the armchair for 20 percent more than she sold the coffee table
AC=E

2. Warehouse W's revenue from the sale of sofas was what percent greater this year than it was last year?

a. Warehouse W sold 10 percent more sofas this year than it did last year
(2) The jewelry dealer sold the bracelet for $1,953. Answer: A Second condition is obviously insufficient and strongly support first one that seems to be insufficient. 7-t61415 _________________ HOT! GMAT TOOLKIT 2 (iOS) / GMAT TOOLKIT (Android) - The OFFICIAL GMAT CLUB PREP APP, a must-have app especially if you aim at 700+ | Limited GMAT/GRE Math tutoring in Chicago SVP Joined: 04 May 2006 Posts: 1692 Schools: CBS, Kellogg Re: Spy Girl Traps (Recognization) [#permalink] ### Show Tags 05 Apr 2008, 21:15 2 Thank you Walker, Nice to learn any other trap if you discover.! _________________ Intern Joined: 02 Apr 2008 Posts: 36 Re: Spy Girl Traps (Recognization) [#permalink] ### Show Tags 06 Apr 2008, 01:22 Liked the idea. Is there any way to make it appear on a top of the Math page? CEO Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 2866 Re: Spy Girl Traps (Recognization) [#permalink] ### Show Tags 07 Apr 2008, 14:15 1 Walker, as a mod, can sticky it - which I think is an excellent idea. Senior Manager Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 301 Location: India Re: Spy Girl Traps (Recognization) [#permalink] ### Show Tags 09 Apr 2008, 00:51 1 Thanks for a great thread. Here's my contribution... If d denotes a decimal, is d >= 0.5? i) When d is rounded off to nearest 10th, the result is 0.5 ii) When d is rounded off to nearest integer, the result is 1. Answer is B, and if you fast enough you might be driven into a C trap. Intern Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 26 C trap [#permalink] ### Show Tags 09 Apr 2008, 01:28 Walker, how did you reach the answer to this problem? What is the perimeter of quadrangle ABCD in which a circle is inscribed? 1) AB+DC=8 2) BC=5 Answer: A CEO Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 3446 Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Other Schools: Chicago (Booth) - Class of 2011 GMAT 1: 750 Q50 V40 Re: Spy Girl Traps (Recognization) [#permalink] ### Show Tags 09 Apr 2008, 03:56 You can see here: 7-t61627 1. First of all, I think the problem is a very tough one. 2. after I read second condition that is obviously insufficient, I thought that the problem looks like a C-trap. 3. It is obvious that for any quadrangle both conditions are insufficient. Therefore, "inscribed" restriction of the quadrangle may be crucial. 4. On the basis of my steps 2&3, I tried to find properties of the quadrangle with "inscribed" restriction and to proof that the first condition is sufficient and answer is A. _________________ HOT! GMAT TOOLKIT 2 (iOS) / GMAT TOOLKIT (Android) - The OFFICIAL GMAT CLUB PREP APP, a must-have app especially if you aim at 700+ | Limited GMAT/GRE Math tutoring in Chicago Intern Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 26 Re: Spy Girl Traps (Recognization) [#permalink] ### Show Tags 09 Apr 2008, 04:37 Thank you Walker I searched for the propreties of quadrilaterals with inscribed circles and you were right, A is the right answer. Founder Joined: 04 Dec 2002 Posts: 16847 Location: United States (WA) GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42 Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps [#permalink] ### Show Tags 18 Mar 2009, 17:37 1 4 I was digging through my files today and found a doc I wrote a long time ago about Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps - I hope this helps someone. Perhaps someone can add more examples to make this thread more complete. Data Sufficiency Traps 1. At the first glance there is not enough information to solve the problem, but when actually attempted, the problems appears solvable. What is the volume of a box with dimensions a, b, and c? i. a = $$\frac{18}{bc}$$ ii. b = 2, c = 4 2. Both statements 1 and 2 are identical but masked. What is the value of x? i. x + 2y = 6 ii. 4y + 2x = 12 3. Do not assume anything on data sufficiency. On January 1st Thomas deposited$2,000 into an interest bearing checking account. If he made no withdrawals, what was the total amount Thomas had in the checking account on December 31st of the same year?

i. Thomas deposited an additional \$4,000 throughout the year
ii. The checking account earned 7 percent simple interest
You cannot assume that the deposits were uniform or in equal installments

How many kiloliters of water are in a reservoir?

i. If the reservoir were filled to capacity, there would be 430 more kiloliters in the reservoir.
ii. The reservoir is normally 65 percent full.
We don't know if these are "normal" conditions. Insufficient.

4. What ETS often does on harder DS questions, it gives the first piece of info as insufficient, and then, naturally, you move on to the second and then when you see that it is sufficient, you conclude that both are enough – C. Be careful to evaluate both statements one by one. If it is hard for you, try starting from the second statement instead of the first.

5. When you solve a medium/hard DS question, play a game with ETS, find the answer to the puzzle. If you looked through the both pieces of info and it seems both are sufficient, try proving that one is irrelevant or if both pieces are needed, try to prove that only one will be enough; try challenging the question author; give him a hard time. It will often pay off.

6. Watch out for Yes/No data sufficiency questions.

7. Make an analysis of your mistakes and see what DS questions cause the most problems.

8. Make sure you don’t confuse D and C answer choices

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Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 17
Re: Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps  [#permalink]

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05 Feb 2010, 12:26
I got the spy girl question mentioned at the top no later than this afternoon on a gmat prep test.

What fraction of this year's graduating students at a certain college are males?
a. Of this year's graduating students, 33 percent of the males and 20 percent of the females transferred from another college.
b. Of this year's graduating students, 25 percent transferred from another college.
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Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Posts: 1327
Re: Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps  [#permalink]

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05 Feb 2010, 16:56
arnaudl wrote:
I got the spy girl question mentioned at the top no later than this afternoon on a gmat prep test.

What fraction of this year's graduating students at a certain college are males?
a. Of this year's graduating students, 33 percent of the males and 20 percent of the females transferred from another college.
b. Of this year's graduating students, 25 percent transferred from another college.

From S2, if we have m males and f females, (m+f)/4 transfered from another college. From S1, m/3 + f/5 transferred from another college. These are equal:

(m + f)/4 = m/3 + f/5
15m + 15f = 20m + 12f
5m = 3f
m/f = 3/5

so the ratio of men to women is 3 to 5, and 3/8 of all students are male.

Alternatively you could recognize that the two statements combined give us a weighted average situation; from the first statement we know the % from each group who transferred, and from the second statement we know the % of the two groups combined who transferred, from which it is always possible to find the ratio of the two groups; there's no need to calculate anything here.

I'm not sure why the answer is indicated as E in the post at the beginning of this thread.
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Re: Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps  [#permalink]

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29 Apr 2011, 11:32
Director
Joined: 23 Apr 2010
Posts: 547
Re: Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps  [#permalink]

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22 Sep 2011, 04:40
Quote:
2. Both statements 1 and 2 are identical but masked.

What is the value of x?

i. x + 2y = 6
ii. 4y + 2x = 12

So the answer would be E (because x could be anything and the question asks for a precise value of x)? Am I right?
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Re: Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps  [#permalink]

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22 Sep 2011, 04:45
nonameee wrote:
Quote:
2. Both statements 1 and 2 are identical but masked.

What is the value of x?

i. x + 2y = 6
ii. 4y + 2x = 12

So the answer would be E (because x could be anything and the question asks for a precise value of x)? Yes. Am I right? Yes.

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Re: Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps  [#permalink]

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22 Sep 2011, 04:56
Ok. Thanks. Fluke, could you please also take a look at my question in this thread: last-digit-of-a-power-70624-60.html ? The last post.

Thanks.
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Joined: 11 Sep 2012
Posts: 1
Re: Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps  [#permalink]

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25 Oct 2012, 22:07
fluke wrote:
nonameee wrote:
Quote:
2. Both statements 1 and 2 are identical but masked.

What is the value of x?

i. x + 2y = 6
ii. 4y + 2x = 12

So the answer would be E (because x could be anything and the question asks for a precise value of x)? Yes. Am I right? Yes.

if v combine the 2 stmnts v can gt the value of x . so shudnt the answer be C ?? plz correct me if im wrong
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Re: Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps  [#permalink]

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26 Oct 2012, 05:41
Shivani16 wrote:
nonameee wrote:

What is the value of x?

i. x + 2y = 6
ii. 4y + 2x = 12

So the answer would be E (because x could be anything and the question asks for a precise value of x)? Yes. Am I right?

if v combine the 2 stmnts v can gt the value of x . so shudnt the answer be C ?? plz correct me if im wrong

That's the trap here!

Stmnt 1: x + 2y = 6
Stmnt 2: 4y + 2x = 12 which is same as 2y + x = 6 (divide LHS and RHS by 2)

Notice that stmnts 1 and 2 are essentially the same. We don't really have two equations to solve for x and y. They are the same equation.

One equation is not sufficient and hence the answer will be E.
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Re: Data Sufficiency (DS) Traps  [#permalink]

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