In 1999, nearly all households in Country X purchased salty snacks.

Question

In 1999, nearly all households in Country X purchased salty snacks. About 91% of households bought potato chips, purchasing an average of 9.8 pounds and spending roughly $26 over the year. A broader category—all chips (including potato, corn, and tortilla)—was purchased by 95.5% of households, with average annual purchases of 16.3 pounds. Other salty snacks, such as pretzels, cheese puffs, microwave popcorn, and packaged or bulk nuts, were purchased by 96.8% of households.

Considering all salty snacks, 99.2% of households made purchases in 1999. Among those who did, the average household bought 31.8 pounds and spent approximately $76.40. On a per-person basis, the average quantity purchased was 14.5 pounds.

Three key points emerge:

• Salty snack consumption was nearly universal, so almost all households would have been affected by a per-pound tax.

• Purchase quantities and spending varied systematically by household characteristics and demographics.

• Despite this variation, salty snacks represented a relatively small portion of household spending.

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

Official Solution:

• Each household that purchased salty snacks in 1999 purchased more than 1 pound. 
 
The histogram shows that some households fall into the 0–2 pound range. While we don’t know the exact breakdown within that bar, it's entirely possible that some households purchased 1 pound or less.  Not supported .
 
 • Approximately one-fifth of all households consumed 10 pounds or fewer of salty snacks in 1999. 
 
The bars covering 0–10 pounds (from the second to the sixth bars) collectively account for close to 20% of all households, based on the percentages shown in the histogram.  Supported .
 
 • The median range of salty snack consumption is approximately 70 pounds greater than the modal range of salty snack consumption. 
 
As stated in Tab 2, the modal range is 10–12 pounds. The median represents the midpoint of the distribution—where 50% of households purchased less and 50% purchased more. A median that is approximately 70 pounds higher than the modal range would place the median around 80 pounds, which would mean that 50% of households purchased less than 80 pounds and 50% more than 80 pounds. This is clearly incorrect, as the graph shows that far fewer households purchased more than 80 pounds than purchased less.  Not supported .

Correct answer:

Each household that purchased salty snacks in 1999 purchased more than 1 pound.  "Not supported"

Approximately one-fifth of all households consumed 10 pounds or fewer of salty snacks in 1999.  "Supported"

The median range of salty snack consumption is approximately 70 pounds greater than the modal range of salty snack consumption.  "Not supported"

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

We are given tax rates per pound, so each rate should be applied directly to the total pounds of salty snacks purchased.
 
According to the data, 99.2% of households in Country X purchased salty snacks. For estimation, we can round this to 100%, meaning all 50 million households are included. Each household purchased an average of 31.81 pounds, which we can reasonably approximate to 30 pounds for easier calculation. This gives a total of about 1.5 billion pounds of salty snacks purchased.
 
Start with the middle tax rate. At 35 cents per pound, the estimated revenue would be 1.5 billion × 0.35, which equals $525 million. This is clearly less than $600 million.
 
Since 25 cents per pound is lower, it would also generate less than $600 million, and no further calculation is necessary.
 
The 45-cent rate is more than 20 percent higher than 35 cents, so it would generate over 20 percent more than $525 million—easily exceeding $600 million.

Correct answer:

30 cents per pound  "Fewer"

35 cents per pound  "Fewer"

45 cents per pound  "More"

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

In 1999, more households purchased potato chips than any other individual type of chip. 
 
 Not supported. While 91.3% of households purchased potato chips and 95.5% purchased all chips (including potato, corn, and tortilla), this does not mean potato chips were purchased by the largest percentage of households among individual chip types. Another type, such as corn chips, could have had a similar or higher purchase rate, and the overlap among types is unknown. No individual breakdown by chip type is provided. 
 
 Pretzels and microwave popcorn were less popular than potato chips in 1999. 
 
Not supported. Pretzels and microwave popcorn are included in “other salty snacks,” purchased by 96.8% of households—more than the 91.3% for potato chips. However, since individual purchase rates for pretzels and popcorn are not given, we cannot compare their popularity directly with potato chips.
 
 Pretzels and microwave popcorn were more popular than potato chips in 1999. 
 
Also not supported. While “other salty snacks” overall were purchased by more households, we don’t have separate figures for pretzels or microwave popcorn. We cannot determine if either was individually more popular than potato chips.
 
 There were approximately two people per household in 1999. 
 
For all salty snacks, the average household purchased 31.81 pounds, and the per capita quantity was 14.47 pounds. Dividing gives about 2.2 people per household. Since 99.2% of households made purchases, it is reasonable to extrapolate this to the overall household population with high confidence.  Supported.  
 
 Taxes on salty snacks were more popular than other food taxes in 1999. 
 
Not supported. The material does not mention tax preferences, opinions, or comparisons to other taxes. “More popular” could imply greater public support or broader impact, but neither interpretation is supported by the text.

Correct answer:

Based on the information provided, which of the following is most reasonably inferred?  "There were approximately two people per household in 1999."

Srrishti · Answer

question 2--
look at tab 3 data 
per capita is half of average per household . this gives us an inference that there are 2 people in a house . hence the answer

samarpan.g28 · Answer

Bunuel  For Q3 last one, please help me if my understanding is correct.

Median Range is 74 to 76, Modal Range is 10 to 12. So, the median range is approximately 64 pounds greater.

Bunuel · Answer

• The median range of salty snack consumption is approximately 70 pounds greater than the modal range of salty snack consumption.

As stated in Tab 2, the modal range is 10–12 pounds. The median represents the midpoint of the distribution—where 50% of households purchased less and 50% purchased more. A median that is approximately 70 pounds higher than the modal range would place the median around 80 pounds, which would mean that 50% of households purchased less than 80 pounds and 50% more than 80 pounds. This is clearly incorrect, as the graph shows that far fewer households purchased more than 80 pounds than purchased less.  Not supported .

Saksham_g04 · Answer

How should we be timing this question on an actual exam day?? It took roughly 11 mins to solve the entire MSR set. How can we solve it strategically under the time constraint?

AllisonBell · Answer

Great question! For MSR problems,  we recommend spending about 1:30 to read the prompt, plus two minutes per question.  So about 7:30 for a set like this.

Let’s talk about what it looks like to make that happen!

The Prompt:

In practice, I spent about 1:34 on this. First, I glanced at all three prompts. Two include graphics, while one is entirely text-based. Generally,  it’s helpful and important to read any text-based tab on an MSR problem . I spent about 1:00 reading the first tab and jotting down minimal notes. Some of that included skimming —  okay, so they’re listing different percentages, weights, and amount of money spent —  but I slowed down to read the three takeaways at the end.

The other two tabs,  I skimmed and glanced at the graphics , taking about thirty seconds. I  want to have a rough idea of what they’re about, but I can get into the details based on what the questions ask me.

Question 1:

I spent about 2:00 on this. Since I had read the first tab, I was able to flag it as my most likely source of information pretty quickly. I scanned to find the total percent of households buying salty snacks and the average amount they spent in the second paragraph. I took an extra second to confirm that I was looking at the details correctly. Then I jotted down the math: 50 million * .992 * 31.8. I considered working through each answer independently, but decided it would be fastest to figure out a threshold that needed to be met in order to hit the $600 million mark. So I pulled out the calculator to solve 50 million * .992 * 31.8. I set up a mental equation that that number, which represented the total amount spent on salty snacks in Country X, times an unknown variable would equal $600 million. When I solved, that would give me the minimum tax rate that would get to $600 million, so I could use that to evaluate answer choices.

I jotted down the division I wanted to do: $600 million / 1,577,200,000. Then I plugged it into the calculator and got .38. So the tax needed to be at least $.38, allowing me to evaluate all three answers.
 
   A few key takeaways:   To solve this question quickly, I needed to  know where to look, consider the fastest approach,  and u se a combination of scratch paper, mental algebra, and the calculator.

Question 2:

I spent about 1:30 on this question. Again, it was important that I knew where to look. I remembered that information about potato chips was in the first tab, so I looked there as I began to evaluate the first three answers.

I took my time with the first answer, re-reading the statistics about potato chips and other types of chips. I found that  91% of households purchased potato chips,  and a  broader category–all chips...was purchased by 95% of households.  I realized there was no way to determine whether that 95% of households had all purchased, say, tortilla chips  and  some of them had purchase potato chips.

Once I realized that it wasn’t possible to determine the overlap between potato chips and the broader category, it was easier and faster to eliminate B and C, as they were making the same type of comparison as A.

D then jumped out as a totally different type of answer, one I was able to quickly confirm by looking at the data in the second paragraph, where both the per-household weight of snacks and per-person weight of snacks was presented. Since 31.8 is roughly double 14.5, it seemed like D was correct.

I quickly looked at E and recalled that taxes were just a proposal in this tab, so there wouldn’t be any info about their popularity.

Key takeaways  : I needed to  know where to look,  and I    went slow when revisiting the text for the first answer but used that work to eliminate other answers quickly.

Question 3:

I’ll be honest — I would’ve gotten this one wrong. And I’m okay with that! It’s a tough question, and I completed it around the 7:50 mark.  For a set like this, getting 2⁄3 of the questions right without messing up my timing is a win that will set me up for a strong DI score.

That said, it’s helpful that this question directs us straight to Tab 2. A mistake I made was, under the time pressure, jumping straight to the graph without reading the context. That caused me to spend extra time re-evaluating answers.

The first item can quickly be answered as  Not Supported  by seeing that there is a bar above 0 on the chart.

The second item is tough, visually. We need to figure out roughly were 10 would fall on the chart given the description, and then estimate the sum of the percentages represented by the bars up to that point. I came up with a number around 25% and decided it was too high — wrong call.

For the third item, we are given the mode! We’re told in the text it’s 10 - 12 pounds. To find the median, we’re looking to find the place where the sum of percentages represented by the bars is about 50%. If you’ve already pinpointed where 20% is from working on item 2, you can work up from there.

Takeaways:  When interpreting a graph, read the context first!  It also would have been wise for me to  skip around based on which items felt easiest , increasing my odds of getting this question right. And  don’t forget the work you’ve done as you move from item to item  — sometimes it can be helpful in solving the next one!

Hope this is helpful! For more guidance on time management, check out ManhattanPrep’s free guide:   Everything You Need to Know About Time Management  .

Best,

Ally Bell 
 ManhattanPrep GMAT Instructor

Snack type	Share of households that purchased (%)	Average quantity purchased per purchasing household (pounds)	Per capita quantity in purchasing households (pounds)	Average expenditure per purchasing household (dollars)
Potato chips	91.3	9.76	4.18	$26.14
All chips	95.5	16.34	7	$41.43
Other salty snacks	96.8	16.47	7.9	$37.41
All salty snacks	99.2	31.81	14.47	$76.39

In 1999, nearly all households in Country X purchased salty snacks.

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Fewer	More
		30 cents per pound
		35 cents per pound
		45 cents per pound

	In 1999, more households purchased potato chips than any other individual type of chip.
	Pretzels and microwave popcorn were less popular than potato chips in 1999.
	Pretzels and microwave popcorn were more popular than potato chips in 1999.
	There were approximately two people per household in 1999.
	Taxes on salty snacks were more popular than other food taxes in 1999.

Supported	Not Supported
		Each household that purchased salty snacks in 1999 purchased more than 1 pound.
		Approximately one-fifth of all households consumed 10 pounds or fewer of salty snacks in 1999.
		The median range of salty snack consumption is approximately 70 pounds greater than the modal range of salty snack consumption.

GMAT Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR) Questions

In 1999, nearly all households in Country X purchased salty snacks.

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