Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 17:49 It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 17:49
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
   1   2 
Poor Quality|      
avatar
fireagablast
avatar
Joined: 30 Jun 2019
Last visit: 17 Aug 2021
Posts: 263
Own Kudos:
123
Given Kudos: 8
Posts: 263
Kudos: 123
John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail unt 31 Mar 2020, 18:06
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Scenario 1: John stops at 25%
1/4 = 1*t --> john take 1/4 of an hour to go 1/4th
3/4 = (3/2)t -->Karen takes 1/2 an hour to go 3/4

Scenario 2: they don't stop
1/(1+3/2) = 2/5 --> 2/5 an hour to meet

1/2 hour=30min
2/5 hour = 24min

30-24/24 = 6/24 = 1/4 = 25%
User avatar
Kinshook
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 03 Jun 2019
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,794
Own Kudos:
5,512
Given Kudos: 161
Location: India
Schools: HBS '26 CBS '26 Wharton '26
GMAT 1: 690 Q50 V34
WE:Engineering (Transportation)
Products:
My Reviews
Schools: HBS '26 CBS '26 Wharton '26
GMAT 1: 690 Q50 V34
Posts: 5,794
Kudos: 5,512
John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail unt 01 Apr 2020, 00:31
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Nixondutta
Narenn
A Nice Question from VERITAS.
OA and OE will be posted after few responses. Brief and Correct explanations will be rewarded with a Kudo.


John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail until they meet somewhere in between their starting points. They each run at their respective constant rates until John gets a cramp and stops. If Karen runs 50% faster than John, who is only able to cover 25% of the distance before he stops, what percent longer would Karen have run than she would have had John been able to maintain his constant rate until they met.

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 100%
E) 200%

Happy Solving!

Some good solution is provided. Sharing my 2 cents on the topic.

Had john not got a cramp and stopped, time taken to meet, t = \(\frac{distance}{total speed}\) ==> t = \(\frac{d}{2.5v}\)
assuming, john's speed = v, karen's speed = 1.5v and distance = d,

Now, time taken by Karen to reach john, = \(\frac{.75d}{1.5v}\)
Extra time taken by karen to reach john, td = \(\frac{.75d}{1.5v}\)- \(\frac{d}{2.5v}\)
==> td= \(\frac{d}{10v}\)

percent longer would Karen have run = \(\frac{\frac{d}{10v}}{\frac{d}{2.5v}}\) * 100 = 25%

Answer : 25%
Show more

Hi Nixondutta

Should the time when both John and Karen were running towards each other for 15% of the distance not be taken into account ?
User avatar
Kritisood
User avatar
Joined: 21 Feb 2017
Last visit: 19 Jul 2023
Posts: 492
Own Kudos:
1,272
 [1]
Given Kudos: 1,090
Location: India
GMAT 1: 700 Q47 V39
Products:
My Reviews
GMAT 1: 700 Q47 V39
Posts: 492
Kudos: 1,272
 [1]
John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail unt 03 May 2020, 10:59
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Js speed= x
Ks speed = 1.5 x
total distance = 100

Relative speed= 2.5x
Time they would take to meet = distance/ relative speed = 100/2.5x = 40/x
distance karen would cover in this time = speed*time = 1.5x*40/x = 60
distance that karen has to cover now because of Johns cramp = 75 (75% = 75 since we took total distance as 100)
% increase= (75-60/60)*100= 25%
User avatar
elPatron434
User avatar
BSchool Moderator
Joined: 22 Jul 2018
Last visit: 12 Jun 2024
Posts: 475
Own Kudos:
373
 [1]
Given Kudos: 618
GRE 1: Q165 V163
GRE 2: Q165 V163
GRE 3: Q170 V163
WE:Engineering (Computer Software)
Products:
My Reviews
GRE 1: Q165 V163
GRE 2: Q165 V163
GRE 3: Q170 V163
Posts: 475
Kudos: 373
 [1]
John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail unt 08 May 2020, 12:38
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Kinshook
Narenn
A Nice Question from VERITAS.
OA and OE will be posted after few responses. Brief and Correct explanations will be rewarded with a Kudo.


John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail until they meet somewhere in between their starting points. They each run at their respective constant rates until John gets a cramp and stops. If Karen runs 50% faster than John, who is only able to cover 25% of the distance before he stops, what percent longer would Karen have run than she would have had John been able to maintain his constant rate until they met.

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 100%
E) 200%

Happy Solving!

Given:
1. John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail until they meet somewhere in between their starting points.
2. They each run at their respective constant rates until John gets a cramp and stops.

Asked: If Karen runs 50% faster than John, who is only able to cover 25% of the distance before he stops, what percent longer would Karen have run than she would have had John been able to maintain his constant rate until they met.

vK / vJ = 1.5

Let the speeds of John and Karen be 2x & 3x mph respectively

Let the length of the trail be L miles

Normal Case:
Distance = L miles
Relative speed = 2x + 3x = 5x mph
Time taken to meet = L/5x= .2L/x hours

Abnormal Case : John is only able to cover 25% of the distance before he stops
Time when both were running = (L/4)/5x = L/20x hours
Distance covered by both in L/20x hours = L/20x * (2x + 3x) = L/4

Remaining distance = 3L/4
Time taken by Karen to cover 3L/4 distance = 3L/4 /(3x) = L/4x

Total time run by Karen = L/20x + L/4x = 6L/20x = 3L/10x = .3L/x

Extra time run by Karen = .3L/x - .2L/x = .1L/x

Percent longer would Karen have run ={ (.1L/x)/(.2L/x)}*100% = 50%

IMO B

Bunuel
I think OA should be B
Please check whether OA is correct.
Show more

Yes I thought the answer would be 50% too. Assuming the total distance to be 180km, in the normal scenario, Karen would have traveled 108km while John would have traveled 72km when they would have met. So I assumed that John had traveled only 25% of his estimated distance and not the overall. This would've led to Karen having to travel an additional 54km, thereby leading to a 50% increase in time.

Bunuel, chetan2u, Narenn, is the wording of the question ambiguous or have I misinterpreted it?

Thank You!
User avatar
ScottTargetTestPrep
User avatar
Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 14 Oct 2015
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 21,716
Own Kudos:
26,997
 [1]
Given Kudos: 300
Status:Founder & CEO
Affiliations: Target Test Prep
Location: United States (CA)
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 21,716
Kudos: 26,997
 [1]
John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail unt 09 May 2020, 12:15
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Narenn
A Nice Question from VERITAS.
OA and OE will be posted after few responses. Brief and Correct explanations will be rewarded with a Kudo.


John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail until they meet somewhere in between their starting points. They each run at their respective constant rates until John gets a cramp and stops. If Karen runs 50% faster than John, who is only able to cover 25% of the distance before he stops, what percent longer would Karen have run than she would have had John been able to maintain his constant rate until they met.

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 100%
E) 200%

Show more

Let’s assume that John runs at 10 mi/hr, and thus, Karen runs at 10 x 1.5 = 15 mi/hour. If we assume that the distance between them was 100 miles, then when John stopped, he had run 25 miles and Karen had to run 75 miles to meet him, and thus her running time was 75 / 15 = 5 hours.

Had John not stopped, they would have met when he had run 40 miles and she had run 60 miles (ratio of 10 : 15); thus, her running time would have been 60 / 15 = 4 hours.

The percent longer that Karen would have had to run is (50 - 40) / 40 x 100% = 25%.

Answer: A

User avatar
Hahahehe
User avatar
Joined: 30 May 2020
Last visit: 28 Oct 2020
Posts: 20
Own Kudos:
1
Given Kudos: 15
Posts: 20
Kudos: 1
John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail unt 24 Aug 2020, 23:31
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello Bunuel,

I have a confusion. "Covering 25% of the distance" could mean 2 things:
1. covered 25% of the total length of the track.
2. covered 25% of the distance he was originally supposed to cover.

How do we decide between the two? Shouldn't the wording of the question be made more clear?
avatar
josenetofaria
avatar
Joined: 02 Jul 2020
Last visit: 24 Nov 2020
Posts: 9
Own Kudos:
4
Given Kudos: 67
Posts: 9
Kudos: 4
John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail unt 25 Aug 2020, 14:15
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Karen has 1,5*velocity of Jhon.

Then, we can state that Karen runs 3/5 of the distance and Jhon runs 2/5 of the distance.

If Jhon gets injured after running 1/4 of the total distance, Karen has to run 2/5 - 1/4 = 3/20 more.

Which corresponds to + (3/20)/(3/5) = +25% over the distance she used to run.
avatar
MVCO2025
avatar
Joined: 03 Jan 2022
Last visit: 25 Feb 2023
Posts: 3
Own Kudos:
1
Given Kudos: 37
Location: United States (OR)
Concentration: Finance
Schools: Booth '25 CBS '25 Stanford '25 Wharton '25
GMAT 1: 770 Q50 V46 (Online)
GPA: 3.73
WE:Research (Mutual Funds and Brokerage)
Products:
My Reviews
Schools: Booth '25 CBS '25 Stanford '25 Wharton '25
GMAT 1: 770 Q50 V46 (Online)
Posts: 3
Kudos: 1
John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail unt 23 Jan 2022, 15:08
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Is "only able to cover 25% of the distance before he stops" a tad bit ambiguous?

Say the track length is 100ft

Normally J = 40ft, K = 60ft

If J gets cramps after 25% of the total distance (how the answer is structured), J gets cramps after 25ft, and K has to run 75ft, 75/60 = 25%

If J gets cramps of 25% of his normal responsibility (completely reasonable interpretation of the question how currently worded), J runs 10ft and K runs 90ft, 90/60 = 50%, which also is an answer.

Would a GMAT question be this unclear?
User avatar
kmecpp
User avatar
Joined: 27 Jan 2021
Last visit: 04 May 2022
Posts: 2
Given Kudos: 2
Posts: 2
Kudos: 0
John and Karen begin running at opposite ends of a trail unt 26 Jan 2022, 14:17
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
This would make more sense with the following change:

If Karen runs 50% faster than John, who is only able to cover 25% of the distance before he stops, what percent longer did Karen run than she would have had John been able to maintain his constant rate until they met.

This Question is Locked Due to Poor Quality
Hi there,
The question you've reached has been archived due to not meeting our community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Looking for better-quality questions? Check out the 'Similar Questions' block below for a list of similar but high-quality questions.
Want to join other relevant Problem Solving discussions? Visit our Problem Solving (PS) Forum for the most recent and top-quality discussions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
   1   2 
Moderators:
Bunuel
Math Expert
105390 posts
Krunaal
Tuck School Moderator
805 posts