Metro Research is moving into a new office space, configured as shown

Question

Metro Research is moving into a new office space, configured as shown in the Floor Plan, with eight individual offices (111, 112, 114, 115, 116, 117, 120, and 121) and four cubicles (119A through 119D). Each employee will be assigned exactly one workspace—an office or a cubicle—with no more than one employee per office or cubicle. Supervisors will not be assigned workspace in cubicles. If an employee has an immediate supervisor, the employee's office or cubicle must be adjacent to that supervisor's office.

mevicks · Accepted Answer

Only 1 employee-supervisor can sit in 112 area. Plot a simple dependency diagram to make the picture clear. As shown below K/R relationship qualifies.  Answer 2

MacFauz · Answer

Basically, the question asks for which people only have a single relationship. Lets go through the table one by one:

1) Salena - If Salena is in 112, Ciaran can only be in 111 which leaves no place for Elena or Leila. Not qualified.

2) Richard - If Richard is in 112, Kim can be in 111. No other conditions need to be satisfied. Qualified.

3) Kim - Same reason as 2. Qualified.

4) Pablo - If Pablo is in 112, Leila can only be in 111 which leaves no place for Ciaran. Not qualified.

5) Leila - Same reason as 1. Not qualified.

6) Atticus - If Atticus is in 112, Jamal can only be in 111 which leaves no place for Mei. Not qualified.

7) Elena - Same reason as 1. Not qualified.

8) Jamal - Same reason as 6. Not qualified.

9) Mei - Same reason as 6. Not qualified.

10 Ciaran - Same reason as 1. Not qualified.

So, only Kim and Richard are qualified.

Answer is 2.

miggiegg · Answer

This question is so hard. I lost to much time trying to figure it out.

khamdy71 · Answer

SmartSelectImage_2016-07-20-22-13-59 SmartSelectImage_2016-07-20-22-14-18 SmartSelectImage_2016-07-20-22-15-54 Answer is 2. Sent from my SM-N920R4 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

bubblehead0922 · Answer

Can someone explain this one? I have no idea how the space could be assigned under statement 2? https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=35345 Metro Research_IR GMAT Prep4_Q.png

jwang516 · Answer

If two more employees are assigned to Jamal, then Jamal would have 4 employees under him. To be adjacent, the employees must be in cubicles A, B, C and D in 119 and Jamal must be in office 121 and 120. This limits the potential workspace assignments if Jamal only had two employees. For example, Jamal could have been in office 115 and Atticus and May could have been in 116 and 114 respectively. However, with 4 employees now, Jamal can no longer be assigned office 115.

Hope this helps!

hassan233 · Answer

Okay, I think I have a simple way to think about question 2 of question 2.

Since Jamal already has 2 people under him, if he has 2 more, he will have a total of 4 people under him. That means that 4 people will have to be "adjacent" to Jamal. This FORCES Jamal to be in office 120. Two of his people in 190C&D, another person in 121 and another person in 117.

Now, took at what other supervisor has two people under them. Yup, Ciaran. Remember, the two people under Ciaran must be adjacent to Ciaran. So that FORCES Ciaran to be in 115 and for Ciaran employees (Salena and Elena) to be in 114 and 116. At this point in time, there are only 2 more available offices (111, 112). But remember, Ciaran has her own supervisor (Leila) that must be adjacent to Ciaran. Thing is, now Ciaran has nowhere to go since 111 and 112 are not adjacent to Ciaran's office (115). Therefore, Jamal having a total of 4 employees is not possible.

Since this one is a 50/50 chance of getting right, I would not put too much time into getting it right on the exam.

LeelaDaka · Answer

Can someone help me understand how "Richard resigns his position at Metro Research." is NO? It is possible to assign workspace for everyone even if Richard resigns right?

nisen20 · Answer

Without more detailed information, how can we know this situation—Q2(1) Mei, Pablo, and Selena need offices because the projects they work on require the highest levels of security—has something to do with the rule—the employee's office or cubicle must be adjacent to that supervisor's office.

To wit, the fact that their jobs need the highest security level does not necessarily mean their offices/cubicles cannot be assigned next to their superviors'.

To wit, the fact that their jobs need the highest security level does not necessarily mean their offices/cubicles cannot be assigned next to their superviors'.

VinceNoir · Answer

I just got this wrong on a practice exam, but now I see why. Leila supervises Pablo and Ciaran, and Ciaran supervises Selena and Elena. There is no way to arrange the employees such that Mei, Pablo, and Selena get offices and still have enough rooms to put everyone collectively under Leila adjacent to each other and satisfy the office requirement for the 3 workers (and 2 supervisors, don't forget the question stem states they can't be in cubicles) in question. If Selena needs an office, she and Elena have to bracket Ciaran, and Pablo and Ciaran have to bracket Leila (and Ciaran and Leila have to also be in offices).

The question is whether the item happening will prevent assignment of employees to workspaces; you are right, Richard resigning still lets everyone get assigned an office/cubicle. It doesn't prevent them being assigned, hence "No".

KarishmaB · Answer

Here is the thing about MSR questions - you must compile the data on your scratch pad as much as possible. Yes, it will take an extra couple of mins but it will ensure that you answer the questions correctly and quickly. Overall you may not end up spending more than 2.5 mins per question and that is great for MSR!

So here is how I will make my notes as I read Tab 2:

Supers - C, K, L J (x Cubicles)

Together:
A - J - M 
S - C - E 
P - L - C (I see a problem here as I write this. C must be surrounded by S and E but it must be next to L too. So there will be limited places for C)
R - K

Now I will focus solely on Tab 3 and look at the questions.

Question 1. Based on the information and workspace assignment rules provided, how many employees are there, each of whom could be assigned to office 112?

112 has only one office adjacent to it. So none from the triplets above can possibly take that office. So A, J, M S, C, E P and L are out i.e. 8 people are out. There are total 10 people. So 2 (R/K) can take that office. 
Answer 2

Question 2. For each of the following situations, select Yes if, based on the information and workspace assignment rules provided, it would PREVENT some employees from being assigned workspace using the current rules. Otherwise, select No.

Mei, Pablo, and Selena need offices because the projects they work on require the highest levels of security.

Cubicles must be taken by reportees only (who are not supervisors too) so A-M and S-E must take the pair of cubicles. Hence J must be in 121 and C must be in 120 so that L can take 117. 
Hence S cannot be in an office. Hence, in this new situation, the given constraints cannot work. Answer YES.

Two additional employees are hired and will be supervised by Jamal.

J already has 2 reportees. With 4 reportees, J cannot be placed in any office along with C's restrictions. Answer YES.

Richard resigns his position at Metro Research.

If an employee reduces, an office/cubicle would become empty. That is not against any constraint. Answer NO.

Catman · Answer

Yellow V- Vacant Position
Red are the fixed positions. K-R can occupy either 111 or 112.
Blue and Green are 2 possible places J-A-M can occupy.

1.1 Mei, Pablo, and Selena need offices because the projects they work on require the highest levels of security.  - Yes  
One Office is empty, S can occupy that office.

1.2 Two additional employees are hired and will be supervised by Jamal. -  No  
Only 1 additional place next to Jamal is available, So Jamal cannot supervise 2 additional employees.

1.3 Richard resigns his position at Metro Research. - Yes  
Even if Richard resigns there will be no change in the position of others.

2. Based on the information and workspace assignment rules provided, how many employees are there, each of whom could be assigned to office 112?  2   
Only 2 employees can occupy 112. K or R.

3. For each of the following pairs of employees, select  Yes  if, based on the information and workspace assignment rules provided, the two employees might be assigned offices 111 and 112. Otherwise, select  No .
 111 and 112 are only available to Kim and Richard.

3.1 Kim and Richard  - Yes

3.2 Jamal and Atticus  - No

3.3 Mei and Ciaran  - No

trinhthanhha · Answer

I was really confused and had a hard time to select yes or no for this statement "Richard resigns his position at Metro Research." Because basically Ciaran's office must be adjacent to Selena's, Leila's and Elena's. Originally no such place for these 4 in the map all together. So whether Richard is there or not, some employees will not be assigned workspace using the current rules.

nagasatish · Answer

bb ,  MartyMurray ,  ScottTargetTestPrep ,  KarishmaB

Is it really worth it to answer this kind of difficult questions in actual GMAT? I got all those correct here, but it took me 10:30mins. If I do this stunt in actual GMAT, I know i'm going to mess up my entire section, but guessing questions in a row and getting them wrong also impact my score badly. Either way, I'm going to be in a bad situation.

Questions: 
 
 So what should be the strategy for these kind of difficult questions? 
 Do we get this level of difficult questions in GMAT? 
 We have 3(generally) questions for each MSR problem, are these questions adaptive in nature or all the 3 questions are going to be of same difficulty?

bb · Answer

There are no secret tricks. There are no elaborate strategies or scheming on the GMAT.... your mind is worried with too many things.... If I guess this question, then I may have to guess another one and if I guess two in a row then I can only apply to this kind of university and if I only apply to this kind of university that I can only get this kind of a job and if I didn’t get this kind of a job and that means my life is over. Why?

It’s very easy in reality. 
1. You have two minutes per question more or less. 
2. You have three questions with multisource reasoning so you have six minutes for this set of questions.
3. Do not spend more than six minutes unless you have saved time from the past questions in the section.
4. If you have time at the end, you can always come back because you can change answers on the three questions but when you work on this question or any other question you encounter, you must guess and move on if you do not know the answer.

The shortest way to lower your score is spending the time you do not have. Forget everything else you think you know. Only spend the time you have and if you must, then you guess.

PS. You do not need to worry if these are adaptive and you do not need to worry about anything else besides that you take it one question at a time and you do not spend the time you do not have.

Posted from my mobile device

nagasatish · Answer

Thanks  bb , Your suggestion makes sense. I'll try to complete MSR question before 6 mins else I'll guess and move on.

bb · Answer

if you can save time on data sufficiency or other question types, then you can afford more time. But unless you do, then you only spend the time you have and if you’re lucky to have some extra time at the end, come back.

Posted from my mobile device

kanikaa9 · Answer

IMO - best way to solve this question is creating a flowchart, also given in one of the above responses, and then you can literally solve each question within seconds.

shwetakoshija · Answer

Given: 
 Tab 1 – Discussion 
 
 Each employee must sit adjacent to their immediate supervisor
 
 Two offices are adjacent to each other if and only if they are separated by a common wall. 
 A different definition of adjacent applies to cubicles: cubicles 119A & 119B are adjacent only to office 121, while 119C & 119D are adjacent only to office 120.  
 
 Supervisors must be in offices

Tab 2 – Table 
 
 The table lists the ten employees at Metro Research and shows each employee's immediate supervisor, if any. 
 The supervisors are also employees, so each supervisor's name appears in both columns.

Tab 3 – Floor Plan
  This shows the placement of the offices and the cubicles. We can also tell which offices/cubicles are adjacent to which ones.

Q1) To Find:  Number of employees who could be assigned to office 112.

Solution: 
 
 Observe that office 112 is adjacent only to office 111. So, the employee who goes in 112 cannot be a supervisor who supervises more than one employee.
 
 Thus, Claran, Leila, and Jamal are out of the list.  
 
 Now, we are left with only one supervisor - Kim. 
 Since Kim must be adjacent to the employee under her, Richard must be in office 111 if Kim is in office 112.
 
 Is that it? NO! 
 We can swap places. Kim in office 111 and Richard in office 112.  
 
 No other employee can be in office 112 because they would not be able to have their supervisor adjacent to them here.

Only Richard and Kim can be in office 112.

Correct Answer:  2

Q2)  To Find:  Whether each listed situation would prevent all employees from being assigned workspaces under the given rules.

Statement 1:  Mei, Pablo, and Salena need offices because the projects they work on require the highest levels of security 
 
 Richard and Kim are already placed in offices 111 and 112. 
 That leaves us with three supervisors to place in offices - Claran, Leila, and Jamal.
 
 They have two employees under each of them. 
 So, none of them can be assigned office 114.  
 
 We are left with 5 offices and 3 supervisors.
 
 So, only 2 non-supervisor employees can be assigned offices. 
 Mel, Pablo, and Salena are one too many. Cannot be done.  
  
 Mark 'Yes'

Statement 2:  Two additional employees are hired and will be supervised by Jamal 
 
 Jamal already supervises two employees. 
 If two more are to be supervised by him, there will have to be an office that is adjacent to 4 other spaces. 
 This is only possible if Jamal is assigned to office 120. 
 But as a result, the two employees that go into A and B will not have their supervisor(s) next to them.  
 Mark '  Yes'

Statement 3:  Richard resigns his position at Metro Research 
 
 One fewer employee reduces constraints 
 An empty space does not violate any rules  
 Mark '  No'

Correct Answers: Yes, Yes, No

Q3)  To Find:  Whether each pair could be assigned offices 111 and 112.

This follows directly from question 1. Only Kim and Richard can be in offices 111 and 112. 
Let us still check each pair:
 
  Statement 1:  Kim and Richard 
 
 Kim is a supervisor who must be in an office 
 Richard reports to Kim and must be adjacent 
 Offices 111 and 112 are adjacent, satisfying the requirement 
 This still leaves space for everyone else to be placed according to the rules.  
 Mark '  Yes'

Statement 2:  Jamal and Atticus 
 
 Atticus reports to Jamal and must be adjacent 
 Jamal also supervises Mei, who must also be adjacent 
 Office 111 has only one adjacent office (112) 
 Cannot place both Atticus and Mei adjacent to Jamal  
 Mark '  No'

Statement 3:  Mei and Ciaran 
 
 Mei reports to Jamal and must be adjacent to Jamal 
 Ciaran must be adjacent to Leila 
 If Mei and Ciaran occupy 111 and 112, Mei would not be adjacent to Jamal  
 Mark 'No'

Correct Answers: Yes, No, No

Shweta Koshija  
  GMAT, GRE, SAT Coach for 10+ years

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