GMAT Question Patterns: Distance and Speed

Question

We reviewed questions from the GMAT Prep Tests and Official Guide 2024–2025 to identify the most common patterns involving distance and speed.

This guide focuses on the types of distance-rate-time problems you may encounter on test day.

The goal of this project is to uncover as many recurring question types as possible, for three key reasons:

Get a higher score – Master each pattern so you don’t miss out on easy points. 
 Save time – No need to do hundreds of questions; just a few from each pattern will do. 
 Peace of mind – Be confident that you've covered all known question types.

Distance and speed problems appear in both the Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency sections of the GMAT Focus Edition. In total, there are are 14 Problem Solving and 19 Data Sufficiency questions involving these concepts, based on GMAT Prep Focus and OG 2024–2025.

Note: 
 
  The questions in this guide are drawn from the Official Guides and GMAT Prep (Focus).  
  The patterns below are listed in order of frequency, from most common to least common.

Pattern #1: Single Object – Average Speed, Distance, or Time   
 - Involves solving for one variable (speed, distance, or time) using the basic formula: Distance = Speed × Time.

Easy PS:

If a bus travels x miles in y minutes, what is the average speed of the bus in miles per hour, expressed in terms of x and y ?

A. x/y
B. y/(60x)
C. x/(60y)
D. 60y/x
E. 60x/y

Question Discussion .

If a salesperson drove 220 miles nonstop in 4 hours and 15 minutes, which of the following is closest to the salesperson's average speed, in miles per hour?

A. 47.2
B. 48.3
C. 50.6
D. 51.8
E. 55.5

Question Discussion .

Medium PS:

On a 1-mile test course, a vehicle is travelling at a constant rate of r miles per hour. If it were traveling at a rate of r+20 miles per hour, it would take 4 min less time to travel the test course. What is the value of r?

A. 5
B. 10
C. 20
D. 25
E. 30

Question Discussion .

Easy DS:

A car traveled a distance of d miles in t minutes at an average rate of r miles per minute. What is the ratio of d to r ?

(1) t = 30
(2) d = 25

Question Discussion .

During a certain bicycle ride, was Sherry's average speed faster than 24 kilometers per hour? (1 kilometer = 1000 meter)

(1) Sherry's average speed during the bicycle ride was faster than 7 meters per second.
(2) Sherry's average speed during the bicycle ride was slower than 8 meters per second.

Question Discussion .

Medium DS:

Sheldon left his house at 8:30 a.m. and drove to his friend's house, arriving later that morning at 11:30 a.m. How many kilometers did he drive?

(1) He stopped twice along the way.
(2) His average speed while he was driving was 96 kilometers per hour.

Question Discussion .

Shaneice drove nonstop from City X to City Y in exactly 5 hours. Shaneice drove the first 200 kilometers from City X to City Y in how many minutes?

(1) Shaneice averaged 80 kilometers per hour during the first 3 hours of driving from City X to City Y.
(2) Shaneice averaged 90 kilometers per hour during the last 2 hours of driving from City X to City Y.

Question Discussion .

Hard DS:

When David drove from his home to his parents' home, was his average speed between 35 miles per hour and 50 miles per hour?

(1) To the nearest 100 miles, the distance that David drove from his home to his parents' home was 300 miles.
(2) To the nearest hour, it took David 8 hours to drive from his home to his parents' home.

Question Discussion .

﻿The velocity, V feet per second, of a model rocket t seconds after launch is given by V = -32t + C, where C is a positive constant. What is the velocity of the rocket 2 seconds after it was launched?

(1) The rocket reaches its maximum height and begins descending 1.5 seconds after it was launched.
(2) The rocket's initial velocity was 48 feet per second.

Question Discussion .

Pattern #2: Multiple-Leg and Round-Trip Problems   
  Covers trips that include multiple segments or round-trips, often with different speeds on each leg.

Easy PS:

Yuriko drove from Ashland to Bayville at an average rate of 40 miles per hour and from Bayville to Cabot at an average rate of 50 miles per hour. If Yuriko’s trip from Ashland to Bayville was 90 miles longer and took 3 hours more than her trip from Bayville to Cabot, how many hours did her trip from Ashland to Bayville take?

A. 5
B. 6
C. 7
D. 9
E. 10

Question Discussion .

A truck driver took 3 hours to travel a distance of 150 miles from the warehouse to a customer. At what average speed, in miles per hour, must the truck driver travel on the 150-mile return trip to have an average speed of 60 miles per hour for the entire round-trip?

A. 75
B. 70
C. 65
D. 60
E. 50

Question Discussion .

For today's training session, a cyclist rode 50 kilometers on a bike trail at an average speed of 40 kilometers per hour and returned on the same trail at an average speed of 20 kilometers per hour. Which of the following is closest to the cyclist's average speed for the training session, in kilometers per hour?

A. 24
B. 27
C. 30
D. 33
E. 36

Question Discussion .

A bus travels between two cities in 6 hours at an average speed of 90 kilometers per hour. If the bus returns by the same route at an average speed of 100 kilometers per hour, how long does the return trip take?

A. 5 hr 54 min
B. 5 hr 50 min
C. 5 hr 40 min
D. 5 hr 24 min
E. 5 hr

Question Discussion .

Medium PS:

Marcus performed a short test of his experimental race car by driving 2 miles at a racetrack. To make some slow-speed observations of the performance of his race car, Marcus drove the first mile in 1 minute and averaged 60 mph (miles per hour). Marcus drove the second mile in less time than he drove the first mile and he averaged 90 mph for the entire 2-mile test drive. What was Marcus's average speed, in miles per hour, for the second mile?

A. 120
B. 150
C. 180
D. 210
E. 240

Question Discussion .

A train traveled a certain route that consisted of 3 segments, all having exactly the same length. If the average speeds of the train in these segments were 60km/h, 120km/h, 60km/h, what was the average speed of the train, in km/h, over the entire route?

A. 68
B. 72
C. 80
D. 82
E. Cannot be determined

Question Discussion .

Easy DS:

Pete made a trip to the beach, of which 80 kilometers were on highway X. What was Pete's average speed for the trip?

(1) Pete's average speed for the part of the trip on highway X was 80 kilometers per hour.
(2) Pete's average speed for the part of the trip not on highway X was 96 kilometers per hour.

Question Discussion .

Medium DS:

If Jamal drove 240 kilometers, what was his average speed for the 240 kilometers that he drove?

(1) Jamal's average speed for the first 160 kilometers that he drove was 64 kilometers per hour.
(2) Jamal's average speed for the last 160 kilometers that he drove was 64 kilometers per hour.

Question Discussion .

A motorboat, which is set to travel at k kilometers per hour in still water, travels directly up and down the center of a straight river so that the change in the boat’s speed relative to the shore depends only on the speed and direction of the current. What is the value of k ?

(1) It takes the same amount of time for the boat to travel 4 kilometers directly downstream as it takes for it to travel 3 kilometers directly upstream.
(2) The current flows directly downstream at a constant rate of 2.5 kilometers per hour.

Question Discussion .

A train traveled from Station A to Station B at an average speed of 80 kilometers per hour and then from Station B to Station C at an average speed of 60 kilometers per hour. If the train did not stop at Station B, what was the average speed at which the train traveled from Station A to C?

(1) The distance that the train traveled from Station A to Station B was 4 times the distance that train traveled from Station B to Station C.
(2) The amount of time it took to the train to travel from Station A to Station B is 3 times the amount of time that it took the train to travel from Station B to Station C.

Question Discussion .

Hard DS:

A stretch of highway, Segment X, has no traffic signals and comprises three speed zones: One with a speed limit of 55 miles per hour (mph) followed by a 75-mph zone and a second 55-mph zone. Leslie is at a certain point on Segment X, driving at a speed she will exactly maintain until after she has reached the end of Segment X and has entered the next highway segment. Is she driving faster than 55 mph?

(1) Leslie’s speed is at least 5 mph below the speed limit that currently applies to her.
(2) Leslie will reach the end of Segment X without ever exceeding any speed limits.

Question Discussion .

Pattern #3:   Fuel Consumption and Efficiency    
 Applies distance-rate-time logic to questions involving fuel usage, such as miles per gallon or fuel per mile.

Medium PS:

For a 30-mile trip, the fuel consumption of a certain car was 15 miles per gallon for the first 10 miles and 45 miles per gallon for the rest of the trip. What was the car's fuel consumption for the trip, in miles per gallon?

A. 25
B. 27
C. 30
D. 33
E. 35

Question Discussion .

Medium DS:

A certain car averaged 20 miles per gallon of gasoline on a trip from City N to City P and averaged 25 miles per gallon on the return trip, which followed a different route. How many miles per gallon did the car average for the round trip?

(1) The round trip was 175 miles.

(2) The trip from City P was 3/4 as many miles as the trip to City P.

Question Discussion .

Hard DS:

Ashley and Cassandra drove their cars along the same route for 400 miles and then stopped at a gasoline station, wQuestion Discussion each purchased exactly the amount of gasoline needed to fill her car's gasoline tank to capacity. If both cars began with full gasoline tanks, which person's car consumed more gasoline during the 400-mile trip?

(1) At the gasoline station, Ashley purchased 10% less gasoline by volume than Cassandra purchased.

(2) The capacity of Ashley's gasoline tank is 15% less than the capacity of Cassandra's gasoline tank.

Question Discussion .

Pattern #4: Two or More Moving Objects    
 Involves objects moving in the same or opposite directions, often requiring the use of relative speed to determine when or wQuestion Discussion they meet.

Medium PS:

A truck left City M and traveled toward City N. A second truck left City N exactly 1 hour later and traveled toward City M. The trucks passed each other after they had traveled, nonstop, a combined total of 490 miles. If the average speeds of the trucks up to the time they passed each other were 50 miles per hour (mph) and 60 mph, respectively, how far, to the nearest mile, had the first truck traveled when the trucks passed each other?

A. 223
B. 240
C. 245
D. 250
E. 300

Question Discussion .

The distance between Town R and Town S is 209 miles. At noon yesterday, a motorist started from Town R and drove to Town S at a constant speed of 40 miles per hour, and another motorist started from Town S and drove along the same route to Town R at a constant speed of 55 miles per hour. What was the motorists' distance, in miles, from Town R when they passed each other?

A. 80
B. 88
C. 95
D. 100
E. 114

Question Discussion .

Hard PS:

City A and City B are located 610 kilometers (km) apart from each other on Highway X. At 8:00 a.m., Alonzo began driving along Highway X from City A to City B at an average driving speed of 90 kilometers per hour (km/h). At 9:30 a.m., on the same day, Ryan began driving along Highway X from City B to City A at an average driving speed of 100 km/h. How long, in hours and minutes to the nearest minute, did Ryan drive before meeting Alonzo on Highway X ?

A. 2 hours 30 minutes
B. 2 hours 50 minutes
C. 3 hours 13 minutes
D. 3 hours 55 minutes
E. 4 hours 0 minutes

Question Discussion .

Easy DS:

Larissa and Steve each drove the same distance from City X to City Y in separate cars. Did it take longer for Larissa than for Steve to complete this trip?

(1) On this trip, Larissa’s average speed was 80 kilometers per hour and Steve’s average speed was 85 kilometers per hour.
(2) On this trip, Larissa and Steve each drove 68 kilometers.

Question Discussion .

Medium DS:

Maria left home 1/4 hour after her husband and drove over the same route as he had in order to overtake him. From the time she left, how many hours did it take Maria to overtake her husband?

(1) Maria drove 60 miles before overtaking her husband.
(2) While overtaking her husband, Maria drove at an average rate of 60 miles per hour, which was 12 miles per hour faster than her husband's average rate.

Question Discussion .

In the same period of time that a sports car traveled 120 miles, a truck traveled 100 miles. What was the truck's average speed during this period of time?

(1) During the first 30 minutes, the sports car traveled 30 miles.
(2) The truck's average speed was 10 miles per hour less than the sports car's.

Question Discussion .

Hard DS:

Driving at their respective constant speeds along the same route, Alfred passed a certain landmark 1 hour after Violet did. Both Alfred and Violet continued driving along the same route in the same direction at their respective constant speeds. If Alfred's speed was 24 kilometers per hour greater than Violet's, what was Violet's speed?

(1) Alfred overtook Violet 4 hours after she passed the landmark.
(2) Alfred's speed was 4/3 of Violet's speed.

Question Discussion .

Stations X and Y are connected by two separate, straight, parallel rail lines that are 250 miles long. Train P and train Q simultaneously left Station X and Station Y, respectively, and each train traveled to the other’s point of departure. The two trains passed each other after traveling for 2 hours. When the two trains passed, which train was nearer to its destination?

(1) At the time when the two trains passed, train P had averaged a speed of 70 miles per hour.
(2) Train Q averaged a speed of 55 miles per hour for the entire trip.

Question Discussion .

Christa, Jada, and Yvette were swimming laps at an outdoor swimming pool. Christa planned to swim for Cm minutes at a constant speed and swim a total of CL laps. Jada planned to swim for Jm minutes at a constant speed and swim a total of JL laps. Yvette planned to swim for Ym minutes at a constant speed and swim a total of YL laps. They started swimming at the same time and stopped swimming at the same time when lightning began to occur. If Christa lost 40% of her planned swimming time, which of the 3 swimmers lost the greatest percentage of her planned laps?

(1) CL = 18, JL = 25, YL = 20

(2) Cm = 75, Jm = 60, Ym = 50

Question Discussion .

Theory on absolute value is  Question Discussion .
 Miles, Gallons, and Math: Mastering Fuel Efficiency Questions  - Theory on efficiency questions.
 All the Different Types of Distance/Rate Problems  - Collection of questions.

Hard Distance and Speed PS questions are  Question Discussion .
Medium Distance and Speed PS questions are  Question Discussion .
Easy Distance and Speed PS questions are  Question Discussion .

Hard Distance and Speed DS questions are  Question Discussion .
Medium Distance and Speed DS questions are  Question Discussion .
Easy Distance and Speed PDS questions are  Question Discussion .

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

GMAT Question Patterns:

GMAT Question Patterns: Work and Rate Problems  
  GMAT Question Patterns: Arithmetic  
  GMAT Question Patterns: Absolute Value  
  GMAT Question Patterns: Distance and Speed  
  GMAT Question Patterns: Remainders  
  GMAT Question Patterns: Algebra  
  GMAT Question Patterns: Overlapping Sets

vivekthesmarty · Answer

Bunuel  last question of 1st pattern has wrong link. These question pattern blogs are awesome..

Bunuel · Answer

____________________
Fixed the link. Thank you.

Bunuel · Answer

New one:  GMAT Question Patterns: Sequences

Bunuel · Answer

The new pattern topic:  GMAT Question Patterns: Functions and Custom Characters .

GMAT Question Patterns: Distance and Speed

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