Ever felt that a solution provided by GMAC is wrong?

Question

Have you ever encountered a question (especially from CR or RC sections) for which you felt that the answer provided by GMAC is hollow/weak/weird/wrong?

Unsure if it's a case with me alone, but I have a problem with a (very small) number of the solutions given in The Official Guide for GMAT® Review, 12th Edition.

Update (28-Aug-10; 1:22 PM IST):  I've added an example in a reply on this page.

gurpreetsingh · Answer

Golden rule : Explanation might not be up to mark for the official questions, but the answers are never wrong. If you think its wrong you have to understand why it is correct and learn the concept as you might have to reuse it on another similar question.

akaydee · Answer

hi rishabhsingla, Axiom: GMAT answers are never wrong. When you are in the GMAT playground you should rule to play by their rules :-D

If you want to play in the football World Cup you have to follow the rules set by FIFA.

BM · Answer

It's highly unlikely that an official answer is wrong. These are retired test problems, so a long time has passed since these questions and answers were first developed, incorporated into the GMAT, and then included in the OG books. At each stage, they were most probably checked for any error. And if there were any major issues, then previous customers would have already noticed by now and the GMAC would have corrected them.

What may be unsatisfactory, though, is the explanation. There were a few official explanations that I didn't find complete for me. Another possibility might be a simple typo, but those will be easy to identify and resolve on your own. But I don't recall having problems with OG typos.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, post the OG question in the corresponding  verbal  or  quant  forum.

bb · Answer

I agree with everyone that there are few chances that questions are wrong since they are official but answers and printing errors are possible, so if you have an OG 12 questions, search for the solution on the forum or post it in the proper sub-forum and you can get down to the bottom of it.

rishabhsingla · Answer

Ok, lemme provide a specific example.

I'm "horrified" that  this  is posted on mba.com as a model solution for AWA Argument question.

Do you think GMAC mistakenly put an Issue solution as an Argument solution (please read the solution till the end before reaching at a conclusion)?

bb · Answer

Thanks. To add to that, it took them a few months to change the break time, so for a few months they were showing a 10 min break when in reality it was 8. I do think the website is a different story. However, the questions are tested and re-tested. I have heard the stat that one GMAT question costs GMAC around $1,000 to create.

gurpreetsingh · Answer

OMG 1000$ per question. :shock:

Lets offer them for 500$/question. :lol:

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Ever felt that a solution provided by GMAC is wrong?

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