A store reported total sales of $385 million for February of

Question

A store reported total sales of $385 million for February of this year. If the total sales for the same month last year was $320 million, approximately what was the percent increase in sales?

(A) 2%
(B) 17%
(C) 20%
(D) 65%
(E) 83%

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

Last year's sales = $320 million;
This year's sales = $385 million;
Increase = $65 million.

Now, 20% of $320 million is $64 million, which is very close to actual increase of $65 million.

Answer: C.

OR:
General formula for percent increase or decrease, or percent change:

Percent=\frac{Change}{Original}*100  -->  Percent=\frac{65}{320}*100=\frac{13}{64}*100\approx{\frac{13}{65}}*100=20% .

Answer: C.

Shadow88 · Answer

This might sound stupid, but how do we know that we need to round up 64 to 65 without losing to much time. I did this question before and it took over 2 min before i knew that i had to round 64 to 65 in order to solve the problem. Do you have any trick in mind?

Bunuel · Answer

65 is the closest multiple of 13: 5*13=65.

luckyme17187 · Answer

last year= 320
this year = 385

((385-320)/320)*100 = (65/320 )*100 approx.. 20

PareshGmat · Answer

Increase = 385 - 320 = 65

% Increase  = \frac{65}{320} * 100 = 20%

Answer = C

TeamGMATIFY · Answer

Percentage increase =  \frac{(Final - Original)}{Original}*100

Substituting the values here

\frac{(385 - 320)}{320} * 100 = (65/320)*100 = 20% approx 
Option C

JeffTargetTestPrep · Answer

The problem is testing us on using the percent change formula:

(New Value – Old Value)/Old Value x 100

We are given:

February sales this year = 385 million

February sales last year = 320 million

We need to determine the percent increase between sales from last year to sales this year.

Thus, the new value = 385 million and the old value = 320 million. Let’s plug them into our percent change formula.

(New Value – Old Value)/Old Value x 100

x 100

65/320 x 100

13/64 x 100 ≈ 13/65 x 100 ≈ 1/5 x 100 ≈ 20%.

The answer is C.

malhadhr · Answer

First thing is you can approximate since the percentages are wide apart.

385 - 320 = 65

original amount = 320 so every 32 is 10%

20% is equal to 64 M

so answer is slightly above 20% hence C is the closest answer.

Jsound996 · Answer

Percentage increase =  \frac{(Final - Original)}{Original}*100

\frac{(385 - 320)}{320}*100

\frac{(65)}{320}*100

\frac{(65)}{32}*10    Cross off a zero from 320 and 100

\frac{65}{32}   is close to 2, so 2 * 10 = 20%

Answer is C

Abhishek009 · Answer

\frac{65}{320}*100  ~  20 %

Thus, Answer must be (C)

Basshead · Answer

\frac{new - old }{ old}

\frac{385 - 320 }{ 320}

\frac{65 }{ 320}  = approximately 20%

Answer is C.

avigutman · Answer

Video solution from Quant Reasoning: Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/QuantReasoning? ... irmation=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AyOptxBXH4

GMATinsight · Answer

Answer: Option C

Step-by-Step Video solution by  GMATinsight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXu2AgHexbM

Aiku12 · Answer

In the recent Gmat OG 2023 books, this question is marked under hard level of problem. So does this mean that the value for the question is incorrectly marked by GMAT. Since the thread mentions it a sub 505 level question

Bunuel · Answer

GMAT and GMAT Club base their difficulty levels on different pools of statistics, so there may be some discrepancies between the two. The difficulty level of this question on the forum is determined by over 3,000 attempts by users through the timer: https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=82008 So, as you can see, this question is fairly easy based on the stats we have. Additionally, the question is genuinely easy, so I'm surprised that GMAT categorizes it as hard. GMAT-Club-Forum-mkk3itvu.png

Carcass · Answer

I agree with you  Bunuel .

In my view, a good idea should be to find common ground among

1) How GMAC classifies the question: hard, medium, and easy
2) The opinion of the experts like you
3) The statistics

For example, the passage I suggested to change the tag the other day was not sub -500 because it appeared to me just in the middle of my verbal mock, and in the end, I had three questions incorrect overall, careless mistakes.

My assumption is that it was not  a sub-500. Of course, I am just saying this. What I am pointing out is not necessarily correct.

totaltestprepNick · Answer

C https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k1ayoEHWjE Nick Slavkovich, GMAT/GRE tutor with 20+ years of experience tutoring@totaltestprep.net

A store reported total sales of $385 million for February of

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