After his first semester in college, Thomas is applying for a scholars

Question

Tough and Tricky questions: Statistics

After his first semester in college, Thomas is applying for a scholarship that has a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) requirement of 3.5. The point values of pertinent college grades are given in the table below. If Thomas took 5 courses, each with an equal weight for GPA calculations, and received two grades of A-, one grade of B+, and one grade of B, what is the lowest grade that Thomas could receive for his fifth class to qualify for the scholarship?

Point Values of Select Grades
Grade: A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C-
Value: 4 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 2 | 1.7

(A) A 
(B) B+ 
(C) B 
(D) B- 
(E) C+

AmoyV · Accepted Answer

Required total points = 3.5*5=17.5

Actual total points (4 subjects) = 2*3.7 + 3.3 + 3
 = 13.7

Required total points for the last subject = 17.5 - 13.7
 = 3.8

Has to be Grade A. (A-, 3.7 GPA, wont be enough to get an overall minimum GPA of 3.5 for the 5 subjects)

Thoughtosphere · Answer

Score Received   Variation from 3.5 
 3.7   +.2 
 3.7   +.2   
 3.3   -.2 
 3    -.5

So, total variation = -.3
Thus he needs 3.5 + .3 = 3.8 to get scholarship.

Thus he requires A (4) since A- will give only 3.7

Ans. A

PareshGmat · Answer

Grade: A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C-
Value: 4 |  3.7  |  3.3  |  3  | 2.7 | 2.3 | 2 | 1.7

7.4 + 3.3 + 3 + x = 3.5 * 5

x = 17.5 - 13.7 = 3.8

Grade A is required to qualify

Answer = A

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi All,

Most Test Takers would treat this prompt as an "Average Formula" question, which is absolutely fine. As an alternative, here's a way to solve this problem without using the Average Formula:

The five "grades" are 3.7, 3.7, 3.3, 3.0 and X

To get an overall average of 3.5 or higher, we can "balance out" the values and figure out what the 5th value must be:

3.7 (.2 above) 
3.7 (.2 above) 
3.3 (.2 below) 
3.0 (.5 below)

With these 4 values, 3.7 and 3.3 are the same "distance" away from the 3.5; the other 3.7 doesn't offset the 3.0 "enough" (the net effect is still .3 below); thus, the X value has to be high enough above 3.5 to "make up for" the .3 below. The X would have to be at least 3.8…

The only Grade that accomplishes that is an A Grade.

Final Answer:  A

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, 
Rich

aritranandy8 · Answer

VeritasKarishma  can you plz expain this

KarishmaB · Answer

He needs an avg of 3.5

He already has 
2 A- i.e. 2 scores of 3.7 i.e. 2*0.2 = 0.4 more than what he needs.
1 B+ i.e. 1 score of 3.3 i.e. 0.2 less than what he needs.
1 B i.e. 1 score of 3 i.e. 0.5 less than what he needs.

He has excess 0.4 and is short by 0.2+0.5 = 0.7. Overall, he is short by 0.3.

So in the next course, he must get 3.5 + 0.3 = 3.8 to get the 3.5 average. 
A- will give him only 3.7 so he must get an A to qualify for the scholarship.

Answer (A)

bumpbot · Answer

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After his first semester in college, Thomas is applying for a scholars

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