A Nemeroff vodka salesman is paid a salary of $1000 per month and earn

Question

A Nemeroff vodka salesman is paid a salary of $1000 per month and earns a 12% commission on all of his sales. What must his annual sales be in order for him to earn total annual compensation of exactly $33,600?

(A) $180,000
(B) $240,000
(C) $280,000
(D) $330,000
(E) $360,000

(A) $180,000 
(B) $240,000 
(C) $280,000 
(D) $330,000 
(E) $360,000

Archit3110 · Answer

let x be commission
so expression shall be
12*1000 + .12x = 33600
solve for x = 18,000
option A

GMATNinja · Answer

A very useful habit to get into on the GMAT: when you're finished with a question (especially a percents question), ask yourself whether your answer is reasonable. Here we have a salesdude who earns more $33,600 in total compensation, and $21,600 in sales commissions. And you're saying that his sales should be $18,000 -- quite a bit less than his pay? That should set off alarm bells in your head right away.

The part you're missing is the direct translation of the commission. We already know that his commission is $21,600, and we can translate this part literally:

$21,600 is 12% of total sales 
 Let x = total sales 
 $21,600 = (12/100)x

Looks like you might have done something weird with the fraction, and turned 12/100 into 1.2?

I hope that helps!

SaiPraneethPapire · Answer

let x be his sales per month
1000+(0.12*x) is his monthly income
Given,
(1000+0.12x)*12=33600
solve for x,
x=15000 per month
so,his monthly sales is $15000
his yearly sales would be 15000*12=$180000

ThatDudeKnows · Answer

Ballpark and PITA (Plug In The Answers) all day on a question like this! Drastically reduce the odds of making a silly calculation error...by not doing the calculations!!

Total compensation is 33600. 12000 was from monthly salary. That means 21600 was from commission.

Let's try B: 12% > 10%, so 240,000*12% > 24,000
Already too big. B is wrong and C, D, and E would only be even bigger, so they're wrong, too.

Answer choice A.

This question is a great example of why I like starting with B or D instead of the frequently-suggested approach of starting with C. If you try C, it doesn't work, and you know you need something smaller, there's a decent chance you'll still need to try A or B. But if you try B, it doesn't work, and you know you need something smaller, you're done. Testing B is really like testing 40% of the answer choices. Same for D, as it tells you about E.

ThatDudeKnowsPITA
ThatDudeKnowsBallparking

bumpbot · Answer

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A Nemeroff vodka salesman is paid a salary of $1000 per month and earn

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A Nemeroff vodka salesman is paid a salary of $1000 per month and earn

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