Last visit was: 23 Apr 2026, 02:02 It is currently 23 Apr 2026, 02:02
Home
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
Poor Quality|      
User avatar
powerka
User avatar
Joined: 22 Jul 2009
Last visit: 29 Apr 2016
Posts: 100
Own Kudos:
573
Given Kudos: 18
Posts: 100
Kudos: 573
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 29 Aug 2009, 00:13
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
00:00
Start Timer
Pause Timer
Resume Timer
Show Answer
Hide
Show
History
N
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

(N/A)

Question Stats:

17% (02:07) correct 83% (01:37) wrong based on 11 sessions

History

Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question:
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 10 years older than Mary. What is Mary's age today?
(1) Mary's age today is three times the age of Joe.
(2) Lloyd today is 5 years old.

Source: GMATlive's free CAT

I say puzzling as I can't understand how come I can be answering this simple question incorrectly.

Questions says:
. J=L+5
. J-10=M-10 -> J=M

Statement 1: M=3J -> not sufficient

Statement 2: L=5
With that we can get J, and therefore M

I say answer is B. GMATlive says I'm wrong.

Does anybody feel like spending a couple of minutes on this?

Thanks

This Question is Locked Due to Poor Quality
Hi there,
The question you've reached has been archived due to not meeting our community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Looking for better-quality questions? Check out the 'Similar Questions' block below for a list of similar but high-quality questions.
Want to join other relevant Problem Solving discussions? Visit our Data Sufficiency (DS) Forum for the most recent and top-quality discussions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
User avatar
GMAT TIGER
User avatar
Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Last visit: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 1,012
Own Kudos:
1,796
Given Kudos: 19
Posts: 1,012
Kudos: 1,796
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 29 Aug 2009, 00:35
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
You said B. Can you solve it by using only statement 2?

powerka
Question: Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 10 years older than Mary. What is Mary's age today?

(2) Lloyd today is 5 years old.
Show more

Always be careful of not mixing statement 1 with statement 2 and vice versa while selecting answer choice either A or B. Thats what DS is...
User avatar
powerka
User avatar
Joined: 22 Jul 2009
Last visit: 29 Apr 2016
Posts: 100
Own Kudos:
573
Given Kudos: 18
Posts: 100
Kudos: 573
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 29 Aug 2009, 09:10
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Yes. Plug in L=5 into J=L+5 and get J=10. Then plug in J=10 into J=M and get M=10.
Statement 2 is sufficient. Answer B.
Anything wrong with this?
User avatar
powerka
User avatar
Joined: 22 Jul 2009
Last visit: 29 Apr 2016
Posts: 100
Own Kudos:
573
Given Kudos: 18
Posts: 100
Kudos: 573
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 29 Aug 2009, 09:41
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Doh, stupid me. Thanks.
User avatar
sasen
User avatar
Joined: 28 Aug 2009
Last visit: 12 May 2010
Posts: 73
Own Kudos:
193
Given Kudos: 1
Posts: 73
Kudos: 193
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 29 Aug 2009, 11:30
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Answer should be E..right?
User avatar
powerka
User avatar
Joined: 22 Jul 2009
Last visit: 29 Apr 2016
Posts: 100
Own Kudos:
573
Given Kudos: 18
Posts: 100
Kudos: 573
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 29 Aug 2009, 11:43
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Questions says:
. Joe=L+5
. Jh-10=M-10 -> Jh=M
-> what is M?

Statement 1: M=3Joe -> not sufficient
Statement 2: L=5 -> We can get Joe, but can't get Mary -> not sufficient
Together: from Statement 2 we got Joe; plug that into M=3Joe from statement 1 and we get Mary.

Answer is C.

The information about John is irrelevant; its there just to generate confusion.
User avatar
sasen
User avatar
Joined: 28 Aug 2009
Last visit: 12 May 2010
Posts: 73
Own Kudos:
193
Given Kudos: 1
Posts: 73
Kudos: 193
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 30 Aug 2009, 02:00
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
powerka
Questions says:
. Joe=L+5
. Jh-10=M-10 -> Jh=M
-> what is M?

Statement 1: M=3Joe -> not sufficient
Statement 2: L=5 -> We can get Joe, but can't get Mary -> not sufficient
Together: from Statement 2 we got Joe; plug that into M=3Joe from statement 1 and we get Mary.

Answer is C.

The information about John is irrelevant; its there just to generate confusion.
Show more
Thanks..nice explanation..i get totally confused...guess i need to write down things
User avatar
g4gmat
User avatar
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Last visit: 05 Dec 2011
Posts: 9
Own Kudos:
23
Given Kudos: 14
Concentration: International Business and others
Schools:Any offering one year MBA
WE 1: Information Tech
WE 2: Event Consultant for FIFA addi events and WC
Posts: 9
Kudos: 23
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 14 Sep 2010, 23:48
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Yup C.. Need to read the stem carefully. Stem tricks us to assume Joe and John to be same if using "J" while forming equations.
User avatar
IanStewart
User avatar
GMAT Tutor
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Last visit: 17 Apr 2026
Posts: 4,143
Own Kudos:
11,270
Given Kudos: 99
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,143
Kudos: 11,270
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 15 Sep 2010, 07:24
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
powerka
Question:
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 10 years older than Mary. What is Mary's age today?
(1) Mary's age today is three times the age of Joe.
(2) Lloyd today is 5 years old.

Source: GMATlive's free CAT

I say puzzling as I can't understand how come I can be answering this simple question incorrectly.

Questions says:
. J=L+5
. J-10=M-10 -> J=M
Show more

There was one other mistake in the above, which I guess went unnoticed. If ten years ago, John was 10 years older than Mary, then John is always going to be ten years older than Mary, so the equation J-10 = M-10 is not correct; it should read J - 10 = M.
User avatar
chuotnhat1704
User avatar
Joined: 08 Sep 2010
Last visit: 04 May 2011
Posts: 2
Given Kudos: 7
Posts: 2
Kudos: 0
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 30 Oct 2010, 02:55
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
powerka
Question:
Joe is older to Lloyd by five years. Ten years ago, John was 10 years older than Mary. What is Mary's age today?
(1) Mary's age today is three times the age of Joe.
(2) Lloyd today is 5 years old.

Source: GMATlive's free CAT

I say puzzling as I can't understand how come I can be answering this simple question incorrectly.

Questions says:
. J=L+5
. J-10=M-10 -> J=M

Statement 1: M=3J -> not sufficient

Statement 2: L=5
With that we can get J, and therefore M

I say answer is B. GMATlive says I'm wrong.

Does anybody feel like spending a couple of minutes on this?

Thanks
Show more

You are wrong because you mistake Joe and John.
You use J denote for both Joe and John --> you come up with wrong formula.

This is careless error.

This Question is Locked Due to Poor Quality
Hi there,
The question you've reached has been archived due to not meeting our community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Looking for better-quality questions? Check out the 'Similar Questions' block below for a list of similar but high-quality questions.
Want to join other relevant Problem Solving discussions? Visit our Data Sufficiency (DS) Forum for the most recent and top-quality discussions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
Moderators:
Bunuel
Math Expert
109763 posts
kingbucky
498 posts
Gmat860sanskar
212 posts