Figures Drawn to Scale - General Quant Question

Question

Hi All - I've been working through the OG and have run into an issue that I believe there is likely an easy answer for. Should I always assume that figures are NOT drawn to scale? I've noticed that in some cases it is explicitly noted that a figure is not drawn to scale, but in other cases the note is not included. I read in the "Test Taking Strategies" section of the OG that figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, which to me means that even if a figure does not explicitly say it is not drawn to scale, it still could be the case that it is not drawn to scale.

More generally, I'm looking for guidance on the best practice with regards to questions in the OG and on the real test involving figures that are / are not drawn to scale.

Thanks for your help and please let me know if I can clarify.

BrentGMATPrepNow · Answer

On the GMAT, all diagrams posed as Problem Solving questions can be assumed to be drawn to scale, unless otherwise specified. 
However, diagrams posed as Data Sufficiency questions cannot be assumed to be drawn to scale.

Here's a video on the topic of what can and cannot be assumed:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaPuJh3m3Pk

CupOfWater · Answer

Thanks - exactly the guidance I was looking for!

IanStewart · Answer

The test directions say that figures are drawn accurately unless noted otherwise. But this is an official problem:

in-the-figure-above-points-p-and-q-lie-on-the-circle-with-85154.html

and the diagram there is clearly not to scale (the points appear, in the picture, to be the same height, but that's not even close to being true). So I'm not sure what to make of the test directions these days -- I've never seen an old PS question with a not-to-scale diagram, so it's possible that direction is out of date. The safest practice is to redraw any diagrams on your own, to scale; that's useful anyway in case you need to estimate an answer (even if just to check your work, or to guess well if you can't see how to solve).

On DS, of course, you can never completely rely on a provided diagram, because the diagram will potentially change based on how much information you use.

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Figures Drawn to Scale - General Quant Question

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