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25 Mar 2020, 18:14
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey,
I just started looking into books for preparing for the GMAT and the book that was easily available for me was the "501 GMAT questions" by Learning Express. In their DS section i encountered two questions with solutions that make me doubt my and the authors understanding of the DS question format.
361 says: Is x divisible by five?
I. The sum of the digits is eight.
II. The first digit of x is 3.
Answer provided by the book: c. Both statements are needed together because if x is divisible by 5, the second digit must be either a zero or a 5. If the sum of the digits is 8, the only combination that would make x divisible by 5 would be 3 and 5 or 8 and 0. The second statement confirms that the first digit is 3, meaning the second digit has to be 5, so they can sum to 8.
I do not agree, since it is nowhere stated that x has two digits. 323 or 3122 etc. fulfill both statements and are not divisible by 5. In my understanding these statements are not sufficient, if they also allow for other X values.
362 says: Which company had a higher growth in net profit?
I. Company P’s net profits rose by 2.5%.
II. Company Q’s net profits rose by 3.7%.
Answer provided by the book: e. It does not matter how much the profits rose if we do not know the actual profits. 2.5% of 1,000 would be larger than 3.7% of 100.
Again, i have to disagree. "Growth" is in my definition always a relative measure, and in this case both statements together allow to make a comparison and answer the question. The case would be different if it would ask for the absolute change in net profit.
Which understanding of the DS question type corresponds more to the actual GMAT? Do I have to expect such ambiguity in the GMAT? Is this book of any use?
Best regards!
I just started looking into books for preparing for the GMAT and the book that was easily available for me was the "501 GMAT questions" by Learning Express. In their DS section i encountered two questions with solutions that make me doubt my and the authors understanding of the DS question format.
361 says: Is x divisible by five?
I. The sum of the digits is eight.
II. The first digit of x is 3.
Answer provided by the book: c. Both statements are needed together because if x is divisible by 5, the second digit must be either a zero or a 5. If the sum of the digits is 8, the only combination that would make x divisible by 5 would be 3 and 5 or 8 and 0. The second statement confirms that the first digit is 3, meaning the second digit has to be 5, so they can sum to 8.
I do not agree, since it is nowhere stated that x has two digits. 323 or 3122 etc. fulfill both statements and are not divisible by 5. In my understanding these statements are not sufficient, if they also allow for other X values.
362 says: Which company had a higher growth in net profit?
I. Company P’s net profits rose by 2.5%.
II. Company Q’s net profits rose by 3.7%.
Answer provided by the book: e. It does not matter how much the profits rose if we do not know the actual profits. 2.5% of 1,000 would be larger than 3.7% of 100.
Again, i have to disagree. "Growth" is in my definition always a relative measure, and in this case both statements together allow to make a comparison and answer the question. The case would be different if it would ask for the absolute change in net profit.
Which understanding of the DS question type corresponds more to the actual GMAT? Do I have to expect such ambiguity in the GMAT? Is this book of any use?
Best regards!
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26 Mar 2020, 13:37
Kudos
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HI basit6
No such ambiguity will be found in real gmat.
Invest your effort in more professional sources such as Manhatten, Veritas and others.
Best of all, You can go to GMATclub question back, and there you can search the questions by the number of Kudos to solve the ones with the highest qualities. https://gmatclub.com/forum/search.php?view=search_tags
No such ambiguity will be found in real gmat.
Invest your effort in more professional sources such as Manhatten, Veritas and others.
Best of all, You can go to GMATclub question back, and there you can search the questions by the number of Kudos to solve the ones with the highest qualities. https://gmatclub.com/forum/search.php?view=search_tags
27 Mar 2020, 16:00
Kudos
Bookmarks
The real GMAT won't have this type of ambiguity.
Official GMAT problems are extensively tested on actual test-takers before they 'count' on the test (that's why you see experimental questions during your test). A problem is 'good' if high-scorers tend to get it right pretty consistently, and low-scorers tend to get it wrong pretty consistently. If a problem has the type of ambiguity where you could make a reasonable argument in favor of two different answer choices, then even high scorers would be split between those two answer choices - which would certainly prompt the GMAC to take a second look at the problem and rewrite it before it's used officially.
That said, if you saw the first problem written exactly like that on the GMAT, your evaluation would be correct. The right answer should be E. Unless they specify that there's a constraint (like specifying that there are exactly two digits), you can't assume that the constraint exists.
Official GMAT problems are extensively tested on actual test-takers before they 'count' on the test (that's why you see experimental questions during your test). A problem is 'good' if high-scorers tend to get it right pretty consistently, and low-scorers tend to get it wrong pretty consistently. If a problem has the type of ambiguity where you could make a reasonable argument in favor of two different answer choices, then even high scorers would be split between those two answer choices - which would certainly prompt the GMAC to take a second look at the problem and rewrite it before it's used officially.
That said, if you saw the first problem written exactly like that on the GMAT, your evaluation would be correct. The right answer should be E. Unless they specify that there's a constraint (like specifying that there are exactly two digits), you can't assume that the constraint exists.
