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555-605 (Medium)|   Graphs|      
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The graph below shows the development of Company XYZ, founded in 2001. 25 Nov 2023, 02:30
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Dropdown 1: number of employees increases, revenue increases Dropdown 2: number of employees stays about the same; revenue increases
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25% (medium)

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71% (01:20) correct 29% (01:31) wrong based on 737 sessions

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The graph below shows the development of Company XYZ, founded in 2001. The vertical axis shows the average number of employees each year, and the size of the dots represents the annual revenues that year.

3. Which is a clear trend for Company XYZ during the years 2003 – 2007, before the subprime mortgage crisis?

4. Which is a clear trend for Company XYZ during the years 2008 – 2011, in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis?


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The graph above is a bubble graph, a kind of variation on a scatterplot. For a detailed discussion of this graph type, as well as the OA & OE for this particular question, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-inte ... le-charts/
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Dropdown 1: number of employees increases, revenue increases Dropdown 2: number of employees stays about the same; revenue increases
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The graph below shows the development of Company XYZ, founded in 2001. 30 Nov 2023, 10:27
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3. Which is a clear trend for Company XYZ during the years 2003 – 2007, before the subprime mortgage crisis?
As the number of employees on Y axis increases, so does the size of dots (i.e. revenue of the company)
Correct option: number of employee increases; revenue increases

4. Which is a clear trend for Company XYZ during the years 2008 – 2011, in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis?
The no. of employees on the Y axis remain about the same. Yet the size of the dots (revenue of the company) increases.
Correct option: number of employees stays about the same; revenue increases
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The graph below shows the development of Company XYZ, founded in 2001. 05 Jun 2026, 06:44
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I'm confused in 2nd question,
This is how I could interpret from the graph.

2008 - No of employee : 70; Revenue : same
2009 - No of employee : 74; Revenue : same
2010 - No of employee : 62; Revenue : same
2011 - No of employee : 78; Revenue : Increased

Hence No of employees : Increased
Revenue : Remained same.

Can someone tell me which value I took wrong.
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The graph below shows the development of Company XYZ, founded in 2001. 06 Jun 2026, 10:22
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Hi SM15,

Your reading of the chart is almost right; the slip is in how you're judging each axis for 2008-2011, so let me point to exactly where to look.

There are two separate things to read off this graph, and they live in different places:

- Number of employees = the height of each dot on the vertical axis.
- Revenue = the size of each dot, not its height.

On employees - the small wiggle isn't a trend. Your numbers (70, 74, 62, 78) are basically correct, but look at the range: every one of those years sits in a tight band roughly between 65 and 78. The dots go up a little, down a little, up a little - there's no steady climb. When values bounce inside a narrow band with no clear direction, the GMAT calls that "stays about the same," not "increases." Compare it to 2003-2007, where the dots march from about 45 up to 120 - that is what a real increase looks like on this axis.

On revenue - you're reading the wrong feature of the dot. Revenue is the dot's size. Across 2008 to 2011 the dots get visibly larger, so revenue is increasing. It's easy to miss because your eye tracks the height (employees) and treats the bubble as just a marker - but the bubble size is carrying its own variable here.

So nothing in your data was "wrong" - you read the heights fine. The two fixes are: (1) judge employees by the overall direction, not year-to-year jitter, so it's "about the same"; and (2) read revenue from the dot size, which is clearly growing.

Answer: number of employees stays about the same; revenue increases

SM15
I'm confused in 2nd question,
This is how I could interpret from the graph.

2008 - No of employee : 70; Revenue : same
2009 - No of employee : 74; Revenue : same
2010 - No of employee : 62; Revenue : same
2011 - No of employee : 78; Revenue : Increased

Hence No of employees : Increased
Revenue : Remained same.

Can someone tell me which value I took wrong.
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