What is this GMAT question testing?

This question test word structure–specifically the order of words.

Do you say:
“received labor’s unqualifying support”
or
“receiving the unqualifying support of labor”
or
“receive consistent and unqualified support”

This question also tries to complicate things further by adding what we here at GMAT Pill call “fluff.” The purpose of FLUFF is to slow you down in the GMAT test marathon. If you can quickly identify where the fluff is, you’ll be that much better off in terms fo timing for the real exam.

Watch this video above to find out how to think about this question.

How To Think Through This Official Guide Question

Go ahead and check out the GMAT Pill video explanation of this Official Guide Question.

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GMATPill Explanation
OK, so you know the rule: Total Number * Percentage = Actual Number
The question is asking “what is the total amount the salesman was paid.”—this means you need the dollar amount.

At a quick glance, you can see that (1) gives you a PERCENTAGE and (2) gives you a NUMBER.

So right off the bat, I am leaning towards (B) as the answer. But let’s make sure.

(2) tells us the salesman’s sales last week was $5,000. So how much did he make? Well, since he gets paid a fixed amount of $300 + commission%*(TotalSales – $1,000), you can easily calculate how much he gets paid since you now know the TotalSales from (2).
So that confirms (2) is good.

What about (1)?
Well, (1) is a percentage, so we don’t know if it’s good. The framework does NOT tell us that (1) is automatically no good. It just tells us that (2) is almost definitely correct.

So how do we go about evaluating (1)? Well, first take the information from the question stem and right down what you know.

You know the amount he was paid = $300 + .05(excess over $1,000) = $300 +.05(TotalSales-$1,000)

Now read (1). (1) says the amount he was paid = 10% of TotalSales.

Look at that! 1 Equation and 1 Unknown–which means this has a solution. Of course, don’t spend the time to solve this equation. But right away, you know you have enough information to find how much the guy was paid.

So (1) here is good as well.

In this case, both (1) and (2) are good.

Remember, when using this framework, you should be going through this thought process:

1) Since statement (2) has a number, it has a pretty high probability of being good.
2) Check to make sure that (2) makes sense—it does, so (2) is good.
3) Since statement (1) is a percentage, it has a pretty high probability of not being good, but not necessarily.
4) Write out any equations you know and see if you can somehow match things up
5) In this case, it turns out you can create a 1 equation/1 unknown scenario so statement (1) is also good.

SInce (1) and (2) are both good by themself, then you choose (D) as your final answer.

And yes, you should always write out equations that involve a few moving parts.

To further clarify, the only reason why (1) in OG #77 is good even though it is a PERCENTAGE, is because:

the info in (1) is a PERCENTAGE of a variable that was previously mentioned in the question stem.

In particular, (1) tells us the “10% of the amount of sales last week”

This percentage is previously referenced in the question stem:
“commission equals to 5 percent of the amount of his sales last week”

Do you see that? It’s a percentage of a variable that was previously mentioned.

Now compare OG#77 to the example in the video. The example in the video does NOT reference a variable previously mentioned in the question stem.

In the video, statement (2) says:
“The brokerage firm’s commission decreased the profit earned on the trade by 10%”
Ask yourself: Was “profit earned on the trade” a variable in the question stem?
Nope!

So it’s safe to assume that this question is “normal” and you can confidently move forward with the framework quickly.

So in the future, be aware of when the percentage they give references a variable previously mentioned in the question stem. In these cases, you should double check and ask yourself if things make sense.

For many students, the GMATPill explanation works a lot better.

More GMAT Questions

What is this GMAT question testing?

This question throws in singular vs. plural, some idiomatic phrases, and “it” references.

See if you can spot the pitfalls in this question and arrive at the correct one in as little time as you can.

Do you say:
“agreement prohibiting”
or do you say:
“agreement that would prohibit” ??

Or is either one ok? Watch the video above to find out!

How To Think Through This GMAT Prep Software Question

Go ahead and check out the GMAT Pill video explanation of this Official Guide Question.