GMAT exercise - 1

Question 1. Critical Reasoning

In the United States, of the people who moved from one state to another when they retired, the percentage who retired to Florida has decreased by three percentage points over the past ten years. Since many local businesses in Florida cater to retirees, this decline is likely to have a noticeably negative economic effect on these businesses.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. Florida attracts more people who move from one state to another when they retire than does any other state.

B. The number of people who move out of Florida to accept employment in other states has increased over the past ten years.

C. There are far more local businesses in Florida that cater to tourists than there are local businesses that cater to retirees.

D. The total number of people who retired and moved to another state for their retirement has increased significantly over the past ten years.

E. The number of people who left Florida when they retired to live in another state was greater last year than it was ten years ago.

Question 2. Sentence Correction: correct the underlined part

Native American burial sites dating back 5,000 years indicate that the residents of Maine at that time

were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people.

(a) were part of a widespread culture of Algonquian-speaking people

(b) had been part of a widespread culture of people who were Algonquian-speaking

(d) had been people who were part of a widespread culture that was Algonquian-speaking

(e) were a people which had been part of a widespread, Algonquian-speaking culture

Question 3. Problem Solving

At a certain food stand, the price of each apple is $40 and the price of each orange is $60. Mary selects a total of 10 apples and oranges from the food stand, and the average (arithmetic mean) price of the 10 pieces of fruit is $56. How many oranges must Mary put back so that the average price of the pieces of fruit that she keeps is $52?

A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4 E. 5

Question 4. Data Sufficiency

Professor Vasquez gave a quiz to two classes. Was the range of scores for the first class equal to the range of scores for the second class?

(1) In each class, the number of students taking the quiz was 26, and the lowest score in each class was 70.

(2) In each class, the average (arithmetic mean) score on the quiz was 85.

A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.

B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.

C. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.

D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.

E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.

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Answer to Q1.

The question is asking for an answer choice that weakens the author’s conclusion that the decline in the percentage of retirees moving to Florida will have a negative economic effect on businesses that cater to retirees. The author arrived at such a conclusion because of his assumption that a decline in percentage points should be interpreted as a decline in actual number of retirees. The author is implicitly making an assumption that the number of retirees did not change during this period. However, the passage does not give any information on the change in the number of retirees over the past ten years. The answer choice that weakens the author’s conclusion will be one that tests author’s assumptions.

Therefore, the correct answer is (D) that the total number of retirees increased significantly, which means that although retirees moving to Florida declined percentage wise, the actual number of retirees could be higher than ten years ago. And since there are more retirees moving to Florida, businesses catering to them will not be negatively affected.

Answer to Q2.

1) Because the main clause is using the verb (indicate) of present tense, the verb (had been) of past perfect tense can’t be used in the subordinate clause.

2) Connected with the subject “the residents,” the additional expression “people” cause redundancy.

3) In terms of a logical meaning, the adjective phrase “Algonquian-speaking” should modify “people,” not “culture.”

Answer to Q3.

Let the number of apples=x, the number oforanges=y: 40x+60y=560, x+y=10 > x=2, y=8, But since Mary must put back oranges (z)

40*2+60*(8-z)=52*(10-z), z=5, therefore the correct answer is E.

Answer to Q4.

Because range = Max - min and the number of sets is 2 and the number of variables is 4, therefore the correct answer is E.