Sample of The Official Guide for GMAT® Quantitative Review 2017

1.0 What Is the GMAT ® Exam?
Th e Graduate Management Admission Test ® (GMAT ® ) is a standardized, three‐part test delivered in
English. Th e test was designed to help admissions officers evaluate how suitable individual applicants
are for their graduate business and management programs. It measures basic verbal, mathematical, and
analytical writing skills that a test‐taker has developed over a long period of time through education
and work.
Th e GMAT exam does not measure a person’s knowledge of specific fields of study. Graduate business
and management programs enroll people from many diff erent undergraduate and work backgrounds, so
rather than test your mastery of any particular subject area, the GMAT exam will assess your acquired
skills. Your GMAT score will give admissions officers a statistically reliable measure of how well you are
likely to perform academically in the core curriculum of a graduate business program.
Of course, there are many other qualifications that can help people succeed in business school and in
their careers—for instance, job experience, leadership ability, motivation, and interpersonal skills. Th e
GMAT exam does not gauge these qualities. Th at is why your GMAT score is intended to be used as
one standard admissions criterion among other, more subjective, criteria, such as admissions essays and
interviews.
1.1 Why Take the GMAT ® Exam?
GMAT scores are used by admissions officers in over 6,000 graduate business and management
programs worldwide. Schools that require prospective students to submit GMAT scores in the
application process are generally interested in admitting
the best‐qualified applicants for their programs, which
means that you may find a more beneficial learning
environment at schools that require GMAT scores as part
of your application.
Because the GMAT exam gauges skills that are important
to successful study of business and management at the
graduate level, your scores will give you a good indication
of how prepared you are to succeed academically in a
graduate management program; how well you do on
the test may also help you choose the business schools
to which you apply. Furthermore, the percentile table
you receive with your scores will tell you how your
performance on the test compares to the performance
of other test‐takers, giving you one way to gauge your
competition for admission to business school.

– If I don’t score in the 90th
percentile, I won’t get into any
school I choose.
F – Very few people get very high
scores.
Fewer than 50 of the more than 200,000
people taking the GMAT exam each year
get a perfect score of 800. Thus, while you
may be exceptionally capable, the odds
are against your achieving a perfect score.
Also, the GMAT exam is just one piece of
your application packet. Admissions offi cers
use GMAT scores in conjunction with
undergraduate records, application essays,
interviews, letters of recommendation, and
other information when deciding whom to
accept into their programs.

23. A rope 20.6 meters long is cut into two pieces. If the
    length of one piece of rope is 2.8 meters shorter than
    the length of the other, what is the length, in meters, of
    the longer piece of rope?
    (A) 7.5
    (B) 8.9
    (C) 9.9
    (D) 10.3
    (E) 11.7
    P(0,6)
    Q(4,0)
    y
    x O
24. In the rectangular coordinate system shown above,
    points O, P, and Q represent the sites of three
    proposed housing developments. If a fire station
    can be built at any point in the coordinate system,
    at which point would it be equidistant from all three
    developments?
    (A) (3,1)
    (B) (1,3)
    (C) (3,2)
    (D) (2,2)
    (E) (2,3)
25. What is the perimeter, in meters, of a rectangular
    garden 6 meters wide that has the same area as a
    rectangular playground 16 meters long and 12 meters
    wide?
    (A) 48
    (B) 56
    (C) 60
    (D) 76
    (E) 192
26. Of the total amount that Jill spent on a shopping trip,
    excluding taxes, she spent 50 percent on clothing,
    20 percent on food, and 30 percent on other items. If
    Jill paid a 4 percent tax on the clothing, no tax on the
    food, and an 8 percent tax on all other items, then the
    total tax that she paid was what percent of the total
    amount that she spent, excluding taxes?
    (A) 2.8%
    (B) 3.6%
    (C) 4.4%
    (D) 5.2%
    (E) 6.0%
27. At the opening of a trading day at a certain stock
    exchange, the price per share of stock K was $8. If
    the price per share of stock K was $9 at the closing of
    the day, what was the percent increase in the price per
    share of stock K for that day?
    (A) 1.4%
    (B) 5.9%
    (C) 11.1%
    (D) 12.5%
    (E) 23.6%
28. The number of rooms at Hotel G is 10 less than twice
    the number of rooms at Hotel H. If the total number
    of rooms at Hotel G and Hotel H is 425, what is the
    number of rooms at Hotel G ?
    (A) 140
    (B) 180
    (C) 200
    (D) 240
    (E) 280

Arithmetic Operations on rational numbers
The sum of the three numbers in the horizontal
row is 37 + 38 + 15, or 90. The product of the
three numbers in the vertical column is 15xy.
Thus, 15xy = 90, or the value of xy = 6.
The correct answer is A.

30. ( )( ) 1 5 + −1 5 =
    (A) −4
    (B) 2
    (C) 6
    (D) − − 4 2 5
    (E) 6 2 − 5
    Arithmetic Operations on radical expressions
    Work the problem.
    1 51 5 1 5 5 5
    1 5 1 5 4
    2 2
    2
    ( )( ) ( )
    ( )

• − = +−− =
  − = − = −
  The correct answer is A.

30. A certain population of bacteria doubles every
    10 minutes. If the number of bacteria in the population
    initially was 104, what was the number in the
    population 1 hour later?
    (A) 2(104)
    (B) 6(104)
    (C) (26)(104)
    (D) (106)(104)
    (E) (104)
    6
    Arithmetic Operations on rational numbers
    If the population of bacteria doubles every
    10 minutes, it doubles 6 times in one hour.
    This doubling action can be expressed as
    (2)(2)(2)(2)(2)(2) or 26
    . Thus, if the initial
    population is 104, the population will be (26)(104
    )
    after one hour.
    The correct answer is C.
31. If the perimeter of a rectangular garden plot is 34 feet
    and its area is 60 square feet, what is the length of
    each of the longer sides?
    (A) 5 ft
    (B) 6 ft
    (C) 10 ft
    (D) 12 ft
    (E) 15 ft
    Geometry; Algebra Perimeter; Area;
    Simultaneous equations
    Letting x represent the length of the rectangular
    garden and y represent the width of the garden in
    the formulas for calculating perimeter and area,
    the given information can be expressed as:
    Perimeter = 2(length) + 2(width) 34 = 2x + 2y
    or
    17 = x + y
    Area = (length)(width) 60 = xy
    This reduces the problem to finding two numbers
    whose sum is 17 and whose product is 60. It can
    be seen by inspection that the two numbers are 5
    and 12, so the length of each of the longer sides
    of the garden is 12 ft.
    It is also possible to solve x + y = 17 for y and
    substitute the value of y = 17 − x in the equation
    for the area and solve for x:
    xy
    x x
    x x
    x x

x

− =
− =
= − +
= −
60
17 60
17 60
0 17 60
0 12
2
2
( )
( )( ) x
x
y

−

=
5
12 5
5 12
or
or
Thus, the length of each of the longer sides of the
garden must be 12 ft.
The correct answer is D.