Lesson: Data Sufficiency Challenging - 16t01

Easy Math/Tough Applications: Example 1

Challenging questions in the Quantitative Section may test your ability to cut through dense information to get to the heart of what often turns out to be a relatively simple matter. Why does the Exam do this? To see whether you have the ability to whittle complex language down to an easy solution. In these problems, the important thing is to find the "question behind the question." That is, to find what the question is really asking. Here’s an example:

At the end of every hour a culture of bacteria becomes some number of times larger than it was the previous hour. If the number of bacteria was originally greater than 1 and if the rate of growth also increases every hour, what was the original number of bacteria?

1) of the original culture would have resulted in a total of 385 bacteria after 3 hours.

2) The original number of bacteria was less than 4.

Review the question stem above. Do you recognize the math concept that this is testing? Type it into the Text Box, and click Continue.

This problem is really about .

Countinue

Whenever you’re given the product of variables and then asked to solve for one or more of those variables using a single equation, which is the case here, you need to consider that the question is probably testing prime factorization.

Now, the Exam may very well test your understanding of this concept directly in earlier questions, perhaps in Problem Solving. But at this level, the Testmakers may "hide" the math to see whether you can find it on your own. It will be buried in dense language or in a bizarre scenario, such as we have here. Don’t let it throw you! Proceed systematically by analyzing the stem, then going on to the statements.

Countinue

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