Swindon College has two econometrics classes, and nobody is enrolled in both. In the morning class, 60% of those enrolled are undergraduate students, and the other 40% are graduate students. In the afternoon class, 45% of those enrolled are undergraduate students. If half of those enrolled in an econometrics class at Swindon are undergraduate students and are graduate students, what fraction of those enrolled in the afternoon class are neither undergraduate nor graduate students?
Answer Choices
Correct answer marked belowSee the full step-by-step explanation
You can see the correct answer above. Sign in for free to unlock the complete worked solution.
Track your performance and improve
Get detailed analytics, unlock full explanations, and move up difficulty tiers as you practice.
Unlock the full explanation
Create a free account to reveal the correct answer, see the step-by-step explanation, and start tracking your GMAT progress.
This one looks like a standard mixture setup but the wording about the 'neither' group tripped me up at first. I had to read it twice to realize the neither students only exist in the afternoon class.
705-805? This felt more like a 650 to me honestly. Once you realize you can just pick numbers for total enrollment the algebra is pretty clean.
Yeah the trap is definitely in the interpretation, not the math.
The key for me was noticing that the two groups 1/2 and 3/10 leave 1/5 of ALL students unaccounted for, and that 1/5 has to live entirely in the afternoon section. From there it's just comparing the afternoon's undergrad share.
Anyone else try to set this up with two variables and get buried in equations? Picking a total of 100 students made it way faster for me.
I did the two-variable thing first and wasted a minute before switching. Lesson learned.
What it tests
Your ability to compute percentage change, percentage of a whole, and to work backwards from a final value.
Common trap
Treating successive percentage changes as additive — a 10% rise then a 10% fall is not back to the start.