pratyoosh wrote:Thanks for the explanation Geva, I followed the first approach but must have made a mistake with the inequality sign (substituted '<' for '=') and hence ended up with 18 !
People keep looking for "harder GMAT questions" in the hope of finding a question so hard they don't know how to solve. This is understandable - If you learn how to solve a question you didn't know how to solve before, you may get it right on the real test and score points.
The problem is that there's another silent killer, far more prevalent, and therefore dangerous, than the question you didn't know how to solve, and those are questions such as this one - the ones you are perfectly capable of solving, but still get incorrectly because you rushed on it and missed out on an important detail.
The GMAT isn't HARD, people. There's nothing in the test that is over your head. If you had a full day to solve the test, you would get each and every question right. The problem is that under two minutes per question, test-takers tend to switch off their brains and work in a panic to get the question out of the way as soon as possible.
The solution is to keep a cool head, and focus on accuracy, not only speed. Read the question carefully before diving into the solution. Make a note of every potential problem/sticky point in the question (e.g. less than 2/5). Above all, THINK before you act. Decide what you need to do to solve the question, then do it, calmly, collectedly, addressing the sticky points you noted before. Think like a test writer, not like a test solver - why did whoever wrote the question use "less" here?
Getting off my soapbox now.
