parallel_chase wrote:Answer should be $150

1000 - 0.5
2000 - 1.0
4000 - 1.5
3000 - 1.5

I am getting values around 135.

The maximum value should be 150.

your numbers aren't quite right. you should double-check the table.
should be
0.5% of $1000 (from 0-1000),
1.0% of $2000 (from 1000-3000),
1.5% of $3000 (from 3000-6000),
2.0% of $4000 (from 6000-10,000).
that's 5 + 20 + 45 + 80, or 150.

parallel_chase wrote:

missionmba wrote:I was thinking for max bonus the solution should be

0.5% of $1,000 (from 0-1000),
1.0% of $3,000 (from 1000-3000),
1.5% of $6,000 (from 3000-6000),
2.0% of $10,000 (from 6000-10,000).

=> 5 + 30 + 90 + 200 = 325

can someone pls explain

1000+3000+6000+10000 = $20000

What you did is an ideal GMAT trap for this question.

If you calculate your total amount it exceeds $10000


The question say bonus is payed on first 1000, next 2000 and so on upto 10000.

The total should never exceed 10000.

Therefore the maximum bonus payed is 150.

0.5% of $1000 (from 0-1000),
1.0% of $2000 (from 1000-3000),
1.5% of $3000 (from 3000-6000),
2.0% of $4000 (from 6000-10,000).

1000+2000+3000+3000+4000 = 10000
$5 + $20 + $45 + $80 = $150

Hope this helps.

there's definitely a mistake, but i don't think you've identified it correctly; i don't think the above poster intended to add together $1000, $3000, $6000, and $10,000. i think the poster was doing the following:
WRONG approach! do not follow!
0.5% of $1000 = $5
1.0% of $3000 = $30
1.5% of $6000 = $90
2.0% of $10,000 = $200
the weirdest thing about this approach is that the answer that it gives, $325, isn't even one of the answer choices.

make sure that you hunt through the wording of the problem for the exact words that tell you that this is really what you should be doing. in particular, this problem contains the following:
"a 0.5% bonus is paid on the first $1000 charged; a 1.0% bonus is charged on the NEXT $2000 charged; ..."

that NEXT is the key word here; that word indicates, specifically, that the 1.0% does not apply to the $1000 for which a 0.5% bonus was already credited; that the 1.5% does not apply to the $3000 for which the 0.5% and 1.0% bonuses were already credited; etc.