BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem
TTP OnDemand GMAT Video Course
Featured Course

Target Test Prep GMAT OnDemand

Scott Woodbury-Stewart’s private virtual classroom — 400 hours of master-class video lessons for the GMAT Focus Edition.

  • 715+ score guarantee — highest in the industry (99th percentile)
  • 52 chapters · 1,500+ lessons · 4,000+ practice questions
  • 400 hours of video · 1,500+ instructor-led HD smartboard lessons
  • 300,000+ students accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth & Sloan & more
  • 24/7 live support + weekly Zoom office hours with GMAT instructors
  • TTP AI Assist — 24/7 AI-powered virtual tutor for instant help
  • 1,200+ flashcards + AI-powered study assistant & daily calendar
  • OnDemand, LiveTeach & GMAT Bootcamp formats available
  • Also: GRE, SAT Math & Executive Assessment courses
  • MBA Admissions Consulting now available
  • 🏆 2025 EdTech Breakthrough Award: Test Prep Solution Provider of the Year
  • 200,000+ students served
  • 5-day free trial — $0 to start, no auto-billing, cancel anytime
★★★★★ 5.0 (559 reviews)
130-pt guarantee
$0 to start then $127/mo
Start Free 5-Day Trial Read 559 Reviews →

PS: Pat and savings

Expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 181
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 12:06 pmFollowed by: 1 member
Thanked: 17 times
by ikaplan » Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:51 am

Timer

00:00

Answers

A

B

C

D

E

Stats

Difficulty—

If Pat saved $600 of his earnings last month, how much did Pat earn last month?

(1) Pat spent 1/2 of his earnings last month for living expenses and saved 1/3 of the remainder
(2) Of his earnings last month, Pat paid twice as much in taxes as he saved.

Source: OG12

OA is A

I know that this is quite easy DS questions, but Statement (2) boggles my mind.
Pat saved $600, and paid $1200 for taxes. If Earnings= Taxes + Savings, then Earnings= $1800

My question is: Why B is incorrect? How do we know that Pat did not spend money on something else apart from taxes? Do we have to look at the information in Statement (1) to realize that the equation consists of living expenses as well? (I know that this is against the main DS rule- "avoid using information from one statement when considering another", but sometimes looking at the other statement helps).
"Commitment is more than just wishing for the right conditions. Commitment is working with what you have."
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Source: — Data Sufficiency |
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 385
Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:02 pmFollowed by: 6 members
Thanked: 62 times

by user123321 » Tue Nov 22, 2011 2:16 pm
IMO A

using A you can get A's earnings.
using B not much info is present to get his earnings.

user123321
Just started my preparation :D
Want to do it right the first time.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 2:49 pm
Thanked: 4 times

by ollapodrida » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:09 pm
ikaplan wrote:If Pat saved $600 of his earnings last month, how much did Pat earn last month?

(1) Pat spent 1/2 of his earnings last month for living expenses and saved 1/3 of the remainder
(2) Of his earnings last month, Pat paid twice as much in taxes as he saved.

Source: OG12

OA is A

I know that this is quite easy DS questions, but Statement (2) boggles my mind.
Pat saved $600, and paid $1200 for taxes. If Earnings= Taxes + Savings, then Earnings= $1800

My question is: Why B is incorrect? How do we know that Pat did not spend money on something else apart from taxes? Do we have to look at the information in Statement (1) to realize that the equation consists of living expenses as well? (I know that this is against the main DS rule- "avoid using information from one statement when considering another", but sometimes looking at the other statement helps).
(1) Savings = 1/3*(1-1/2)*Earnings = 600: Sufficient -> We can solve for earnings

(2) Taxes = 2*Savings = 2*600 = 1200. We are not told how taxes or savings relate to earnings: Insufficient -> There's no way to solve for earnings without a relationship.

Earnings does not necessarily have to equal taxes + savings, so you cannot apply that formula here.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pmFollowed by: 511 members
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Mon Apr 02, 2018 3:56 pm
Hi All,

We're told that Pat SAVED $600 of his earnings last month. We're asked how much Pat EARNED last month.

1) Pat spent 1/2 of his earnings last month for living expenses and saved 1/3 of the remainder.

Since we already know that Pat SAVED $600 last month, we can 'work backwards' based on the information in Fact 1 to determine how much Pat earned:

If 1/3 of X = $600, then X = ($600)(3) = $1800, so $1800 was what Pat had AFTER living expenses....
1/2 of Y = $1800, so Y = ($1800)(2) = $3600, so Pat EARNED $3600 last month.

Working forward, you can double-check this result if you like - and you'll see that it 'fits' all of the information that we've been given and answers the question.
Fact 1 is SUFFICIENT

2) Of his earnings last month, Pat paid twice as much in taxes as he saved.

The information in Fact 2 doesn't 'interact' with the $600 that we know that Pat saved, so there's no way to answer the question with this new information.
Fact 2 is INSUFFICIENT

Final Answer: A

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 8147
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 amFollowed by: 29 members
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Thanked: 43 times

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Sun Jul 22, 2018 5:10 pm
ikaplan wrote:If Pat saved $600 of his earnings last month, how much did Pat earn last month?

(1) Pat spent 1/2 of his earnings last month for living expenses and saved 1/3 of the remainder
(2) Of his earnings last month, Pat paid twice as much in taxes as he saved.
We are given that Pat saved $600 worth of his earnings, and we need to determine how much he earned last month.

Statement One Alone:

Pat spent 1/2 of his earnings last month for living expenses and saved 1/3 of the remainder.

We are given that Pat spent ½ of his earnings last month for living expenses. So if we let L = living expenses, and E = total money earned last month, we can say:

½(E) = L

We are also given that Pat saved 1/3 of the remainder. Since we see that ½(E) went towards the living expenses, the remainder of that is E - ½(E) = ½(E). Remember, too, that we were initially told that Pat saved $600. Thus, we can say:

1/3[1/2(E)] = 600

1/6(E) = 600

E = 3,600

We see that Pat earned $3,600. Statement one is sufficient to answer the question.

Statement Two Alone:

Of his earnings last month, Pat paid twice as much in taxes as he saved.

From statement two we can set up an equation in which T = taxes paid by Pat last month.

T = 2(600)

T = 1,200

Although we know how much Pat paid in taxes last month, we do not know how much Pat earned. Statement two is not sufficient to answer the question.

Answer: A

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]

Image

See why Target Test Prep is rated 5 out of 5 stars on BEAT the GMAT. Read our reviews

ImageImage
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Post new topic Post Reply
• Page 1 of 1