A store reported total sales of $385 million for February of this year. If the total sales for the same month last year

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M7MBA: Moderator; Posts: 2058; Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2017 4:24 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 1 times

by M7MBA » Wed May 20, 2020 7:15 am

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A store reported total sales of $385 million for February of this year. If the total sales for the same month last year was $320 million, approximately what was the percent increase in sales?

(A) 2%
(B) 17%
(C) 20%
(D) 65%
(E) 83%

[spoiler]OA=C[/spoiler]

Source: Official Guide

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anonylfc: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 11; Joined: Wed May 20, 2020 9:34 pm

Re: A store reported total sales of $385 million for February of this year. If the total sales for the same month last y

by anonylfc » Thu May 21, 2020 9:57 am

The conventional method to do is to of course start calculating ->
=(385-320)*100/320
=65*100/320
=20.3%
Hence 20%

However, this is too time consuming . If you look closely this percentage is basically 60/300 , which is ~20% .

So you can straight away eliminate A,D,E .
We are now left with 17% and 20% . Now we will need to be a bit precise, but still is very doable for those with good mental maths.
=65*5= 325 which is higher than 320. Hence,
=(65/325)*100 = 100/5 =20%

But we need to find 65/320 which will be a bit higher than 20%. Hence we can safely rule out 17%.
Answer is 20%.

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Scott@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 8207; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 amFollowed by: 29 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 43 times

Re: A store reported total sales of $385 million for February of this year. If the total sales for the same month last y

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Mon May 25, 2020 11:11 am

M7MBA wrote: ↑
Wed May 20, 2020 7:15 am
A store reported total sales of $385 million for February of this year. If the total sales for the same month last year was $320 million, approximately what was the percent increase in sales?

(A) 2%
(B) 17%
(C) 20%
(D) 65%
(E) 83%

[spoiler]OA=C[/spoiler]

Source: Official Guide

Solution:

We can solve this problem by using the percent change formula:

(New Value – Old Value)/Old Value x 100

We are given:

February sales this year = 385 million = new

February sales last year = 320 million = old

Percent change = (New Value – Old Value)/Old Value x 100

Percent change = [(385 – 320)/320] x 100

Percent change = 65/320 x 100

Percent change = 13/64 x 100 ≈ 13/65 x 100 = 1/5 x 100 = 20%

Answer: C

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]

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