IR Question from gmat.wiley.com

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2016 4:38 am

IR Question from gmat.wiley.com

by krithika1993 » Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:26 am
Hi there,

I had some difficulty in interpreting this question correctly and needed your help with it:

QUESTION:

Adiliah, Bao, Davi, Laszlo, Saleema, and Yarah work in a firm's legal department. Adiliah supervises Bao and Davi, Davi supervises Laszlo, and Laszlo supervises Saleema and Yarah. These are the only supervisory relationships involving these 6 employees. Each document that the department processes must be initially reviewed by exactly 1 department member. Each document reviewed by a department member must then be reviewed by that person's supervisor. No other rules require anyone else to review any document. Anyone not required to review a given document will not review it.

Select "Laszlo among reviewers" for the maximum number of department members that could have reviewed a single document if Laszlo was among the reviewers. Select "Adiliah among reviewers" for the maximum number of department members that could have reviewed the document if Adiliah was among the reviewers. Make only 2 selections, one in each column.

A) Laszlo among reviewers
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
e) 5
f) 6

B) Adiliah among reviewers
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
e) 5
f) 6

What's throwing me off is that in the question, it states that a document is first reviewed by a department member, and then by that member's supervisor. I interpreted this to mean that any given document is reviewed by exactly 2 department members (the initial reviewer and the supervisor of that reviewer). Please let me know what you think. Thank you for your help!

GMAT/MBA Expert

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

by [email protected] » Mon Sep 05, 2016 1:10 pm
Hi krithika1993,

The prompt describes a "chain" of supervisors...

A supervises B and D
---> D supervises L
---------> L supervises S and Y

When a document is reviewed by one employee, then the next person to review it is that employees's supervisor.

For example, IF S reviews a document first, THEN L reviews it (since L is S's supervisor), THEN D reviews it (since D is L's supervisor) and THEN A reviews it (since A is D's supervisor).

Thinking of the 'rules' in those terms, what answers would you have chosen?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image

User avatar
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2016 4:38 am

by krithika1993 » Mon Sep 05, 2016 6:14 pm
This makes a lot more sense now that you have explained it. I guess I wasn't understanding that each subsequent supervisor would also review the document if one member reviewed it (not just the immediate supervisor of the member). If I could do the question again based on what I've learned, I would choose 4 for A) and 4 for B).

Thank you for your help! :)