Last year 3/5 of the members of a certain club were males. T

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 235
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2016 9:21 pm
Thanked: 3 times
Followed by:5 members
Last year 3/5 of the members of a certain club were males. This year the members of the club include all the members from last year plus some new members. Is the fraction of the members of the club who are males greater this year than last year?

(1) More than half of the new members are male.

(2) The number of members of the club this year is 6/5 the number of members last year.
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 15539
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: New York, NY
Thanked: 13060 times
Followed by:1906 members
GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Sun Mar 25, 2018 2:19 am
Anaira Mitch wrote:Last year 3/5 of the members of a certain club were males. This year the members of the club include all the members from last year plus some new members. Is the fraction of the members of the club who are males greater this year than last year?

(1) More than half of the new members are male.

(2) The number of members of the club this year is 6/5 the number of members last year.
Let the total number of members last year = 50, implying that the number of male members last year = (3/5)(50) = 30.

Question stem, rephrased:
Is (new total males)/(new total members) > 3/5?

Statement 2:
New total members = (6/5)(50) = 60, implying that the number of new members = 10.
No information about the number of new males.
INSUFFICIENT.

Statement 1:
Case 1: new males = 6 and new females = 4, for a total of 10 new members
In this case:
(new total males)/(new total members) = (30+6)/(50+10) = 36/60 = 3/5.
Since the fraction of males remains 3/5, the answer to the question stem is NO.

Case 2: new males = 10 and new females = 0, for a total of 10 new members
In this case:
(new total males)/(new total members) = (30+10)/(50+10) = 40/60 = 2/3.
Since the fraction of males > 3/5, the answer to the question stem is YES.

Cases 1 and 2 satisfy BOTH STATEMENTS.
Since the answer is NO in Case 1 but YES in Case 2, the two statements combined are INSUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is E.
Private tutor exclusively for the GMAT and GRE, with over 20 years of experience.
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.

As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.

For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 235
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2016 9:21 pm
Thanked: 3 times
Followed by:5 members

by Anaira Mitch » Sun Mar 25, 2018 5:00 am
Thanks Mitch.
GMATGuruNY wrote:
Anaira Mitch wrote:Last year 3/5 of the members of a certain club were males. This year the members of the club include all the members from last year plus some new members. Is the fraction of the members of the club who are males greater this year than last year?

(1) More than half of the new members are male.

(2) The number of members of the club this year is 6/5 the number of members last year.
Let the total number of members last year = 50, implying that the number of male members last year = (3/5)(50) = 30.

Question stem, rephrased:
Is (new total males)/(new total members) > 3/5?

Statement 2:
New total members = (6/5)(50) = 60, implying that the number of new members = 10.
No information about the number of new males.
INSUFFICIENT.

Statement 1:
Case 1: new males = 6 and new females = 4, for a total of 10 new members
In this case:
(new total males)/(new total members) = (30+6)/(50+10) = 36/60 = 3/5.
Since the fraction of males remains 3/5, the answer to the question stem is NO.

Case 2: new males = 10 and new females = 0, for a total of 10 new members
In this case:
(new total males)/(new total members) = (30+10)/(50+10) = 40/60 = 2/3.
Since the fraction of males > 3/5, the answer to the question stem is YES.

Cases 1 and 2 satisfy BOTH STATEMENTS.
Since the answer is NO in Case 1 but YES in Case 2, the two statements combined are INSUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is E.