When running a mile during a recent track meet, Nuria was

swerve wrote:When running a mile during a recent track meet, Nuria was initially credited with a final time of 5 minutes, 44 seconds. Shortly after her run, officials realized that the timing mechanism malfunctioned. The stopwatch did not begin timing her until 11/25 of a minute after she began to run. If the time was otherwise correct, how long did it actually take Nuria to run the mile?

A. 5 minutes, 17.6 seconds
B. 5 minutes, 21.8 seconds
C. 5 minutes, 43.56 seconds
D. 5 minutes, 44.44 seconds
E. 6 minutes, 10.4 seconds

The OA is E

Source: Veritas Prep

The long approach is to meticulously convert 11/25 of a minute to seconds, and then ADD that unaccounted time to Nuria's recorded time (of 5 minutes, 44 seconds)
However, when we check the answer choices before performing any calculations (ALWAYS check the answer choices before performing any calculations), we see that most answers are LESS THAN 5 minutes, 44 seconds
So, we can already ELIMINATE A, B and C

Now recognize that 1/3 of a minute = 20 seconds, and if we add 20 seconds to 5 minutes, 44 seconds, we can MORE than 6 minutes.

Since 11/25 is greater than 1/3, the final sum will be MORE than 6 minutes.
Only answer choice E is greater than 6 minutes, so it must be the correct answer.

Cheers,
Brent

Hi All,

We're told that when running a mile during a recent track meet, Nuria was initially credited with a final time of 5 minutes, 44 seconds. Shortly after her run, officials realized that the timing mechanism malfunctioned. The stopwatch did not begin timing her until 11/25 of a MINUTE after she began to run. If the time was otherwise correct, how long did it actually take Nuria to run the mile? Based on the 'spread' of the answer choices, you can actually answer this question with almost no math at all; paying attention to the information that you're given - along with a little logic - can get you the correct answer rather quickly.

We know that Nuria was timed at 5 minutes 44 seconds, but the stop watch was NOT started until almost HALF OF A MINUTE had gone by. Thus, Nuria's actual time is greater than 5 minutes 44 second - almost HALF A MINUTE greater. There's only one answer that makes sense...

Final Answer: E

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

swerve wrote:When running a mile during a recent track meet, Nuria was initially credited with a final time of 5 minutes, 44 seconds. Shortly after her run, officials realized that the timing mechanism malfunctioned. The stopwatch did not begin timing her until 11/25 of a minute after she began to run. If the time was otherwise correct, how long did it actually take Nuria to run the mile?

A. 5 minutes, 17.6 seconds
B. 5 minutes, 21.8 seconds
C. 5 minutes, 43.56 seconds
D. 5 minutes, 44.44 seconds
E. 6 minutes, 10.4 seconds

The OA is E

Source: Veritas Prep

11/25 minutes is 11/25 x 60 = 11/5 x 12 = 26.4 seconds

Thus, her actual time was 5 minutes 44 seconds + 26.4 seconds = 5 minutes 70.4 seconds = 6 minutes 10.4 seconds

Answer: E