Question from the Beat the GMAT pool (sorry if I'm not supposed to post this)
My question is not on how to do it. The answer was sufficiently explained. My question is regarding the likelyness a question with this type of phrasing will appear on the GMAT
A drawer contains 36 socks, and 2 socks are selected at random without replacement. What is the probability that both socks are black?
(1) The probability is 4/9 that the first sock is black.
(2) The number of white socks in the drawer is 4 more than the number of black socks.
The answer is A. I spent 20 min trying to figure out why it wasn't D before finally looking at the explanation. The explanation was that since the problem did not specify that all the socks in the drawer with either black or white, that left the possibility that there were other colored socks so (2) was not sufficient. ARGGGG This was like a no brainer and took 20 seconds, then bam, wrong. Very frustrated. I am trying to read the questions more carefully, but seem to get tripped up on phrasing quite a bit. I have posted several questions where I have had difficulty, and have had responses from moderators that thought the wording of the questions was questionable. However those questions were from unofficial sources so I'm not questioning the wording of the question here specifically, but there seems to be a fine line from tricky to unclear.
I start this question out in the MGMAT stsyle.
1. Is is a Y/N or Value questions (Value)
2. Paraphrase (How many Black socks are there?)
I guess this is where I messed up. Phrasing this way makes me look for X, with X being the number of black socks, or X = 36 -(number of non black socks). Since number (2) gives white as a non black sock, it has the effect of polarizing the choices. When you think of white, you automatically think of black like a reciprocal, in which case there are only 2 choice. x, and 1/x.
Ok so they tricked me, I paraphrased incorrectly and left out the possibility of another non black or white sock color. Guess this is me venting. But does anyone have any suggestions on how to approach these type of questions better? At the same time, I don't want to waste 2 min looking for every in and out of a question which essentially negates the whole purpose of paraphrasing in the first place.
-Thanks, Frustrated GMAT Taker
My question is not on how to do it. The answer was sufficiently explained. My question is regarding the likelyness a question with this type of phrasing will appear on the GMAT
A drawer contains 36 socks, and 2 socks are selected at random without replacement. What is the probability that both socks are black?
(1) The probability is 4/9 that the first sock is black.
(2) The number of white socks in the drawer is 4 more than the number of black socks.
The answer is A. I spent 20 min trying to figure out why it wasn't D before finally looking at the explanation. The explanation was that since the problem did not specify that all the socks in the drawer with either black or white, that left the possibility that there were other colored socks so (2) was not sufficient. ARGGGG This was like a no brainer and took 20 seconds, then bam, wrong. Very frustrated. I am trying to read the questions more carefully, but seem to get tripped up on phrasing quite a bit. I have posted several questions where I have had difficulty, and have had responses from moderators that thought the wording of the questions was questionable. However those questions were from unofficial sources so I'm not questioning the wording of the question here specifically, but there seems to be a fine line from tricky to unclear.
I start this question out in the MGMAT stsyle.
1. Is is a Y/N or Value questions (Value)
2. Paraphrase (How many Black socks are there?)
I guess this is where I messed up. Phrasing this way makes me look for X, with X being the number of black socks, or X = 36 -(number of non black socks). Since number (2) gives white as a non black sock, it has the effect of polarizing the choices. When you think of white, you automatically think of black like a reciprocal, in which case there are only 2 choice. x, and 1/x.
Ok so they tricked me, I paraphrased incorrectly and left out the possibility of another non black or white sock color. Guess this is me venting. But does anyone have any suggestions on how to approach these type of questions better? At the same time, I don't want to waste 2 min looking for every in and out of a question which essentially negates the whole purpose of paraphrasing in the first place.
-Thanks, Frustrated GMAT Taker
