MGMAT practice question

[Aquamarine]

While on a summer vacation in Hawaii, Carla goes for an ocean ride on a mystic porpoise named Noelani. If Noelani maintains a constant speed for the entire trip, does the ride take less than 3 hours ?

(1) Noelani swims faster than 6 miles per hour.

(2) The ride is 20 miles in the winter, but is then reduced by a mile per month until the fall.


The solution states "Carla is on summer vacation, so the earliest it could be is June. Winter must be at least 3 months away, so the ride has been reduced to 17 miles (if this month's reduction has already happened) or 18 miles (if it hasn't). Since the trip is 18 miles at its absolute max, so it takes less than 3 hours and therefore the answer is C". I had thought the answer was E, since the solution has too many assumptions one of which is that summer and winter are separated by 2-3 months. (To nitpick, Hawaii only has winters and summer, therefore the solution is incorrect for Hawaii !). Since this is just a practice question - was wondering if one can expect such questions in the real exam ..

[RonPurewal]

While on a summer vacation in Hawaii, Carla goes for an ocean ride on a mystic porpoise named Noelani. If Noelani maintains a constant speed for the entire trip, does the ride take less than 3 hours ?

(1) Noelani swims faster than 6 miles per hour.

(2) The ride is 20 miles in the winter, but is then reduced by a mile per month until the fall.


The solution states "Carla is on summer vacation, so the earliest it could be is June. Winter must be at least 3 months away, so the ride has been reduced to 17 miles (if this month's reduction has already happened) or 18 miles (if it hasn't). Since the trip is 18 miles at its absolute max, so it takes less than 3 hours and therefore the answer is C". I had thought the answer was E, since the solution has too many assumptions one of which is that summer and winter are separated by 2-3 months. (To nitpick, Hawaii only has winters and summer, therefore the solution is incorrect for Hawaii !). Since this is just a practice question - was wondering if one can expect such questions in the real exam ..

yeah, this is not good.
is this problem in one of the strategy guides? if so, then it needs to be edited (or, better yet, just removed).

yes, there are way, way too many assumptions. not only are your observations correct ... but "carla" could even be from montevideo or buenos aires, in which case her summer vacation would actually coincide with the hawaiian winter.

if this is in the guide, please let me know which guide and which page number, so that i can submit it for editing/deletion in the next edition. thanks.

[Aquamarine]

Thanks !

This is on page 72, Chapter 3 of "GMAT Roadmap" book .

[tim]

i agree with Ron; this is nonsense. the GMAT would never require you to make these kinds of assumptions. sorry for the confusion..