GMAT Prep DS

[naveenhv]

A certain bank charges a maintenance fee on a standard checking account each month that the balance falls below $1000 at any time during the month. Did the bank
charge a maintenance fee on Sue's standard checking account last month?

1) At the beginning of last month, Sue's account balance was $1500

2) During last month, a total of $2000 was withdrawn from Sue's checking account.

[jnelson0612]

naveen, tell us what work you did here and where you got stuck so we can help you best.

[jschwabby83]

This is how i solved it:

1) At the beginning of the last month, Sue's account balance was $1500. Since this doesn't reference any account activity other than the beginning balance, you have no way of knowing if her balance dropped below $1500. INSUFF.

2) During last month, a total of $2000 was withdrawn from Sue's checking account. Since there is no time-stamp of when the money was withdrawn, and no reference to deposits made or the initial account balance, you don't have any info to get a "snapshot" of her balance at any given time throughout the month. INSUFF.

3) the only possibility left is that taken together, the two statements can tell us if she ever dropped below $1000 at any point during the month. Without a timestamp for a specific withdrawal of greater than $501 (1500-501 = 999, and hence would incur the penalty) we can't solve the problem.

ANSWER is E.

[RonPurewal]

3) the only possibility left is that taken together, the two statements can tell us if she ever dropped below $1000 at any point during the month. Without a timestamp for a specific withdrawal of greater than $501 (1500-501 = 999, and hence would incur the penalty) we can't solve the problem.

ANSWER is E.

you have the right answer choice, but the wrong reasoning. it's irrelevant whether there is a "timestamp", because we know that the withdrawals were made at some point in the last month. (read the problem statement again: the fee only depends on whether the balance goes below $1000 at any time during the month. the specific timing is immaterial.)

the reason why the two statements together are still insufficient is that we have no information about deposits.
furthermore, we know that there definitely are deposits, since the customer's withdrawals for the month are greater than her initial balance at the start of the month. so, in other words, there is no such objection as "oh, i didn't know there were deposits in the problem".