SC 4th Ch3 Parallerism - Q11(the band chosen)

[returnKama]

The band chosen for the annual spring concert appealed to both the student as well as to the administration.--> appealed to both the student and the administration

"both X and Y" is idiom, and there is no doubt that the correct sentence is above.
But, , " to the student as well as to the administration" in answer page is questionable. "X as well as Y" is 1-part idiom. Isn't "to" in front of the administration redundant? Why "to" should be inserted in front of "the administration"?

[esledge]

If you are free to delete "both" and use only the "X as well as Y" structure alone, you're right, it IS redundant to put "to" before both X and Y. But that's OK, and certainly not wrong. The GMAT will never make you split hairs between "appealed to X as well as Y" and "appealed to X as well as to Y," as both are perfectly acceptable.