Susie can buy apples from two stores: a supermarket that

[its_lanos]

Even to me this question is confusing and the way I interpret it gives me an answer 4 as above.

She needs to buy a min 4 so that for any value of x she can add the remainder (on dividing 4x by 5) to make it a multiple of 5

??

[jlucero]

Even to me this question is confusing and the way I interpret it gives me an answer 4 as above.

She needs to buy a min 4 so that for any value of x she can add the remainder (on dividing 4x by 5) to make it a multiple of 5

??

Since it's not from an official GMAT Prep test, I wouldn't worry about this too much. But let me make a more important point about arguing about answer choices... students who dislike the phrasing on our questions tend to also complain about the phrasing on OG and GMAT Prep questions: about how they don't like CR arguments or SC answer choices or all sorts of other things. But you have to remember that when you take the actual test, you won't have an opportunity to complain about any of the questions you see or even see the correct answer to any questions you see. The best thing you can do to prepare for your test is to accept that your understanding of what is right/wrong, matters/doesn't matter, sounds ok/sounds awkward, doesn't matter as much as the GMAT's. If you don't like the language on a question, it isn't going to help you get a question right. So accept that it is acceptable, and learn to deal with it. Again, this is much more important on OG questions than our test questions... we are always trying to tighten up the language on our questions, and make them better. But when a bunch of 760+ scorers are all in agreement with the answer, I'd recommend learning why a lot of other people think the answer is A.

[its_lanos]

Right..:)
Btw, took my GMAT yesterday......scored a 740 !!
Happy I am :)

[tim]

Congratulations!

[griffin.811]

I saw an earlier thread where people had confusion about this question too. Im not overly invested in any one question, and not here to complain (after review, I see what the question was getting at), just sharing my interpretation, in case it helps with the development of future questions.

I actually thought this question was asking how many single apples must susie buy such that regardless of how many bundles she bought, she would always have a multiple of 5. So I was looking for a constant number x, that when added to 4,8,12,16,etc... would yield a multiple of 5.

Best

[jlucero]

I saw an earlier thread where people had confusion about this question too. Im not overly invested in any one question, and not here to complain (after review, I see what the question was getting at), just sharing my interpretation, in case it helps with the development of future questions.

I actually thought this question was asking how many single apples must susie buy such that regardless of how many bundles she bought, she would always have a multiple of 5. So I was looking for a constant number x, that when added to 4,8,12,16,etc... would yield a multiple of 5.

Best

I see how you would get to that answer, but I still think that if the question wanted to ask that question, it would have to reword the ending to something else.

Again, I'm going to reference my earlier point about this problem- is it my favorite question, no. But I say the same thing about questions that I see in the OG. At the end of the day, there's a major takeaway to be had that might help you on test day: 0 is a multiple of 5.

[griffin.811]

Agreed! Thanks!

[tim]

:)

[RonPurewal]

Whether 0 is a multiple of 5 isn't dispositive, or even relevant, in this question. All that's necessary is to make the total a multiple of 5.

Importantly, the GMAT will NOT test "weird" cases of things. They really, really, really go out of their way to avoid being "tricky" in any way at all.
Here are some things that the GMAT will not test, even though they're true:
• 1 is not prime.
• 0 is a multiple of whatever integer.
• 0 is even.
Etc.

Even if these possibilities could theoretically be considered (e.g., as cases for a DS problem), they should never change the outcome of the problem.

The system is self-policing, by the way, because the questions are "experimental" before appearing as Real Questions That Count. If the test writers were to create a "trick question"—even completely by accident—that question would weed itself out of the test pol during the experimental stage. If it "tricked" low and high scorers alike, then it wouldn't have the right data profile.