The GMAT exam administered in October 1977.
In this year the Reading Comprehension passages were introduced in their current form, replacing Directed Memory or Reading Recall questions.
Reading Comprehension - 30 Minutes
Directions: The questions in this group are based on the content of a passage. After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following the passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
A meteor stream is composed of dust particles that have been ejected from a parent comet at a variety of velocities. These particles follow the same orbit as the parent comet, but due to their differing velocities they slowly gain on or fall behind the disintegrating comet until a shroud of dust surrounds the entire cometary orbit. Astronomers have hypothesized that a meteor stream should broaden with time as the dust particles' individual orbits are perturbed by planetary gravitational fields. A recent computer-modeling experiment tested this hypothesis by tracking the influence of planetary gravitation over a projected 5,000-year period on the positions of a group of hypothetical dust particles. In the model, the particles were randomly distributed throughout a computer simulation of the orbit of an actual meteor stream, the Geminid. The researcher found, as expected, that the computer-model stream broadened with time. Conventional theories, however predicted that the distribution of particles would be increasingly dense toward the center of a meteor stream. Surprisingly, the computer-model meteor stream gradually came to resemble a thick-walled, hollow pipe.
Whenever the Earth passes through a meteor stream, a meteor shower occurs. Moving at a little over 1,500,000 miles per day around its orbit, the Earth would take, on average, just over a day to cross the hollow, computer-model Geminid stream if the stream were 5,000 years old. Two brief periods of peak meteor activity during the shower would be observed, one as the Earth entered the thick-walled "pipe" and one as it exited. There is no reason why the Earth should always pass through the stream's exact center, so the time interval between the two bursts of activity would vary from one year to the next.
Has the predicted twin-peaked activity been observed for the actual yearly Geminid meteor shower? The Geminid data between 1970 and 1979 show just such a bifurcation, a secondary burst of meteor activity being clearly visible at an average of 19 hours (1,200,000 miles) after the first burst. The time intervals between the bursts suggest the actual Geminid stream is about 3,000 years old.
The primary focus of the passage is on which of the following?
(A) Comparing two scientific theories and contrasting the predictions that each would make concerning a natural phenomenon.
(B) Describing a new theoretical model and noting that it explains the nature of observation made of a particular natural phenomenon.
(C) Evaluating the results of a particular scientific experiment and suggesting further areas for research.
(D) Explaining how two different natural phenomena are related and demonstrating a way to measure them.
(E) Analyzing recent data derived from observation of an actual phenomenon and constructing a model to explain the data.
Answer: B
Usage – 15 Minutes
Directions: The following sentences contain problems in grammar, usage, diction (choice of words), and idiom. Some sentences are correct. No sentence contains more than one error.
You will find that the error, if there is one, is underlined and lettered. Assume that all other elements of the sentence are correct and cannot be changed. In choosing answers, follow the requirements of standard written English.
If there is an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed in order to make the sentence correct, and blacken the corresponding space on the answer sheet.
If there is no error, mark answer space E.
Example 1
| He spoke | bluntly | and | angrily | to | we | spectators. | No error. |
Answer: C
Example 2
| He | works | everyday | so | that | he would become | financially | independent in his old age. | No error. |
Answer: A
Practical Business Judgment – 40 Minutes
Directions: The passage in this section is followed by two sets of questions: data evaluation and data application. In the first set, data evaluation, you will be required to classify certain facts presented in the passage on the basis of their importance, as illustrated in the following example.
Data Evaluation:
(This passage is much shorter than passages appearing on the test, but it is representative of the data evaluation material.)
Fred North, a prospering hardware dealer in Hillidale, Connecticut, felt that he needed more store space to accommodate a new line of farm equipment and repair parts that he intended to carry. A number of New York City commuters had recently purchased tracts of land in the environs of Hillidale and there had taken up farming on a small scale. Mr. North, foreseeing a potential increase in farming in that area, wanted to expand his business to cater to this market. North felt that the most feasible and appealing recourse open to him would be to purchase the adjoining store owned by Mike Johnson, who used the premises for his small grocery store. Johnson’s business had been on the decline for over a year since the advent of a large supermarket in the town. North felt that Johnson would be willing to sell the property at reasonable terms, and this was important since North, after the purchase of the new merchandise, would have little capital available to invest in the expansion of his store.
Consider each item separately in terms of the passage and choose
A if the item is a MAJOR OBJECTIVE in making the decision, the is, one of the outcomes or results sought by the decision-maker;
B if the item is a MAJOR FACTOR in making the decision, that is, a consideration, explicitly mentioned in the passafe, that is basic in determining the decision;
C if the item is a MINOR FACTOR in making the decision, that is, a secondary consideration that affects the criteria tangentially, relating to a Major Factor rather than to an Objective;
D if the item is a MAJOR ASSUMPTION in making the decision, that is, a supposition or projection made by the decision-make before weighing the variables;
E if the item is an UNIMPORTANT ISSUE in making the decision, that is, a factor that is insignificant or not immediately relevant to the situation.
(1) Increase in farming in the Hillidale area
(2) Acquisition of property for expanding the store
(3) Cost of Johnson’s property
(4) State of Johnson’s grocery business
(5) Quality of the farm equipment North intends to sell
Answers:
1. D
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. E
A second set of questions, data application, requires judgments based on a comparison of the available alternatives in terms of the relevant criteria, in order to attain the objectives stated in the passage.
Data Application
Each of the following questions relates to the passage. For each question, choose the best answer.
I Potential demand for farm equipment in the Hillidale area
II Desire to undermine Mike Johnson’s business
III Higher profit margin on farm equipment than on hardware goods
(A) I only
(B) III only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III
ANSWER: A
Quantitative – 75 Minutes
Directions: In this section solve each problem, using any available space on the page for scratch work. Then indicate the one correct answer in the appropriate space on the answer sheet.
Problem Solving
If the length of a rectangle is increased by 10 percent and the width by 40 percent, by what percent is the area increased.
(A) 4
(B) 15.4
(C) 50
(D) 54
(E) 400
Answer: D
Data Sufficiency – 15 Minutes
Directions: Each of the questions below is followed by two statements labeled (1) and (2), in which certain data are given. In these questions you do not actually have to compute the answer, but rather you have to decide whether the data given in the statements are sufficient for answering the question. Use the data given in the statements plus your knowledge of mathematics and everyday facts (such as the number of days in July)
(A) If statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked
(B) If statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked
(C) If BOTH statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question asked, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient
(D) If EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question asked
(E) If statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data specific to the problem are needed
In a four volume work, what is the weight of the third volume?
(1) The four volume work weighs 6 pounds.
(2) The first three volumes together weigh 5 pounds.
Answer: E
These questions were published in 1984 in Appendix A of the Graduate Management Admission Test: Technical Report on Test Development and Score Interpretation for GMAT Users by William B. Schrader for the Graduate Management Admission Council.
The GMAT® questions, whether taken from the GMAT® mini-test, The Graduate
Management Admission Test: Technical Report on Test Development and Score
Interpretation for GMAT users (1984), or in any other form, are the property of the
Graduate Management Admission Council® and have been reprinted with its permission for
illustrative purposes only in the article titled “History of the GMAT and the associated
GMAT exams - 1954; 1961; 1966; 1972; 1976; 1977; 1984; 1994; and 1997
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