- GMATgym

The GMAT Exam administered in 1984.

There were two changes in question types between 1977 and 1984: the Usages section became Sentence Correction and Data Application was removed from the exam. The Analysis of Situation section is largely identical to the earlier Data Evaluation section.

Sentence Correction – 25 Questions – 30 Minutes

Directions: This question presents a sentence, part of which or all of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others. This question tests correctness and effectiveness of expression. In choosing your answer, follow the requirements of standard written English; that is, pay attention to grammar, choice of words, and sentence construction. Choose the answer that produces the most effective sentence; this answer should be clear and exact, without awkwardness, ambiguity, redundancy, or grammatical error.

Seismologists studying the earthquake that struck northern California in October 1989 are still investigating some of its mysteries: the unexpected power of the seismic waves, the upward thrust that threw one man straight into the air, and the strange electromagnetic signals detected hours before the temblor.

(A) the upward thrust that threw one man straight into the air, and the strange electromagnetic signals detected hours before the temblor
(B) the upward thrust that threw one man straight into the air, and strange electromagnetic signals were detected hours before the temblor
(C) the upward thrust threw one man straight into the air, and hours before the temblor strange electromagnetic signals were detected
(D) one man was thrown straight into the air by the upward thrust, and hours before the temblor strange electromagnetic signals were detected
(E) one man who was thrown straight into the air by the upward thrust, and strange electromagnetic signals that were detected hours before the temblor

Answer: A

Problem Solving – 20 Questions – 30 Minutes

Directions: Solve the problem and indicate the best of the answer choices given.

Numbers: All numbers used are real numbers.

Figures: A figure accompanying a problem solving a question is intended to provide information useful in solving the problem. Figures are drawn as accurately as possible EXCEPT when it is stated in a specific problem that its figure is not drawn to scale. Straight lines may sometimes appear jagged. All figures lie in a plane unless otherwise indicated.

Harriet wants to put up fencing around three sides of her rectangular yard and leave a side of 20 feet unfenced. If the yard has an area of 680 square feet, how many feet of fencing does she need?

A. 34
B. 40
C. 68
D. 88
E. 102

Answer: D

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

Data Sufficiency – 25 Questions – 30 Minutes

Directions: This data sufficiency problem consists of a question and two statements labeled (1) and (2), in which certain data are given. You have to decide whether the data given in the statements are sufficient for answering the question. Using the data given in the statements plus your knowledge of mathematics and everyday facts (such as the number of days in July or the meaning of counterclockwise), you must indicate whether

(A) statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked;
(B) statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked;
(C) BOTH statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question asked, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient;
(D) EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question asked;
(E) statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data specific to the problem are needed.

Numbers: All numbers used are real numbers.

Figures: A figure accompanying a data sufficiency problem will conform to the information given in the question, but will not necessarily conform to the additional information given in statements (1) and (2).

Lines shown as straight can be assumed to be straight and lines that appear jagged can also be assumed to be straight.

You may assume that the positions of points, angles, regions, etc., exist in the order shown and that angle measures are greater than zero. All figures lie in a plane unless otherwise indicated. Note: In data sufficiency problems that ask for the value of a quantity, the data given in the statements are sufficient only when it is possible to determine exactly one numerical value for the quantity.

In triangle PQR, what is the value of x ?

(1) PQ = PR
(2) y = 40

Answer: C

Analysis of Situations – 35 Questions – 30 Minutes

Directions: Each passage in this section is followed by numbered considerations that require classification, as illustrated by the following example:

John Atkins, the owner of a service station in Leewat, wanted to open a station in Eastown. A computer company had plans to set up operations in Eastown, and Atkins, foreseeing an increase in traffic near the plant, was eager to acquire land in Eastown so that he could expand his business to serve commuting workers. Ideally, Atkins wanted a piece of land large enough to permit him to build a tire store as part of the new station: he also wanted to keep the cost of purchasing the land as well as the cost of clearing it for construction as low as possible. Atkins identified three possible properties: one on Moore Road, another on Route 5, and a third on Snow Lane. The purchase prices of the properties were $42,000, $36,000, and $34,000, respectively. The properties required different expenditures for clearing. In the case of the Snow Lane site, a diner would have to be demolished and pavement removed. Atkins knew that his decision required deliberation.

The following numbered considerations are related to the passage above. Evaluate each consideration separately in terms of the passage and on the answer sheet blacken space

A if the consideration is an Objective in making the decision; that is, one of the outcomes, results, or goals that the decision-maker seeks;
B if the consideration is a Major Factor in making the decision; that is, a consideration, explicitly mentioned in the passage, that is basic to reaching the decision;
C if the consideration is a Minor Factor in making the decision; that is, a consideration that is of secondary importance to reaching the decision and that bears on a Major Factor;
D if the consideration is an Assumption in making the decision; that is, a relevant supposition or projection made by the decision-maker before reaching the decision.
E if the consideration is an Unimportant Issue in making the decision; that is, a consideration that is insignificant or not immediately relevant to reaching the decision.
Example Questions

1. Increase in traffic near the new computer plant.
2. Acquisition of a sufficiently large piece of land
3. Cost of clearing a piece of land
4. Cost of demolishing the diner on the Snow Lane site
5. Cost of starting up the new computer plant

Answers:

1. D
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. E

Problem Solving – 20 Questions – 30 Minutes

Directions: Solve the problem and indicate the best of the answer choices given.

Numbers: All numbers used are real numbers.

A toy store regularly sells all stock at a discount of 20 percent to 40 percent. If an additional 25 percent were deducted from the discount price during a special sale, what would be the lowest possible price of a toy costing $16 before any discount?

(A) $5.60
(B) $7.20
(C) $8.80
(D) $9.60
(E) 15.20

Answer: B

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