Or, er, I’m a child of the LSAT. Studying for the math portion of the GMAT, I came across this question:
(30) John weighs twice as much as Susan. Susan’s weight is 60% of Sam’s weight. Mark weighs 50% of Lynn’s weight. Lynn weighs 190% of John’s weight. Which of these 5 people weighs the least?
(A) John
(B) Susan
(C) Sam
(D) Mark
(E) Lynn
I immediately tried to write out their initials.. J, S, S.. Wait.. OK, really, GMAT? Cardinal rule of these sorts of questions, guys: The variables are weird names in consecutive alphabetical order. For instance.. Samantha, Trey, Uzi, Veronica, Wayne, Xena, Yoko, and The Variable Formerly Known as Z. It’s just common sense, guys.
I get it, I get it. It’s the quantitative portion of the exam, but everything in my being wishes it were something like this:
Adam, Bob, Carl, David, Eric, Frank, George, and Hank are basketball players (Note the totally logical list of variables. Thanks LSAT).
Frank is the same height as Hank.
George is taller than Frank.
Eric is taller than Adam.
Adam is taller than David and Carl.
Bob is shorter than Carl.
Which one of the following must be false?
(A) George is taller than Hank.
(B) Carl is taller than David.
(C) Adam is taller than Frank.
(D) David is the same height as Carl.
(E) Bob is the same height as Eric.
I never thought I’d miss the LSAT. And I don’t. But relearning trigonometry is a pain.
