GMAT Data Insights: Table Analysis 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A table lists employees with salary and years of service. To test 'the highest-paid employee also has the most years of service,' you should:
- Sort by salary to find the top earner, then check that person's service years against the maximum (Correct answer)
- Average both columns and compare the means
- Sum the salaries only
- Check the alphabetically first employee
Correct answer: Sort by salary to find the top earner, then check that person's service years against the maximum
Identify the top earner, then verify their service equals the column maximum.
Question 2: A statement says 'no product had both high price and high return rate.' How is this best checked?
- Sort by price, then within high-priced products confirm none also have high return rates (Correct answer)
- Average the price and return columns
- Count total products only
- Look only at the lowest-priced product
Correct answer: Sort by price, then within high-priced products confirm none also have high return rates
Filter to high-price rows and confirm the second condition fails for all of them.
Question 3: When a table column can be sorted ascending or descending, the range of that column is found by:
- Subtracting the smallest value from the largest value (Correct answer)
- Adding the top and bottom values
- Counting the number of rows
- Taking the middle value
Correct answer: Subtracting the smallest value from the largest value
Range equals maximum minus minimum, both visible at the sorted ends.
Question 4: A claim states 'at least one country exceeds the average GDP shown.' Is this necessarily true?
- Yes, unless all values are identical, some value must be above the mean (Correct answer)
- No, it can never be true
- Only if the table has exactly two rows
- Only if GDP is measured in dollars
Correct answer: Yes, unless all values are identical, some value must be above the mean
Unless every value is equal, at least one value lies above the average.
Question 5: To evaluate 'fewer than 25% of items are out of stock,' you would:
- Count out-of-stock items and compare to one-quarter of the total items (Correct answer)
- Sum the stock quantities
- Find the most expensive item
- Sort items alphabetically
Correct answer: Count out-of-stock items and compare to one-quarter of the total items
Compare the qualifying count against 25% of the row total.
Question 6: A table shows monthly sales for several stores. To determine which store had the most consistent sales, you would look for:
- The store whose monthly values vary the least (smallest spread) (Correct answer)
- The store with the highest single month
- The store listed first
- The store with the most rows
Correct answer: The store whose monthly values vary the least (smallest spread)
Consistency means low variability, so the smallest spread of values wins.
Question 7: If two statements in a question can be evaluated independently, you should:
- Judge each one separately using only the relevant table data (Correct answer)
- Assume both have the same answer
- Skip the second statement
- Combine them into a single claim
Correct answer: Judge each one separately using only the relevant table data
Each statement is scored on its own and may have a different verdict.
GMAT Data Insights: Table Analysis 3
A table lists employees with salary and years of service.
To test 'the highest-paid employee also has the most years of service,' you should: