Data InsightsTwo-Part Analysis

Free GMAT Two-Part Analysis Practice Question

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Columns: Applicant, Years of experience, Certified. Seven rows of applicant data.
Applicant	Years of experience	Certified
Q1	8	Yes
Q2	5	Yes
Q3	7	No
Q4	6	Yes
Q5	3	No
Q6	9	Yes
Q7	4	No

The table lists seven applicants for an engineering role, each with the applicant's years of relevant experience and whether the applicant holds a professional certification. The first column below asks about the certified applicants only, and the second column asks about the applicants who are not certified. Among the applicants who hold a certification, select the number who have more than 6 years of relevant experience. Among the applicants who do not hold a certification, select the number who have more than 4 years of relevant experience. Make only two selections, one in each column.

Certified applicants with more than 6 years: . Non-certified applicants with more than 4 years: .

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Answer & Explanation

Correct answer

1: 2 · 2: 1

The two columns read two disjoint blocks of the table, so each needs its own count. First, restrict to the certified applicants: Q1 with 8, Q2 with 5, Q4 with 6, and Q6 with 9. Of these, the ones with more than 6 years are Q1 with 8 and Q6 with 9, so the first answer is 2. Q4 has exactly 6, which is not more than 6, and Q2 has 5, so neither qualifies.

Second, restrict to the applicants who are not certified: Q3 with 7, Q5 with 3, and Q7 with 4. Of these, only Q3 with 7 has more than 4 years, so the second answer is 1. Q7 has exactly 4, which is not more than 4, and Q5 has 3.

Now the distractors. Option 0 is the over-strict reader who treats the threshold as more than 8 (the first selection) or more than 7 (the second selection) and finds no one. Option 3 is the reader who drops the certification restriction in the first selection and counts every applicant with more than 6 years, namely Q1, Q3, and Q6, or who counts all three non-certified applicants in the second selection while ignoring the years threshold. Option 4 is the reader who counts all four certified applicants in the first selection while ignoring the years threshold, or who swaps the certification block in the second selection and counts the certified applicants with more than 4 years. Option 5 is the reader who applies the second selection threshold of more than 4 to the entire table, capturing Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, and Q6.

The credited reads are 2 and 1.