Mid-Range Target Score

Quiz for students needing a mid-range GMAT score

Below, you'll find 15 official (retired) GMAT questions that are in the 500 to 650 range of difficulty.

As you may already know, the GMAT is a timed test. So, to get an accurate idea of your present GMAT skills, give yourself 30 minutes to complete the quiz.

Once you've answered all 15 questions, check the answer key at the very bottom of the page to determine how many questions you answered correctly. Beneath the answer key, you'll find advice regarding how to interpret your results. 

Important: If you know very little about the GMAT and the skills it tests, you might want to first watch this brief video overview of the GMAT.

NOTE: About 40% of all questions in the Quantitative Reasoning section of the GMAT are Data Sufficiency (DS) questions, which are unique to GMAT. This question type can be quite confusing at first. So, before attempting the questions below, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with this question type by watching some videos in the free Data Sufficiency lesson module.

START OF QUIZ (30 minutes) 

Quantitative Reasoning – Problem Solving Questions (select the best answer)

1) Company P had 15 percent more employees in December than it had in January. If Company P had 460 employees in December, how many employees did it have in January?

(A) 391

(B) 400

(C) 410

(D) 423

(E) 445 

2) A manufacturer makes and sells 2 products, P and Q. The revenue from the sale of each unit of P is $20.00 and the revenue from the sale of each unit of Q is $17.00. Last year the manufacturer sold twice as many units of Q as P. What was the manufacturer’s average (arithmetic mean) revenue per unit sold of these 2 products last year?

(A) $28.50

(B) $27.00

(C) $19.00

(D) $18.50

(E) $18.00

3) A marketing firm determined that, of 200 households surveyed, 80 used neither Brand A nor Brand B soap, 60 used only Brand A soap, and for every household that used both brands of soap, 3 used only Brand B soap. How many of the 200 households surveyed used both brands of soap?

(A) 15

(B) 20

(C) 30

(D) 40

(E) 45



4) If k is a positive integer, what is the remainder when (k + 2)(k³ – k) is divided by 6 ?

(A) 0

(B) 1

(C) 2

(D) 3

(E) 4

5) Mark and Ann together were allocated n boxes of cookies to sell for a club project. Mark sold 10 boxes less than n and Ann sold 2 boxes less than n. If Mark and Ann have each sold at least one box of cookies, but together they have sold less than n boxes, what is the value of n?

A) 11

B) 12

C) 13

D) 14

E) 15

 

6) Jackie has two solutions that are 2 percent sulfuric acid and 12 percent sulfuric acid by volume, respectively. If these solutions are mixed in appropriate quantities to produce 60 liters of a solution that is 5 percent sulfuric acid, approximately how many liters of the 2 percent solution will be required?

A) 18

B) 20

C) 24

D) 36

E) 42

Quantitative Reasoning – Data Sufficiency Questions

Note: If you haven’t already done so, you should learn more about Data Sufficiency questions before attempting the next 3 questions (otherwise, these questions will be a complete mystery!)

7) If x and y are positive numbers, is (x+1)/(y+1) > x/y?

(1) x > 1

(2) x < y

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 the word 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 to answer the question asked.

(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.

8) Max purchased a guitar for a total of $624,which consisted of the price of the guitar and the sales tax. Was the sales tax rate greater than 3 percent?

(1) The price of the guitar that Max purchased was less than $602.

(2) The sales tax for the guitar that Max purchased was less than $30.

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 the word 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 to answer the question asked.

(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.

9) If x is a positive integer greater than 1, what is the value of x?

(1) 2x is a common factor of 18 and 24

(2) x is a factor of 6

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 the word 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 to answer the question asked.

(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.

Verbal Reasoning – Critical Reasoning

The directions for all Critical Reasoning questions are the same: Select the best of the answer choices given.

10) City council member: Demand for electricity has been increasing by 1.5 percent a year, and there simply is no more space to build additional power plants to meet future demand increases. We must therefore begin to curtail usage, which is why I propose passing ordinances requiring energy-conservation measures in all city departments.

The city council member's proposal assumes which of the following?

(A) Existing power plants do not have capacity to handle all of the projected increase in demand for electricity.

(B) No city departments have implemented energy-conservation measures voluntarily.

(C) Passing ordinances designed to curtail electricity usage will not have negative economic consequences for the city.

(D) Residential consumers are not responsible for the recent increases in demand for electricity.

(E) City departments that successfully conserve energy will set a good example for residential and industrial consumers of electricity.

11) In response to viral infection, the immune systems of mice typically produce antibodies that destroy the virus by binding to proteins on its surface. Mice infected with the herpesvirus generally develop keratitis, a degenerative disease affecting part of the eye. Since proteins on the surface of cells in this part of the eye closely resemble those on the herpesvirus surface, scientists hypothesize that these cases of keratitis are caused by antibodies to the herpesvirus.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to support the scientists’ reasoning?

(A) Other types of virus have surface proteins that closely resemble proteins found in various organs of mice.

(B) Mice that are infected with the herpesvirus but do not develop keratitis produce as many antibodies as infected mice that do develop keratitis.

(C) Mice infected with a new strain of the herpesvirus that has different surface proteins did not develop keratitis.

(D) Mice that have never been infected with the herpesvirus can sometimes develop keratitis.

(E) There are mice that are unable to form antibodies in response to herpes infections, and these mice contract herpes at roughly the same rate as other mice.

12) Humans get Lyme disease from infected ticks. Ticks get infected by feeding on animals with Lyme disease, but the ease of transmission from host animal to tick varies. With most species of host animal, transmission of Lyme disease to ticks is extremely rare, but white-footed mice are an exception, readily passing Lyme disease to ticks. And white-footed mouse populations greatly expand, becoming the main food source for ticks, in areas where biodiversity is in decline.

The information in the passage most strongly supports which of the following?

(A) In areas where many humans are infected with Lyme disease, the proportion of ticks infected with Lyme disease is especially high.

(B) Very few animals that live in areas where there are no white-footed mice are infected with Lyme disease.

(C) Humans are less at risk of contracting Lyme disease in areas where biodiversity is high.

(D) Ticks feed on white-looted mice only when other host species are not available to them.

(E) The greater the biodiversity of an area, the more likely any given host animal in that area is to pass Lyme disease to ticks.

Verbal Reasoning – Sentence Correction

The directions for Sentence Correction questions are always the same. They are as follows:

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.

13) Digging in sediments in northern China, evidence has been gathered by scientists suggesting that complex life-forms emerged much earlier than they had previously thought.

(A) evidence has been gathered by scientists suggesting that complex life-forms emerged much earlier than they had

(B) evidence gathered by scientists suggests a much earlier emergence of complex life-forms than had been

(C) scientists have gathered evidence suggesting that complex life-forms emerged much earlier than

(D) scientists have gathered evidence that suggests a much earlier emergence of complex life-forms than that which was

(E) scientists have gathered evidence which suggests a much earlier emergence of complex life-forms than that

14) The English physician Edward Jenner found that if experimental subjects were deliberately infected with cowpox, which caused only a mild illness, they are immune from smallpox.

(A) which caused only a mild illness, they are immune from

(B) causing only a mild illness, they become immune from

(C) which causes only a mild illness, they are immune to

(D) causing only a mild illness, they became immune from

(E) which caused only a mild illness, they would become immune to

15) By using a process called echolocation to analyze the echoes of the high-pitched sounds they produce, bats can determine not only the distance to an object, but they also can determine its shape and size and the direction in which it is moving.

(A) can determine not only the distance to an object, but they also can determine

(B) not only can determine the distance to an object but also

(C) can determine not only the distance to an object but also

(D) not only can determine its distance from an object but also

(E) can determine not only their distance from an object, but they can also determine

END OF QUIZ: Scroll down to see answer key (and links to step-by-step solutions).

Answer Key

1. Answer: B   (Brent’s solution)
2. Answer: E   (Brent’s solution)
3. Answer: A   (Brent’s solution)
4. Answer: A   (Brent’s solution)
5. Answer: A   (Brent’s solution)
6. Answer: E   (Brent’s solution #1 | Brent’s solution #2)
7. Answer: B   (Brent’s solution)
8. Answer: A   (Brent’s solution)
9. Answer: A   (Brent’s solution)
10. Answer: A   (Brent’s solution)
11. Answer: C   (Brent’s solution)
12. Answer: C   (Brent’s solution)
13. Answer: C   (Brent’s solution)
14. Answer: E   (Brent’s solution)
15. Answer: C   (Brent’s solution)

Interpreting your results

If you need a GMAT score between 500 and 650, and you correctly answered:

• 12 or more questions (in under 30 minutes), then it's likely that you already have the skills needed to achieve your target score. To be certain, however, it’s a good idea to take an official full-length practice test, and see how you do.
• 8 to 11 questions, then it’s possible that can reach your target score within 1 month of preparing (provided you work hard during that time).
• fewer than 8 questions, then you will likely need more than 1 month to prepare.