starting with (H). If she has 24 miles left, then she’s halfway there—that’s not far enough
along, so eliminate (H) and any answer with higher mileage. Plug in (G). If she’s got 12
miles left to go, that means 48 − 12 = 36, meaning she’s driven 36 miles so far. Since the
ratio of 36:12 is 3:1, (G) is your answer.
23 . B This question is best approached through PITA. Since all of the answer choices are integers,
start with the one in the middle, (C). If z = 11, then = 11 . Multiply both sides by 2
and solve to determine that w = 23. If you put these two values into the left-hand side of the
second equation provided in the question stem, you get = = 17. This is too big,
so eliminate (C) and test (B). If z = 7, then = 7. Multiply both sides by 2 and solve to
determine that w = 15. If you put these two values into the left-hand side of the second
equation provided in the question stem, you get = = 11. This matches the
information in the question stem, and thus (B) is correct.
24 . K Plug In a small number for the number of sales he’s completed so the math is as easy as
possible. If he completed 2 sales, then he’s made $250 commission to go with his $600 base
salary, for total earnings of $850. Choice (K) gets you the same value.
27 . A Play it safe and Plug In 2. (2^2 − 6(2) + 5)(2 + 4) means (4 − 12 + 5)(6), which gives you −18
as a target answer. Choice (A) will read 2^3 − 2(2)^2 − 19(2) + 20. Simplified, 8 − 8 − 38 + 20
= −18.
30 . H This question is best approached through PITA. The answer choices are all different
combinations of three numbers: 2, −2, and 0. So these numbers need to be plugged in. If n =
−2, then the left-hand side of the equation is |2(−2) + 6| = |−4 + 6| = |2| = 2. If n = −2, then the
right-hand side of the equation is |3( −2) + 4| = |−6 + 4| = |−2| = 2. This works, so any answer
choice that does not have n = −2 as a solution can be eliminated; cross off (F) and (J). Now
try the other solution from (H): if n = 2, then the left-hand side of the equation is |2(2) + 6| =
|4 + 6| = |10| = 10. If n = 2, then the right-hand side of the equation is |3(2) + 4| = |6 + 4| = |10|
= 10. This also works, so (H) is the correct answer.
