In a sample of college students, 40 percent are third-year students and 70 percent are not second-year students. What fraction of those students who are not third-year students are second-year students?
(A) 43
(B) 32
(C) 74
(D) 21
(E) 73

I started the problem by setting up a double set diagram with the arrangement (second year/non second year in the column and third year/not third year in the row)..I got stuck after that part though. Any help would be appreciated

I can't seem to get any of the answer choices to match up with my solution:

40 are 3rd year = 60 are not 3rd year
70 are not 2nd year = 70 are 1st, 3rd, 4th year
We know 40 are 3rd year, so 1st and 4th add to 30, 30 is left for 2nd year
Or, as the question stem indicates, 70 are not 2nd year, so 30 must be 2nd year

I get 30/60

yeah, i get 30/60 too.
you don't have to do quite as much calculation, though, given the current information in the problem; you could just do this:
40 percent are third-year --> 60 percent are not third-year.
70 percent are not second-year --> 30 percent are second-year.
taking the problem statement as written, then, we'd have 30/60, or 50%.

therefore, something must be wrong with the transcription of the problem.
in fact, there's definitely more than one thing wrong with this problem - either that or it's not really a gmatprep problem.
* genuine gmatprep problems, after all, ALWAYS give answer choices in numerical order, with the only exception being cases in which that numerical order would give the problem away (e.g., "which of the following numbers is 3rd biggest?" for a bunch of fractions or decimals).
* also, the problem statement purportedly refers to "fractions", but the given answer choices clearly aren't fractions. they look like percentages - but they're weird percentages, too.

where'd you get this problem? could you double- and triple-check it, please?
thanks.

This is a GMAT Paper Based Test problem. is the question flawed??

has it been transcribed correctly?

verbatim?

FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE? (you shouldn't place much trust in problems that have come from second- or thirdhand internet sources)

The answer choices have been copied wrongly. The correct choices are:

(A) 3/4
(B) 2/3
(C) 4/7
(D) 1/2
(E) 3/7

it's pretty obviously flawed, as 43, 32, 74, 21, and 73 are not fractions.



there we go. our answer from above is in here.