Last year, the five employees of Company X took an average of 16 vacation days each. What was the average number of vacation days taken by the same employees this year?

(1) Three employees had a 50% increase in their number of vacation days, and two employees had a 50% decrease.

(2) Three employees had 10 more vacation days each, and two employees had 5 fewer vacation days each.

I received this question when taking the MGMAT CAT Math over the weekend. I think there is a logical fallacy in the question as the question asks what was the average number of vacation days TAKEN by the employees while statement (2) states "Three employees HAD 10 more vacation days each, and two employees HAD 5 fewer vacation days each."

My intepretation is that just because you have a certain number of days does not necessarily mean you have to take them. For example, if I have 25 days of vacation a year but only take 15, I will have some days left over. If statement (2) were changed to read TAKEN instead of HAD, i think it would make a lot more sense. This would raise a definite red flag in critical reasoning questions, so I think it is worth noting here as well.

Thanks!

I think you have a good point, and I will have this problem reviewed. In real life, we know that the vacations you "have" are different from the vacations you "take."

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Ben Ku
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT

I had the exact same interpretation of the question. I think you guys need to change the wording of the question. It is very misguiding; it makes me a little angry that I should get penalized for some wrongly worded question :)

Fair enough! Sorry to make you angry. :-)

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor