A manager of an apartment building in Ankara, Turkey, is planning the building's maintenance budget for the next three years—Y1,...
GMAT Multi Source Reasoning : (MSR) Questions
A manager of an apartment building in Ankara, Turkey, is planning the building's maintenance budget for the next three years—Y1, Y2, and Y3. All maintenance must be paid for from the building's maintenance reserve account (MRA). The manager knows that at the end of the current year (Y0), there will be exactly 50,000 lira (₺) in the MRA.
The apartment owners have set the following priorities and constraints for the manager.
- Wall and roof repairs are the highest priorities and must be completed in Y1.
- Landscaping and interior painting are the lowest priorities.
- There must be at least ₺10,000 in the MRA at the end of each year.
- The apartment association will contribute exactly ₺70,000 to the MRA at the beginning of each of Y1, Y2, and Y3.
For each of the following years, select Yes if, according to the information provided, the manager's draft maintenance plan includes spending money on at least one of the two lowest priority projects. Otherwise, select No.
OWNING THE DATASET
Understanding Source A: Text - Constraints
| Information from Dataset | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "A manager of an apartment building in Ankara, Turkey, is planning the building's maintenance budget for the next three years—Y1, Y2, and Y3" |
|
| "at the end of the current year (Y0), there will be exactly 50,000 lira (₺) in the MRA" |
|
| "Wall and roof repairs are the highest priorities and must be completed in Y1" |
|
| "Landscaping and interior painting are the lowest priorities" |
|
| "There must be at least ₺10,000 in the MRA at the end of each year" |
|
| "The apartment association will contribute exactly ₺70,000 to the MRA at the beginning of each of Y1, Y2, and Y3" |
|
Summary: The manager must plan three years of maintenance with specific priorities and strict financial constraints, starting with \(₺50,000\) and receiving \(₺70,000\) annually while maintaining a minimum \(₺10,000\) balance each year.
Understanding Source B: Table - Draft Plan
Table Analysis:
- What the table shows: Manager's draft maintenance plan with project expenditures by year
- Key patterns observed:
- Wall repairs (\(₺60,000\)) and roof repairs (\(₺15,000\)) both scheduled in Y1 only
- Plumbing upgrades split across Y1 (\(₺40,000\)) and Y2 (\(₺40,000\)) - only multi-year project
- Exterior painting (\(₺45,000\)) scheduled for Y2 only
- Low priority items: Interior painting (\(₺25,000\)) in Y3, Landscaping split between Y2 (\(₺8,000\)) and Y3 (\(₺14,000\))
- Total expenditures: Y1=\(₺115,000\), Y2=\(₺93,000\), Y3=\(₺39,000\)
- Inference: Spending decreases each year, with heaviest expenditure front-loaded in Y1
- Linkage to Source A: The draft plan correctly follows priority constraints - wall and roof repairs (highest priority) are scheduled in Y1 as required, while landscaping and interior painting (lowest priority) are scheduled last
Summary: The draft plan respects the priority constraints from Source A by front-loading mandatory repairs in Y1, but creates heavy first-year spending of \(₺115,000\) that significantly exceeds the \(₺70,000\) annual contribution.
Understanding Source C: Table - MRA Projections
Table Analysis:
- What the table shows: Financial projections for the maintenance reserve account based on the draft plan
- Key patterns observed:
- Contributions remain constant at \(₺70,000\) per year (as stated in constraints)
- Expenditures match Source B exactly: Y1=\(₺115,000\), Y2=\(₺93,000\), Y3=\(₺39,000\)
- End-of-year balances: Y1=\(₺5,000\), Y2=\(-₺18,000\), Y3=\(₺13,000\)
- Inference: The account becomes severely depleted in Y1 and goes negative in Y2 (an impossible scenario)
- Linkage to Source A: The Y1 balance of \(₺5,000\) violates the minimum \(₺10,000\) requirement, and the negative Y2 balance is impossible
- Linkage to Source B: The heavy Y1 spending (\(₺115,000\)) directly causes the near-depletion of reserves, and continued overspending in Y2 (\(₺93,000\)) creates the negative balance situation
Summary: The projections reveal that the draft plan violates financial constraints from Source A in both Y1 and Y2, with the account falling below the required minimum and even going negative, proving the current plan is not feasible.
Overall Summary
- The maintenance planning scenario reveals a fundamental conflict between priority requirements and financial constraints
- The draft plan correctly schedules high-priority wall and roof repairs in Y1 as required
- However, the resulting expenditures (\(₺115,000\) in Y1, \(₺93,000\) in Y2) far exceed the \(₺70,000\) annual contributions
- This creates violations of the minimum balance requirement in Y1 (only \(₺5,000\) instead of required \(₺10,000\))
- An impossible negative balance occurs in Y2 (\(-₺18,000\))
- The manager must revise the plan to either reduce costs, reschedule some work, or find alternative funding to maintain the required \(₺10,000\) minimum balance throughout all three years
Question Analysis
The question asks us to determine, for each year (Y1, Y2, Y3), whether the manager's draft maintenance plan spends money on at least one of the two lowest priority projects, which are landscaping and interior painting.
Key Constraints:
- Focus on two lowest priority projects only
- Check spending for each individual year
- Output Yes or No for each year based on spending present or not
- Use information from the manager's draft plan
Answer Type Needed: Binary Yes/No for each year
Connecting to Our Analysis
The question can be answered using the analysis of spending schedules for landscaping and interior painting projects as identified lowest priority projects, checking their allocations in each year. We can answer this completely from our analysis alone.
Extracting Relevant Findings
The lowest priority projects are landscaping and interior painting. Spending on these projects occurs in Y2 and Y3 but not in Y1.
Hypothesis: The draft plan includes spending on at least one lowest priority project in Y2 and Y3 but not Y1.
Year-by-Year Analysis:
- Year 1: No spending on landscaping or interior painting - spending amount: 0, Result: No
- Year 2: Spending of 8,000 on landscaping (a lowest priority project) - spending amount: 8,000, Result: Yes
- Year 3: Spending of 14,000 on landscaping and 25,000 on interior painting - total spending amount: 39,000, Result: Yes
Individual Statement/Option Evaluations
Statement 1 Evaluation
Statement: "Yes"
- This would suggest spending on lowest priority projects occurs in all years
- Evidence shows mixed pattern: No spending in Y1, but spending in Y2 and Y3
- Does not accurately represent the complete three-year pattern
- Result: Incorrect - oversimplifies the actual year-by-year variation
Statement 2 Evaluation
Statement: "No"
- This would suggest no spending on lowest priority projects in any year
- Evidence shows spending of 8,000 in Year 2 and 39,000 in Year 3 on these projects
- Contradicts the documented spending in Y2 and Y3
- Result: Incorrect - ignores substantial spending in later years
Systematic Checking
Checked the draft plan allocation against the identified lowest priority projects for each year systematically:
- Confirmed lowest priority projects as landscaping and interior painting
- Verified spending amounts from the draft plan
- Cross-checked each year's spending on these projects
- Applied 'at least one' spending condition accurately
- Consistent findings show Yes for Y2 and Y3 and No for Y1
The actual pattern is: Y1: No, Y2: Yes, Y3: Yes
Final Answer
Neither statement accurately captures the complete three-year pattern. However, based on the requirement to evaluate the given options:
- Statement 1: Incorrect ("Yes" does not apply to all years)
- Statement 2: Incorrect ("No" does not apply to all years)
Y1
Y2
Y3