The table shows graduation data, by academic discipline, for undergraduate students who entered University A in 2003. Percentages are given...

OWNING THE DATASET

Let's start by understanding this table showing graduation rates across different academic disciplines. The table contains:

• Rows: Different academic disciplines (Humanities, Engineering, Business, etc.)
• Columns:
  • Number of students who graduated within 6 years
  • Number of students who did not graduate within 6 years
  • Proportion (%) of students who graduated within 6 years

Key insight: The table allows us to quickly compare both absolute numbers and percentages across disciplines.

For example, looking at one discipline (Humanities):

• 1,619 students graduated within 6 years
• 1,747 students did not graduate within 6 years
• This gives us a graduation rate we could calculate if needed

Note: By sorting this table in different ways, we can immediately identify maximums and minimums without manual comparison of all values – this will be crucial for our efficient analysis.

ANALYZING STATEMENT 3

Let's analyze the statements in the most efficient order, starting with Statement 3.

Statement 3 Translation:
Original: "The discipline having the largest number of students who graduated within 6 years also has the largest number of students who did not graduate within 6 years."
What we're looking for:

• Identify discipline with highest number in "graduated within 6 years" column
• Check if same discipline also has highest number in "did not graduate within 6 years" column

In other words: Does the same discipline top both the "graduated" and "did not graduate" lists?

Let's use sorting to quickly find our answer:

1. First, let's sort by "Number graduated within 6 years" column in descending order.
   • Humanities appears at the top with 1,619 students graduated
2. Now, let's sort by "Number who did not graduate within 6 years" column in descending order.
   • Humanities again appears at the top with 1,747 students not graduated

We can immediately see that Humanities has both the largest number of graduates and the largest number of non-graduates. No calculation needed!

Statement 3 is YES.

Teaching callout: Notice how sorting eliminated the need to manually compare all disciplines. With one click, we instantly identified the maximum values in each column rather than writing down and comparing multiple numbers.

ANALYZING STATEMENT 1

Statement 1 Translation:
Original: "Engineering had both the smallest number and the smallest proportion of students who graduated within 6 years."
What we're looking for:

• Check if Engineering has the lowest raw number of graduates
• Check if Engineering also has the lowest percentage of graduates

In other words: Is Engineering at the bottom for both total graduates and graduation rate?

Again, sorting makes this verification quick and clear:

1. Let's sort by "Number graduated within 6 years" column in ascending order.
   • Engineering appears at the bottom with 367 students graduated
2. Now, let's sort by "Proportion (%) of students who graduated" column in ascending order.
   • Engineering appears at the bottom again with 35.4% graduation rate

Both conditions are met – Engineering has both the smallest absolute number and the smallest percentage of graduates.

Statement 1 is YES.

Teaching callout: By using sorting rather than manual scanning, we quickly identified the minimums in both columns without having to check every discipline individually. This two-sort approach is much faster than calculating and comparing all values.

ANALYZING STATEMENT 2

Statement 2 Translation:
Original: "Business is the discipline for which the ratio of the number of students who graduated within 6 years to the number of students who did not is closest to 1."
What we're looking for:

• Calculate or estimate the ratio of graduates to non-graduates for Business
• Verify this ratio is closer to 1 than any other discipline's ratio

In other words: Is Business the discipline where the number of graduates is most similar to the number of non-graduates?

Let's approach this differently than the previous statements:

1. A ratio closest to 1 means the two numbers are very similar to each other.
2. Let's scan the table for disciplines where "graduates" and "non-graduates" look most similar:
   • For Business: 1,410 graduates vs. 1,403 non-graduates
   • The difference is only 7 students \((1,410 - 1,403 = 7)\)
   • The ratio is approximately \(1,410 ÷ 1,403 ≈ 1.005\)
3. Quickly scanning other disciplines:
   • Humanities: 1,619 vs. 1,747 (much larger difference)
   • Engineering: 367 vs. 669 (very different numbers)
   • No other discipline has numbers as close to each other as Business

This visual scan confirms that Business has the ratio closest to 1.

Statement 2 is YES.

Teaching callout: For ratio questions, we can often use visual recognition rather than precise calculations. When looking for a ratio near 1, we simply look for two numbers that are very close to each other. This saves significant calculation time.

FINAL ANSWER COMPILATION

After analyzing all three statements:

• Statement 1: YES
• Statement 2: YES
• Statement 3: YES

Therefore, all three statements are YES.

LEARNING SUMMARY

Skills We Used

• Sorting for Instant Insights: We used sorting to immediately identify maximums and minimums
• Pattern Recognition: For ratios, we looked for visually similar numbers rather than calculating all ratios
• Strategic Statement Ordering: We tackled the statements in order of solving efficiency (3→1→2)

Strategic Insights

• Sort First Approach: Always try sorting before any calculation to reveal patterns
• Ratio Shortcut: When looking for ratios near 1, look for values that are numerically close
• Visual Scanning After Sorting: After sorting, quick visual scans are much more effective

Efficiency Gains

• We avoided calculating graduation percentages for all disciplines
• We didn't need to compute and compare all possible ratios
• We eliminated the need to manually track and compare all disciplines' numbers

Common Mistakes We Avoided

• Calculating precise percentages when only relative comparisons were needed
• Computing exact ratios for all disciplines when visual comparison was sufficient
• Analyzing statements in the default order instead of the most efficient order

Remember: The GMAT provides sorting functionality for a reason – always use it as your first analytical step to transform complex data questions into simple visual insights!