We know that searching for job is a job in itself and for most of us who are required to write aptitude tests, the job becomes even more difficult, and worse still when one has to study alone without help or encouragement.

I opened this thread for us to figure out plausible solutions to some questions we may have come across which might have proven a bit difficult at first. I will go first and hope some other gurus in the house would help out too.

Some questions have been making the rounds. People say they are past GSE questions. Considering that there are no worked examples, I have decided to start with these.



Q1 What was the difference in the value of FLAC product sales compared to BEC
product sales?

(A) £14,650
(B) £17,105
(C) £27,545
(D) £47,545
(E) £64,650
(F) £64,655

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SOLUTION:

Solving this problem has a lot to do with your ability to understand and correctly interpret the tabular information given and apply it to the question asked.

The question asks us to find the value of the FLAC product sales, BEC product sales and get the difference ie the answer to the question should be:

Answer = Value of FLAC product sales - Value of BEC product sales

If we are able to do this then we are done with the question. Let me explain in more details.

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To solve the question, the following steps can be applied:

STEP 1: Understand the Question asked

I have explained this step previously.


STEP 2: Interpret the table:

The following can be gotten from the table as it applies to the question asked:

1) BEC has 2 product codes i.e BEC1A and BEC5C

2) FLAC has 3 product codes i.e FLAC3X, FLAC9Y and FLAC4T

3) Sales for each product code = Number of units sold X Sales price per unit sold.

The information above are what is needed to arrive at the correct answer.


STEP 3: Apply the information from the table

Hence for FLAC, applying information 2 above, we have:

FLAC product sales = The sum of the Value of units sold for FLAC3X, FLAC9Y and FLAC4T

Applying information 3 to FLAC, we have:

Value of units sold for FLAC3X = 3,500 X 4.8 = 16,800
Value of units sold for FLAC9Y = 5,500 X 4.65 = 25,575
Value of units sold for FLAC4T = 4,500 X 4.95 = 22,275

Thus,

FLAC product sales = The sum of the Value of units sold for FLAC3X, FLAC9Y and FLAC4T
= 16,800 + 25,575 + 22,275
= 64,650

Following the same steps as above, we will obtain the sum of the Value of units sold for BEC.

That is,

BEC product sales = The sum of the Value of units sold for BEC1A and BEC5C

Where,

Value of units sold for BEC1A = 6,500 X 4.25 = 27,625
Value of units sold for BEC5C = 4,800 X 4.15 = 19,920

Thus,

BEC product sales = The sum of the Value of units sold for BEC1A and BEC5C
= 27,625 + 19,920
= 47,545

STEP 5: Use your work to arrive at the answer

After spending time to work your way to this extent, it would be sad for you to slip up at this time. Always have the question asked at the back of your mind.

Recall,

The solution we seek is:

Answer = FLAC product sales - BEC product sales

And from our initial work, we have that:

FLAC product sales = 64,650

BEC product sales = 47,545

:. Answer = 64,650 - 47,545
= 17,105

which is OPTION (B)

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If I were to solve the above, I would not need to follow the steps in details as we just did. I only need to interpret the table correctly which should not take more than 10 seconds, apply the simple arithmetics which only involves 3 operations i.e multiplication, addition and subtraction.

If I have a good calculator, I should be done in about 45 seconds but considering that we are expected to work with the computer calculator (or none) then it would be over a minute. If there is no good calculator and the time is limited, then please avoid this question for some more simpler options. It is not advisable to waste your time on a question.

So, who wants to help out with Question 2?



Q2 Which product code has the highest profit margin? (Assume Profit margin =
Sales price – Production costs).

(A) BEC 1A
(B) BEC 5C
(C) FLAC 3X
(D) FLAC 9Y
(E) FLAC 4T
(F) None of these

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SOLUTION:

In order to arrive at the answer, we need to be able to interpret the information contained in the table correctly. This is a vital step to solving this Question.

Given the formula:

Assume Profit margin = Sales price – Production costs

We would need the following steps in arriving at our answer:

STEP 1

Obtain the sales price for each product code. Note that the formula gave the sales price and not the sales value. The sales price thus will be the unit sales price for each product code.

STEP 2

Obtain the product cost for each product code. Also note that the product costs for each product code is given in terms of Pounds per each 100 units. In order to solve the Question, we would need to work in terms of unit costs given that we are working with the unit sales price.

STEP 3

Apply the formula given to each product code in order to arrive at the code with the most marginal profit.

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Applying the above steps, we can then solve for the answer.

STEP 1:

From the Table, we can readily obtain the sales price of each product code i.e

1) BEC 1A = 4.25

2) BEC 5C = 4.15

3) FLAC 3X = 4.8

4) FLAC 9Y = 4.65

5) FLAC 4T = 4.95

Again, note that the above product sales price are in units, hence the need to work with the unit product costs per product code.

STEP 2:

From the table, we would notice that the product costs for each product code is made up of 3 components each i.e

Labour costs

Design costs

Misc costs

and they are given in terms of 1 Pounds per 100 units produced. This would need to be converted to 1 unit in order for us to work with it appropriately.

Hence for each product code we have the following product costs (without conversion):

1) BEC 1A = (180 + 84 + 62) = 326

2) BEC 5C = (172 + 92 + 74) = 338

3) FLAC 3X = (160 + 74 + 94) = 328

4) FLAC 9Y = (150 + 101 + 108) = 359

5) FLAC 4T = (164 + 105 + 94) = 363

Converting to units, we have:

1) BEC 1A = 326/100 = 3.26

2) BEC 5C = 338/100 = 3.38

3) FLAC 3X = 328/100 = 3.28

4) FLAC 9Y = 359/100 = 3.59

5) FLAC 4T = 363/100 = 3.63

Since the sales price and costs are in the same units, we can now proceed to STEP 3.


STEP 3:

The formula is given by: Assume Profit margin = Sales price – Production costs

Hence the assumed unit profit margins is given by:

1) Assume profit margin (BEC 1A) = 4.25 - 3.26 = 0.99

2) Assume profit margin (BEC 5C) = 4.15 - 3.38 = 0.77

3) Assume profit margin (FLAC 3X) = 4.8 - 3.28 = 1.52

4) Assume profit margin (FLAC 9Y) = 4.65 - 3.59 = 1.06

5) Assume profit margin (FLAC 4T) = 4.95 - 3.63 = 1.32

From the above we can see readily that FLAC 3X has the highest profit margin of the lot. Hence the answer to the Question is OPTION (C).

No one for Question 2 What about Question 3?



Q3 What would have been the additional profit on BEC 5C units if all those that had been
produced in January were sold?
(A) £27,625
(B) £25,428
(C) £15,655
(D) £11,700
(E) £7,055
(F) £6,500

Q4 If the labour, design and Misc costs for producing the FLAC 9Y decrease by 5%, 7.5%
and 12.5% respectively, what will be the profit when selling 25,000 FLAC 9Y units?
(A) £116,250.50
(B) £85,442.00
(C) £48,296.25
(D) £33,642.50
(E) £19,450.50
(F) £18,650.00

I hope this wasn't a bad idea?

Please calculus answer the̶̲̥̅̊ four question, am learning greatl
y frm it

Igienomo: Please calculus answer T̶̲̥̅̊h̶̲̥̅̊e̶̲̥̅̊ four question, am learning greatl
y frm it

Okay! I will do that right away!

^^

I have provided the solution for Question 2. If no one is ready to provide the other solutions then I will be obliged to continue.

Please continue