04/04/2013
Interview Question 5: A group of UNIBEN students plan to rent a house together for x naira per month, which is to be shared equally among them. If two rather than three of them rent the house together, how much more, in terms of x, would each student have to pay for rent per year.
A. x/3
B. x/6
C. x/8
D. 2x
E. 3x/10
Try solving this before looking at the solution below.
SOLUTION:
The answer is D.
This is a very tricky question, and one that is likely to be incorrectly answered (and was incorrectly answered !) by a lot of candidates because they did not completely read the question.
If three students rent the house together, the cost per person would be X/3 naira. If two students rent together, the cost per person would be x/2 naira. Thus, if only 2 students rent together, the increase in naira per person would be x/2-x/3 = (3x-2x)/6 = x/6. A lot of students would select B as the answer at this point, but on careful reading, you would realize that the question asked for the rent increase per year not per month. To calculate the increase per year, you would need to multiply x/6 by 12, which give 2x, and the answer is D.
A similar question appeared in a recently given aptitude examination, and a good percentage of the students selected B. This is one of the numerous ways that employers would use to determine candidates who pay a close attention to detail, and are not error prone. Make sure you read a question completely and clearly before answering it.