Brain Teasers

This month, for the first time, we are using an official question from the new version of the GMAT as our monthly “brain teaser”. As anyone who knows the GMAT will be able to tell, it’s indistinguishable from questions that appeared on the “Classic GMAT,”...

My teacher posed the below question to our class on the last day of 5th grade. I remember puzzling over it and needing my father to help me solve it. Don’t cheat. Give yourself a chance. You can do this! What word has 1 n, 1 p, 2 l’s, 4 e’s, and 5 s’s?...

Three men, who are not wearing glasses, are placed in a room without mirrors. The men are told to close their eyes and then a hat is placed on each of their heads. The hat is either red or green in color. Once the hats are in place they are told to open...

This month is the first time we are introducing an official GRE question as our monthly brain teaser. The below question is yet another example of how reasoning often trumps knowledge on standardized tests and how the questions can sometimes resemble brain...

This month’s brainteaser is very conceptual and therefore does NOT require much time. Give it a try! You leave Atlanta at 8am on Sunday morning and arrive in Detroit at 8pm that same day. You take breaks on the 12 hour journey and you change speeds...

This month we come back to a challenge that favors the more “verbally-inclined.” Some of the below are pretty easy and some are hard…see how many you can get: Each phrase below consists of a number and the first initials of words. Supply the missing words to...

In this month’s “brain teaser,” we present an official GMAT question. While thinking about this question, it’s critical to remember/understand that the GMAT does not allow a calculator on the Quantitative Section, so this question must be able to be solved...

This month’s brain teaser is not so bad! Yes, it requires thought (reasoning!), but it is doable. Give it a try! You have a three gallon and a five gallon measuring device. You can fill the containers with water as many times as you like or pour...

There are 1000 lockers in a high school with 1000 students. The problem begins with the first student opening all 1000 lockers; next the second student closes lockers 2,4,6,8,10 and so on to locker 1000; the third student changes the state (opens lockers...

This month’s brain teaser is on the “easier” side (though it is still a brain teaser: hint, hint).  As in previous newsletters, it’s also typical of the type of questions you see on standardized tests, especially the GMAT and GRE: If 4 hens can lay...

Club X has more than 10 but fewer than 40 members. Sometimes the members sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 4 members at each of the other tables, and sometimes they sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 5 members at each of the other...

A census taker approaches a house and asks the woman who answers the door "How many children do you have, and what are their ages?" The woman says, "I have three children; the product of their ages is 36, and the sum of their ages is equal to the address of...

This month we switch back to a more quantitative brain teaser. It’s also typical of the type of question one sees on the GMAT and GRE, for reasons that we explain in the answer explanation. Are you up for the challenge? When a clock is at 3:15, what is the...

Brain teasers and puzzles often have a more quantitative bent (and test-takers similarly obsess more about the quantitative sections of the SAT, ACT, GMAT, and GRE), so in this month’s newsletter we present a question that is more “verbal” in...

Don was driving his tractor-trailer under an overpass when suddenly he came to a screeching halt. Don wasn’t paying enough attention and inadvertently drove under an overpass that was just barely as high as his truck. The tractor-trailer was wedged so...

In ancient Egypt, there were magical lily ponds. On these ponds, each flower doubled overnight. For example, if a pond had one flower on a certain day, the next day there would be two flowers (both the same size as the original flower). On March 1, a single...