After a 5% raise, Kim has a salary of $40,530. What was Kim’s salary before the raise?
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This one tripped me up at first ngl. 5% raise means 1.05x = 40530, right? Took me a second to see why B and C are both there as traps.
Yeah the two similar answers is sneaky, makes you double-check your division.
Same, I almost picked B because it's the difference but that's what gets added, not the original.
Quick trick: since 5% is small, the original has to be just a bit under 40530, so you can eliminate anything above it or way below. Leaves basically one choice.
Why is A even an option lol. 2k salary after a 5% raise makes no sense.
I think it's just 5% of the total, classic distractor.
Got C pretty fast, 40530/1.05. These percentage ones are usually free points if you set up the multiplier right.
What it tests
Your ability to compute percentage change, percentage of a whole, and to work backwards from a final value.
Common trap
Treating successive percentage changes as additive — a 10% rise then a 10% fall is not back to the start.