WORK RATE

Live Session Questions

Question 1

A factory has three types of machines A, B, and C each

of which works at its own constant rate. How many
widgets could one machine A, one Machine B, and one
Machine C produce in 8 hours?

(1) 7 Machine As and 11 Machine Bs can produce 250

widgets per hour

(2) 8 Machine As and 22 Machine Cs can produce 600

widgets per hour
Question 2

Sally and Alice are working together at the same task. By

herself, Sally can complete the task in x + 2 hours. Could
Sally, working on her own, complete the task in less time
than Alice could do so working on his own?

(1) Working together, Sally and Alice can complete the

task in x - 2 hours.

(2) Working together, Sally and Alice can complete one-

fourth of the task in an hour.
Question 3

Two dressmakers, Sue and Anne, sewed costumes for a

local theater production. Sue sewing alone for 10 hours
sewed some of the costumes, Anne sewing for 16 hours
finished sewing the remaining costumes. How any hours
would it have taken Sue alone to sew all of the costumes?

(1) Sue sewed 1 costume every 2 hours.

(2) Sue sewed twice as many costumes working in 10 hours
as Anne produced in 16 hours.
Question 4

Mary and Nancy can each perform a certain task in m and

n hours, respectively. Is m<n?

(1) Twice the time it would take both Mary and Nancy to
perform the task together, each working at their
respective constant rates, is greater than m.

(2) Twice the time it would take both Mary and Nancy to
perform the task together, each working at their
respective constant rates, is less than n.
Question 5
S and T are two water pumps that run at constant rates.
If pump T pumped alone, how many more hours would it
take for it to finish pumping a large container than it
would take for pump S to accomplish the same task by
itself?

(1) When both the water pumps work together, they

finish pumping a large container in 2/3 the time it takes
for pump S to finish the task alone.

(2) Pump T is capable of pumping a large container in

twice the time that it takes pump S to accomplish the
same task alone.
Question 6

Working at their respective constant rates, machine A

makes 100 copies in 12 minutes and machine B makes 100
copies in 15 minutes. If a number of x machine A and a
number of y machine B work simultaneously at their
respective rates for 2 hours, what is the total number of
copies that they will produce?

(1) x = y
(2) 5x + 4y = 90
Question 7

Consider 20 identical pipes that supply water to a tank. What

is the minimum number of pipes that has to be kept open if
one needs to fill the tank within 30 minutes?

1) When 8 pipes are kept open, the tank gets filled 20

minutes sooner than when 6 pipes are kept open.

2) If all the 20 pipes are kept open, the tank gets filled in
less than 15 minutes.
Question 8

A, B and C are assigned the task of making the same type

of clay toys. How many clay toys are made in a day when
all three work together?

(1) In one day, A, working alone, can make one-fourth as

many clay toys as B, working alone, can and three fifth
as many clay toys as C, working alone, can
(2) When B works at 50% capacity, B and A can make 65
toys in a day and B and C can make 45 toys in a day
Question 9

Andy, George, and Sally are a team of consultants working on Project

Alpha. They have an 8 hour deadline to complete the project. The
team members work at constant rates throughout the 8 hour period. If
the team of three has to begin work now and no one else can work on
this project, will Project Alpha be completed by the deadline?

(1) Sally can finish the project alone in 4k+7 hours, where k is a
positive integer with a minimum value of 1 and a maximum value of 5.

(2) Working alone, Georgia will take 2k+1 hours, and Andy will take
3+2k hours, where k is a positive integer with a minimum value of 1
and a maximum value of 5.
Question 10

If pipe B fills a container at a constant rate in 100

minutes, how many minutes does it take pipe A, working
at is own constant rate, to fill the same container?

(1) Pipe A and pipe B together fill the container at 1/4

the time it takes pipe A alone.
(2) Pipe A and pipe B together fill the container at 3/4
the time it takes pipe B alone.
Question 11

Reserve tank 1 is capable of holding z gallons of water. Water

is pumped into tank 1, which starts off empty at a rate of x
gallons per minute. Tank 1 simultaneously leaks water at a
rate of y gallons per minute (x>y).The water that leaks out of
tank 1 drips into tank 2,which also starts off empty. If the
total capacity of tank 2 is twice the number of gallons that
remains in tank 1 after 1 minute, does tank 1 fill up before
tank 2?

(1) zy < 2x2 - 4xy + 2y2

(2) Total capacity of tank 2 is less than one half that of tank 1.
Question 12

An actor read aloud and recorded a certain 420-page book

on several audiotapes. Was the average recording time per
page less than 90 seconds?

(1) Each tape was at most 40 minutes

(2) The book was recorded on 15 tapes
Question 13

A tank containing water started to leak. Did the

tank contain more than 30 gallons of water when it
started to leak? (Note: 1 gallon = 128 ounces)

(1) The water leaked from the tank at a constant

rate of 6.4 ounces per minute.
(2) The tank became empty less than 12 hours
after it started to leak.
Question 14

How many hours would it take Pump A and Pump B

working together, each at its own constant rate, to
empty a tank that was initially full?

(1) Working alone at its constant rate, Pump A would

empty the full tank in 4 hours 20 minutes.
(2) Working alone, Pump B would empty the full tank at
its constant rate of 72 liters per minute.
Question 15

Three employees, A, B and C, clean a certain conference

room each day. Working together, A and B can clean the
conference room in 3 hours, whereas A and C together
can do it in 2 and 1/2 hours. Can A, B and C working
together clean the conference room in less than 2 hours?

1) B cleans faster than A.

2) Working alone, C can clean the conference room in
less than 5 hours.
Question 16

Is the number of copies of a certain manuscript that n

machines of type A can make in one hour greater than
the number of copies of the manuscript that k
machines of type B can make in one hour?

(1) n > k
(2) The number of copies of the manuscript that n
machines of type A can make in one hour is 20
Question 17

To fill an order, a manufacturer had to produce 1000

tools per day for n days. what is the value of n?

(1) Because of production problems, the manufacturer

produced only 600 tools per day during the first 5 days
(2) Because of production problems, the manufacturer
had to produce 1,500 tools per day on each of the last
4 days in order to meet the schedule
Question 18

If machine J, working alone at its constant rate, takes

2 minutes to wrap 60 pieces of candy, how many
minutes does it take machine K, working alone at its
constant rate, to wrap 120 pieces of candy?

(1) Machine K, working alone at its constant rate, takes

more than 5 minutes to wrap 60 pieces of candy.
(2) Machines J and K, working together at their
respective constant rates, take 1 minute and 30
seconds to wrap 60 pieces of candy.
Question 19

If Ruth began a job and worked continuously until she

finished, at what time of day did she finish the job?

(1) She started the job at 8:15 a.m. and at noon of the
same day she had worked exactly half of the time that
it took her to do the whole job.

(2) She was finished exactly 7.5 hours after she had
started.
Question 20

If Machine B and Machine C work together at their constant

individual rates to produce x widgets, what percent of the
widgets will be produced by Machine B?

(1) Machine A and Machine B, working together at their

constant individual rates, can produce x widgets in 9 hours.

(2) Machine A and Machine C, working together at their

constant individual rates, can produce x widgets in 12 hours.
Question 21

Machines A, B and C produce identical balls at their

respective constant rates. If machines A and B
operating simultaneously can produce a batch of balls
in 4 hours and 48 minutes, in how much time can
machines A and C operating simultaneously produce the
same batch of balls?

(1) Machines A, B and C operating simultaneously can

produce the same batch of balls in 24/11 hours

(2) Machine B operating alone takes 50 percent more

time to produce the same batch of balls than
Machine A operating alone
Question 22

Each of 10 machines works at the same constant rate doing

a certain job. The amount of time needed by the 10
machines, working together, to complete the job is 16
hours. How many hours would be needed if only 8 machines,
working together, were used to complete the job?

A. 18
B. 20
C. 22
D. 24
E. 26
Question 23

A farm used two harvesting machines, H and K, to harvest 100

acres of wheat. Harvesting machine H, working alone at its
constant rate, harvested 40 acres of wheat in 8 hours. Then
harvesting machine K was brought in, and harvesting machines H
and K, working together at their respective constant rates,
harvested the remaining acres of wheat in 5 hours. Harvesting
machine K harvested how many acres of wheat per hour?

(A) 7
(B) 8
(C) 12
(D) 13
(E) 15
Question 24

Three machines operating independently, simultaneously, and

at the same constant rate can fill a certain production order in
36 hours. If one additional machine were used under the same
operating conditions, in how many fewer hours of simultaneous
operation could the production order be fulfilled?
A. 6
B. 9
C. 12
D. 27
E. 48
Question 25

Working alone at its constant rate, machine K took 3 hours

to produce 1/4 of the units produced last Friday. Then
machine M started working and the two machines, working
simultaneously at their respective constant rates, took 6
hours to produce the rest of the units produced last Friday.
How many hours would it have taken machine M, working
alone at its constant rate, to produce all of the units
produced last Friday?
A. 8
B. 12
C. 16
D. 24
E. 30
Question 26

A husband and wife, started painting their house, but

husband left painting 5 days before the completion of the
work. How many days will it take to complete the work,
which the husband alone would have completed in 20 days
and wife in 15 days?
A. 40/7
B. 50/7
C. 75/7
D. 55/7
E. 65/7
Question 27

Printer a takes 40 more minutes to print the pages of a book

than do the printers a and b together, whereas printer b takes
10 more minutes to print the same pages than do the printers a
and b together. What is the ratio of the time taken by printer a
to the time taken by printer b to print these pages ?
A. 1:2
B. 2:1
C. 3:1
D. 4:1
E. 10:1
Question 28

Working at their respective constant rates, machine A makes

100 copies in 12 minutes and machine B makes 150 copies in
10 minutes. If these machines work simultaneously at their
respective rates for 30 minutes, what is the total number of
copies that they will produce?
(A) 250
(B) 425
(C) 675
(D) 700
(E) 750
Question 29

Tom, working alone, can paint a room in 6 hours. Peter and

John, working independently, can paint the same room in 3
hours and 2 hours, respectively. Tom starts painting the room
and works on his own for one hour. He is then joined by Peter
and they work together for an hour. Finally, John joins them
and the three of them work together to finish the room,
each one working at his respective rate. What fraction of the
whole job was done by Peter?
A. 1/9
B. 1/6
C. 1/3
D. 7/18
E. 4/9
Question 30

A carpenter worked alone for 1 day on a job that would

take him 6 more days to finish. He and another carpenter
completed the job in 4 more days. How many days would it
have taken the second carpenter to do the complete job
working alone?
A) 4 2/3
B) 7
C) 9
D) 14
E) 24
Question 31

There are 2 candles with the same height. It takes t mins for A
to burn, and it takes 2t mins for B to burn. When the candles
are burnt at the same time, how many minutes did it take for
the height of B to be twice the height of A?
A. t/3
B. 2t/3
C. t/2
D. 3t/4
E. 4t/5
Question 32

Machine X takes 20 hours longer than machine Y to produce

1080 Widgets. Machine Y produces 20 percent more widgets
in an hour than machine x does in an hour. How many widgets
per hour does machine X produce

A. 100
B. 65
C. 25
D. 11
E. 9
Question 33
Machine A can produce x units in 3/4 of the time it takes
machine B to produce x units. Machine B can produce x
units in 2/3 the time it takes machine C to produce x
units. If all three machines are working simultaneously,
what fraction of the total output is produced by machine
B?
(A) 1/2
(B) 1/3
(C) 4/13
(D) 8/29
(E) 6/33
Question 34

If 12 men and 16 women can do a piece of work in 5 days

and 13 men and 24 women can do it in 4 days, how long
will 7 men and 10 women take to do it?

(A) 4.2 days

(B) 6.8 days
(C) 8.3 days
(D) 9.8 days
(E) 10.2 days
Question 35

Running at their respective constant rates, machine X

takes 2 days longer to produce w widgets than machines
Y. At these rates, if the two machines together produce
5w/4 widgets in 3 days, how many days would it take
machine X alone to produce 2w widgets.
A. 4
B. 6
C. 8
D. 10
E. 12
Question 36
Machine A produces pencils at a constant rate of 9000 pencils
per hour, Machine B produces pencils at a constant rate of
7000 pencils per hour. If 2 machines together must produce
100,000 pencils and if each machine can operate for at most
8 hours, what is the least amount of time, in hours, that
Machine B must operate?
A.2
B.3
C.4
D.5
E. 6
Question 37

Pumping alone at their respective constant rates, one inlet

pipe fills an empty tank to 1/2 of capacity in 3 hours and a
second inlet pipe fills the same empty tank to 2/3 of capacity
in 6 hours. How many hours will it take both pipes, pumping
simultaneously at their respective constant rates, to fill the
empty tank to capacity?
A. 3.25
B. 3.6
C. 4.2
D. 4.4
E. 5.5
Question 38

Working at constant rate, pump X pumped out half of the

water in a flooded basement in 4 hours. The pump Y was
started and the two pumps, working independently at their
respective constant rates, pumped out rest of the water in
3 hours. How many hours would it have taken pump Y ,
operating alone at its own constant rate, to pump out all of
the water that was pumped out of the basement?

a. 10
b. 12
c. 14
d. 18
e. 24
Question 39

Six machines at a certain factory operate at the same

constant rate. If four of these machines, operating
simultaneously, take 27 hours to fill a certain production
order, how many fewer hours does it take all six machines,
operating simultaneously, to fill the same production order?
A. 9
B. 12
C. 16
D. 18
E. 24
Question 40

Tube 1 drops 2 marbles per minute starting at 8:05. Tube 2

drops 5 marbles per minute starting at 8:23. If Jerry needs
400 marbles from the tubes, at what time will he get the
400 marbles?

A) 8:57
B) 9:05
C) 9:07
D) 9:15
E) 9:25
 ANSWER KEYS

1.C 2.C 3.B 4.D 5.E 6.B 7.A 8.B 9.B 10.D

11.A 12.C 13.E 14.E 15.D 16.E 17.E 18.B 19.A 20.E

21.C 22.B 23.A 24.B 25.D 26.C 27.B 28.D 29.E 30.D

31.B 32.E 33.B 34.C 35.E 36.C 37.B 38.E 39.A 40.D