GRE-Style: Percent Change Multi-Step

GRE Quantitative · Axiom Academy

EXAMPLE GRE-Style: Percent Change Multi-Step Chaining three quarters of percent change into one net result A restaurant's revenue was 500 , 000 . In Q1 it increased by 15%. In Q2 it decreased by 10%. In Q3 it increased by 20%. What is the revenue after Q3, and what is the total percent change from the start? Nice work — you chained three consecutive percent changes into one net result, the way GRE quant multi-step problems test it. Multiply, don't add: each percent change applies to the CURRENT value, not the original — so consecutive changes compound as multipliers, never as a simple sum. One combined multiplier: , so the net effect is a single 24.2% increase — not . Result: revenue moves from 500 , 000 to 621 , 000 , a increase overall. This "multiply the multipliers" move is the fastest way to handle any chain of percent changes — on the GRE or anywhere else.

This is the written version of the interactive lesson above. See the full GRE Quantitative course.