Strategies For Solving Data Sufficiency

Memorize the Data Sufficiency answer choices The directions and answer choices for Data Sufficiency questions never change. Memorize them so that you have no problems on test day. There is no excuse for walking into test day without these five answer choices perfectly memorized!

1. A) Statement (1) by itself is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (2) by itself is not. B) Statement (2) by itself is sufficient to answer the question, but statement (1) by itself is not. C) Statements (1) and (2) taken together are sufficient to answer the question, even though neither statement by itself is sufficient. D) Either statement by itself is sufficient to answer the question. E) Statements (1) and (2) taken together are not sufficient to answer the question, requiring more data pertaining to the problem.

What does it mean that a statement is “sufficient”? Sufficient does not mean that a statement is right or true, just that you can use the statements to derive an answer. Takes notes efficiently Each statement alone will be sufficient if both of the statements on their own contain all the information necessary to answer the question. The statements will be sufficient together if they contain every piece of necessary information between them. Take the area of a parallelogram: Do you need to know every side length to determine the area? If you have every side length, can you find the area? Learn to simplify the statements If n is an integer, is n/5 an integer? (1) 4n/5 is an integer (2) 5n/5 is an integer What does this simplify into? “Is n/5 an integer” means “is 5 a factor (divisor) of n?” because you want ot see if 5 can cleanly divides into n. We can do the same thing with the statements 1 and 2. 1) is 4n divisible by 5 2) is 5n divisible by 5 Your first step when doing one of these questions is to try and factor it or translate it into similar language. Simplify by Consolidating Variables If you have two or three variables in a question, you are probably not going to be able to find it sufficient. So you should try to consolidate all the variables into terms of one variable. This will help you solve for it much more easily. Methodically progress through the two statements It takes mental discipline to progress through the Data Sufficiency questions. The test writers deliberately build tricks to each question. There are two basic questions that you must ask yourself on every Data Sufficiency question: Step 1: Read the given problem. Don’t assume anything except universal facts. Step 2: Rephrase the statements Step 3: Can you answer the question using the information from statement (1) only? Step 4: Can you answer the question using the information from statement (2) only? Step 5: If the answer to both of these questions is “no,” then you ask yourself a third question: can you answer the question if you combine the information from both statements? Key Take-Away:

• Never try to reach final answer as it is not asked. You need to find whether the information provided is enough to solve the given problem or not.
• Never make any assumption. Use only universal rules.
• Try to solve questions by using above strategies.
• Solve question step by step. First try to find answer using first statement then second and finally with both. Then mark the answer.
• Even if you find answer with only one statement, then try to find answer with remaining statement as sometimes there is an option that answer can be find with both statements separately.
• Move on quickly and mark answer can’t be found in case you are unable to reach any conclusion with information provided.