Data Insights
GMAT Data Insights: a simple five-step method
Learn a simple order for GMAT Data Insights: read the question, find the needed data, ignore the rest, make the smallest useful move and check the answer.
The short answer
Do not begin by reading every number. Read the question first. It tells you which data matters and which data you can ignore.
The section has five official formats, but the same simple habit works across them: understand the task, find the needed information, make the smallest useful move and check the answer.
Invented teaching example · not a GMAT question
Which store grew fastest?
Store A grew 20%. Store B grew 30%. Store C grew 10%. The answer is Store B. You needed the two sales columns. You could ignore Region because it does not help answer this question.
Question first. Data second.
The official structure
Twenty questions. Forty-five minutes. Five formats.
Data Insights is one of the three equally weighted sections of the current GMAT. It contains 20 questions in 45 minutes and can combine quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning and data analysis. An on-screen calculator is available in this section.
20
questions
45
minutes
5
question formats
Forty-five minutes divided by twenty questions is an average budget of 2:15 per question—not a command to spend exactly 2:15 on each one. Sets, formats and decision complexity vary. Pacing must protect the whole section.
The five formats
What each format asks you to do.
Data Sufficiency
What you see
Decide whether the supplied statements provide enough information.
What you actually have to do
Ask what must be known. Do not calculate information the question does not require.
Multi-Source Reasoning
What you see
Analyze text, tables, graphics or a combination across several sources.
What you actually have to do
Find the source that answers the question and use only the information provided.
Table Analysis
What you see
Sort and analyze tabular information against specified conditions.
What you actually have to do
Read the condition first. Then sort or filter only the columns you need.
Graphics Interpretation
What you see
Interpret a visual display, identify relationships and draw inferences.
What you actually have to do
Check the axes, units and scale before trusting what the picture seems to show.
Two-Part Analysis
What you see
Resolve two related or independent tasks using a common set of options.
What you actually have to do
Decide whether the two answers depend on each other before doing the work.
The DG Prep five-step method
Use this order whenever the screen feels crowded.
- 01
Read the question
Say in one sentence what you must find, compare or decide.
- 02
Find the needed data
Locate the numbers, words, units and time period that answer that question.
- 03
Ignore the rest
Information can be true and still be useless for this question.
- 04
Make the smallest useful move
Sort, compare, calculate or check a condition. Calculate only when the question needs it.
- 05
Check the answer
Return to the question. Check the units, conditions and exact wording.
Use the calculator after you choose the calculation
The calculator can do arithmetic. It cannot decide which number you need. State the task first, then enter the calculation.
Use the information on the screen
A familiar business topic can tempt you to add facts from experience. Answer from the sources, definitions and conditions the question gives you.
Timing and Review & Edit
Protect the end of the section before planning to revisit the middle.
The official Question Review & Edit screen appears only after you answer every question in the section and only if time remains. You can review as many questions as you want and edit up to three answers. Unanswered questions carry a score penalty, so a plan that depends on returning later must first preserve completion.
Use checkpoints
Check your position at a few planned points. If you are behind, you can adjust before the final questions.
Budget time across the set
One source may support several questions. Judge the reading time across the whole set, not only the first question.
Edit on evidence
Change an answer because you found a specific misread, calculation or logical failure—not because revisiting the item made it feel less familiar.
A practical training progression
Add format, mixing and pressure in that order.
Learn the interface
Learn how to answer each format and what the question asks you to do. Difficulty using the screen is not the same as difficulty reasoning.
Practice one small skill
Work on one task—such as checking sufficiency, filtering a table or reading units—before adding time pressure.
Mix similar-looking tasks
Choose between similar methods. Explain the clue that makes one method fit and the other fail.
Use time across the section
Practice checkpoints, moving on, reusing a source and deciding when the calculator helps.
Try a different question later
After a delay, use unfamiliar official-quality material and record time, confidence and the first step that went wrong.
Do not stop at “I am bad at graphs.”
A graph mistake may come from missing the units. A slow multi-source set may begin with reading everything before reading the question. A Data Sufficiency miss may begin with an unclear target. Name the first step that went wrong, then practice that step.
Build an error log that shows the first wrong stepWant help applying this to your score?
Turn this idea into a practice plan.
Discuss your current results, target and test date with Bruno, and ask whether private tutoring fits your preparation.