DS strategy?

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luiscarlos59: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 61; Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:34 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by luiscarlos59 » Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:03 pm

Can anyone tell me what's the strategy to answer DS questions? I normally read statement A) without reading statement B (i even try to hide it with my paper) and then read statement B).

I use the DA/BCE strategy

But I have seen that other ppl usually start with B). How do you use this approach?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:03 pm

sam2304: Legendary Member; Posts: 1239; Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:25 amFollowed by: 26 members; Thanked: 233 times; GMAT Score:680

by sam2304 » Sun Jan 22, 2012 6:07 pm

DS questions are mostly to find a value or yes/no type. Be clear with what is being asked, if its find a value then we should get only one particular value there cannot be more than one, if its yes/no - it should be either one and not both. The first time i tried solving problems i was barging the problem with all the information in the question and the statements. I messed up, the only answer choices i ended up were C or E. So try rephrasing the question first. It is more important to know what is asked and what is needed to solve. Go through the statements one by one and try to solve. Follow the A D, B C E order. While solving problems make flash cards for shortcuts like if x^2 < x then 0 < x < 1. For percentage increase/decrease you need both the original and the increased value. Is x < y - we need to know the signs of both variables. For absolute value problems you have to split up the eqns. So the statements should have something related to this. You will learn a lot of these shortcuts when you review a lot. Once you get used to DS problems, You will know that you don't need to solve the problem but look for which information helps to solve the problem.

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Jim@StratusPrep: MBA Admissions Consultant; Posts: 2279; Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:51 amFollowed by: 266 members; Location: New York; Thanked: 660 times; GMAT Score:770

by Jim@StratusPrep » Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:58 pm

Sometimes it will be easier to check statement 1 first and others statement 2. This is an insignificant issue, however. One of the best things to do from the beginning is to simplify the question prompt. Often times you can ask a more specific question to determine sufficiency than is being asked. After organizing your thoughts it will be easier to tackle these difficult questions.

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