Trouble Understanding the DS concept.

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usman321: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 2; Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:39 am; Thanked: 1 times

by usman321 » Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:15 am

Hello Every one!

Hope all is well with you guys. This is my first post over here on the forum. I am really having trouble understanding the Data Sufficiency questions. I did couple of questions from the OG but my answers are always coming wrong even though I am getting the basic concepts right. I always mix up the question with the two given statements and the result that I get is always wrong! I am pretty devastated and hopeless with this outcome as I have my GMAT test in two months!

Is there an easy way to understand the DS concept/topic? Thank you so much!!!!

Best,

Ozzy

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Data Sufficiency | Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:15 am

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Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pmFollowed by: 1268 members; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:34 am

Hi Ozzy,

Your situation is very common among people preparing for the GMAT. The truth of the matter is that EVERYONE struggles with Data Sufficiency (DS) questions at first. Keep in mind that this question type is unique to the GMAT, so it's totally foreign territory.

It just takes time for the concepts and strategies to become secondary, at which point you may come to find that DS questions are actually easier than Problem Solving questions.

I could start listing dozens of DS strategies and common mistakes (like confusing the answer to sufficiency question to the answer to the target question), but it's easier to just direct you to our free set of videos that cover everything you need to know to tackle DS questions: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat-data-sufficiency

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pmFollowed by: 511 members; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Sun Jan 11, 2015 1:52 pm

Hi usman321,

What resources have you been using during your studies? It might be that you're working with materials that aren't making DS questions clear enough for you to handle. In many cases, the math "behind" any given DS question is usually easy to deal with, so your primary goal is to stay ORGANIZED - take lots of notes, label your work, write the QUESTION on the pad, etc.

It sounds like you might be looking for a series of consistent "steps" to go through when tackling DS questions. If that's the case, then let me know and I can offer some suggestions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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MartyMurray: Legendary Member; Posts: 2135; Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:26 amFollowed by: 140 members; Location: https://martymurraycoaching.com/; Thanked: 955 times; GMAT Score:800

by MartyMurray » Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:20 pm

As Brent says, people often feel that way about DS questions and can get queasy just seeing one.

If you really have done only a few, that's part of what is going on. A few is not much practice. Once you have done all the DS questions in the OG you will be much more comfortable. Then you could find an online question bank and do dozens more.

If you do this and learn a few tricks, such as avoiding C traps, within a week or two you will be much better at DS, and by keeping at it you could become a pro by the time you take that test.

Marty Murray
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.

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