ds is really hurting my score

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iridebikes: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 31; Joined: Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:38 am; Thanked: 2 times

by iridebikes » Sat Jan 01, 2011 9:57 pm

I have been working through official guide, the 5 mgmat math guides and also jeff sackmann's fundamental/challenge sets. My quant score has improved drastically thanks to this site and the resources I have been using but ds is really lagging. Can they be easier to answer than ps questions? I usually have all of the math right but the question in some way trips me up. I am going to be purchasing veritas prep ds strategy guide. Any other suggestions? thanks

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Data Sufficiency | Sat Jan 01, 2011 9:57 pm

VivianKerr: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1035; Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:13 amFollowed by: 365 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 474 times

by VivianKerr » Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:58 am

Hi Iridisbikes!

DS can definitely be easier than PS once you get the hang of them - but you need to think of them as two separate questions - "yes/no" and "value."

For "yes/no" sufficiency is determined by a FIRM answer - meaning either a "firm yes" or a "firm no" is sufficient. The ACTUAL answer does not matter, and often you won't actually need to do the math and solve. If a statement only provides enough information for you to answer "sometimes yes/sometimes no" then it is NOT sufficient.

For "value" questions, sufficiency is determined more like PS questions where a numeric answer is needed to determine sufficiency. As you practice, it may help to keep these two types of DS questions in mind.

Here's an article I wrote that might help explain things in more detail: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/12/ ... ufficiency

Make sure to USE SCRATCH PAPER as you practice. It will help (promise!)

Best,
Vivian

Vivian Kerr
GMAT Rockstar, Tutor
https://www.GMATrockstar.com
https://www.yelp.com/biz/gmat-rockstar-los-angeles

Former Kaplan and Grockit instructor, freelance GMAT content creator, now offering affordable, effective, Skype-tutoring for the GMAT at $150/hr. Contact: [email protected]

Thank you for all the "thanks" and "follows"!

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buckrich: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 7; Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:56 pm; Location: SLC

by buckrich » Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:41 pm

I have the exact same problem as you and have also been using the same study materials. I can basically ace the gmat except for ds problems, which for some reason kill me. I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that my brain isn't wired correctly for gmat style ds questions when I'm under the gun for time. Keep working at it but you might want to try a method that I've used with success. During ds questions I have a hard time sorting through all the senerios so I usually take up too much time. I've learned though that if I'm behind on my time, I can usually eliminate a couple of the answer choices on ds questions relatively easily and quickly. So I just take a quick look and if I know it's a question that'll I'll struggle with I try to eliminate a couple answers and then take an educated guess without wasting any time. For the most part I believe my odds are close to 50/50 which isn't bad on a 700+ caliber question and I pick up some extra time for the rest of test. Best of luck...

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