Data Sufficiency Format Question

[sk1698]

Hi, i have a technical question (i'm sorry if this has already been asked previously, i'm new here):

In some third party Gmat practice exams (i.e. Barron's, 800score.com, etc) Data Sufficiency questions ask whether something is true, such as "...is p a prime number?" And then based on the two choices it helps you to conclude "NO" (choice A,B,or D). However, i have noticed that in the official Gmat practice material (downloadable and Official Guide) it never leads you to answer "NO" but always "YES" (choice A, B, or D) or not enough info (choice E).

My Question is, are the third party practices misleading in that sense? and should i just go with the what the Official Guide method?

Thank you for your time.

[Ian Stewart]

Hi, i have a technical question (i'm sorry if this has already been asked previously, i'm new here):

In some third party Gmat practice exams (i.e. Barron's, 800score.com, etc) Data Sufficiency questions ask whether something is true, such as "...is p a prime number?" And then based on the two choices it helps you to conclude "NO" (choice A,B,or D). However, i have noticed that in the official Gmat practice material (downloadable and Official Guide) it never leads you to answer "NO" but always "YES" (choice A, B, or D) or not enough info (choice E).

My Question is, are the third party practices misleading in that sense? and should i just go with the what the Official Guide method?

Thank you for your time.

Many third party materials overemphasize this aspect of DS. It's very rare that you find an official DS question where one or both statements are sufficient to give a 'no' answer. There is exactly one such question in the Official Guide (at least in the 11th edition) out of about 50 yes/no DS questions, which should give you some idea of how infrequently they appear. I've seen a couple in GMATFocus as well. Still, in the vast majority of yes/no DS questions, if you do indeed have sufficient information, the answer to the question will turn out to be 'yes', not 'no'.