{"id":10702,"date":"2012-03-21T14:35:11","date_gmt":"2012-03-21T21:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=10702"},"modified":"2012-03-21T11:50:03","modified_gmt":"2012-03-21T18:50:03","slug":"why-patience-pays-off-on-data-sufficiency-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/why-patience-pays-off-on-data-sufficiency-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Patience Pays off on Data Sufficiency Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> By Jen Rugani<\/p>\n

In the Nintendo game\u00a0Super Mario Bros<\/em>., Mario uses green warp pipes to travel around the world. Even though some of these pipes don\u2019t lead anywhere, savvy players know that it\u2019s wise to try to enter every single one, because every so often, one transports Mario to a room full of bonus coins. Score!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m often reminded of this warp-pipe bonus when tackling a tricky DS question. Taking a few seconds to make a little extra effort can generate huge returns; in data sufficiency, this means spending some time with the prompt to simplify the question before moving on to the statements. Let\u2019s take a look at this example:<\/p>\n

If\u00a0x<\/em>,\u00a0y<\/em>, and\u00a0z<\/em> are negative numbers such that\u00a0z<\/em> = 40x<\/em> + 80y<\/em> and\u00a0x<\/em> +\u00a0y<\/em> = -1, is\u00a0z<\/em> < -60?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. x<\/em> >\u00a0y<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. y<\/em> < -0.5<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Many test-takers will see a problem like this and immediately start working with the number properties and testing cases. Could this get you to a correct answer? Sure, but look what happens if we give the warp pipe a try and spend some time with the prompt first. I\u2019d rather work with two variables than three (especially since I only see\u00a0x<\/em> andy<\/em> in the statements), so first I\u2019ll substitute 40x <\/em>+ 80y <\/em>to replace\u00a0z <\/em>in the question inequality.<\/p>\n

    Now the question becomes<\/p>\n

    Is 40x <\/em>+ 80y<\/em> < -60?<\/p>\n

    I know that\u00a0x <\/em> +\u00a0y <\/em>= -1, so now I want to manipulate the inequality in such a way that I can make another substitution. If I divide both sides by 40, I get<\/p>\n

    Is\u00a0x <\/em>+ 2y <\/em>< -1.5? or, more helpfully, Is\u00a0x <\/em>+\u00a0y <\/em>+\u00a0y<\/em> < -1.5?<\/p>\n

    Now I can substitute -1 for\u00a0x<\/em> +\u00a0y<\/em> to get<\/p>\n

    Is -1 +\u00a0y <\/em>< -1.5?<\/p>\n

    Add 1 to both sides, and we can see that this question really becomes<\/p>\n

    Is\u00a0y<\/em> < -0.5?<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s so much simpler than the given prompt, and looking at Statement 2, I can immediately see that the GMAT has given me a room full of bonus coins to reward my work! Is\u00a0y <\/em>< -0.5? Why yes, it is \u2013 an easy, immediate sufficient. Moving on to Statement<\/p>\n

    1, I\u2019m still looking for opportunities to substitute with info from the prompt, so I add\u00a0y<\/em> to both sides to get<\/p>\n

    <\/em><\/p>\n

    x<\/em> +\u00a0y <\/em>> 2y<\/p>\n

    Now I can substitute -1 on the left side<\/p>\n

    -1 > 2y<\/em><\/p>\n

    And finally, divide both sides by 2<\/p>\n

    -0.5 >\u00a0y<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>Done! Another straightforward sufficient, and I can answer D with confidence. This is a question that seems much more difficult than it really is \u2013 as we can see, the GMAT rewards test-takers who are patient enough to work with the prompt before moving on to the statements. Take advantage of opportunities to simplify the question, and your room full of coins awaits!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Jen Rugani In the Nintendo game\u00a0Super Mario Bros., Mario uses green warp pipes to travel around the world. Even though some of these pipes don\u2019t lead anywhere, savvy players…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1,243,718,736],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-uncategorized","category-blog","category-data-sufficiency-gmat","category-quant-gmat","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10702"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10706,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10702\/revisions\/10706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}