Data Suf.. are kicking my A$$

Question

I just finished a set of 27 level 2 math questions and got 15 out of 27 correct. 3 data suf questions right out of 11...What is the secret?
Any advice would be appreciated

Ski

vivek123 · Answer

I think almost everybody starts with some fear/hate for DS questions, so don't worry. In the DS section of OG, there are some guidelines (very beginning of the DS section) on how to solve DS question, very important, just follow it & you should love it (or hate lesser)

To start with you can sit with a piece of paper which you can use to cover statement 2) when u r analyzing the problem with statement 1) & so on... And not to forget, practice...practice...practice...

mohish · Answer

Where are you preparing from? I am preparing from Kaplan, but don't see any 'level of difficulty' displayed against any question....would be really nice if they did...

kimmyg · Answer

The only tips I have for DS questions are to use the rules taught in the Princeton Review Book ...The answer is always A/D  or  B/C/E so whenever I get that the first statement alone is sufficient I write a Big A and a smaller D next to the question. If the second statement is sufficient I put a circle around the D, otherwise I strike through it. If A is not sufficient, I immediately write BCE next to the question, then I strike through the letters as necessary. Even if I still don't understand the question, for the most I can narrow down to two or three choices and make a semi-educated guess.

The second most helpful tip from Princeton is to write yes or no next to relevant questions. There are a lot of questions where the answer is yes or no and just because I can't find a value I sit there wasting time trying to figure out an answer. If the answer is yes (or no), then the statement is sufficient...plain and simple. 

Anybody have any other tips?

ValleyBall1 · Answer

I use a similar approach but use the following grids in DS:

A D
B C E

If I work on statement 1 first and find out it is insufficient, I draw a line through "A D".

B D
A C E

Similarly, if I work on statement 2 first and find out it is insufficient, I draw a line through "B D". In general, I pick the easier statement first and go from there.

ValleyBall1 · Answer

My biggest mistake is that I sometimes fail to realize that the two statements together can solve the problem. I need to break my frame of mind that if A and B are insufficient (and D), that the answer is NOT automatically E.

coffeeloverfreak · Answer

I think my biggest trap at first was assuming that if A was insufficient but there was an answer, it was automatically C. I would fail to check B without A to see if B was sufficient on its own. Once I realized I was doing that, I was more aware and stopped making so many mistakes on DS.

A good tip from Kaplan: start with statement B. I don't know why it works but it does!

desiguy · Answer

I agree, if you start with B and work backwards, you will have a better shot at determining what the answer is.

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Data Suf.. are kicking my A$$

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