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14 Nov 2025, 01:46
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If you're spending 15+ minutes on MSR sets, your notes are killing you. Research shows that 67% of MSR errors are reading mistakes, not calculation errors. Here's the system that works.
Core Philosophy
Your notes should serve as a navigation map, not a transcript. They help you know WHERE to look, not WHAT the data says.
THE 4-STEP SYSTEM (3-4 Minutes Total)
Let's walk through this using a real GMAT question about a guesthouse manager handling room reservations with three tabs: Reservation Requests (text), Rooms (table), and Availability Calendar (calendar grid).
Step 1: Pre-Divide Your Scratchpad
Before you read anything, divide your scratchpad into sections for each tab.
Step 2: Read With Complete Control
This step is non-negotiable: Be completely immersed in the reading. Avoid time anxiety and multitasking.
Here's how to read effectively:
Why this matters: The "skim tabs quickly then answer questions" approach creates a false sense of efficiency. You'll waste 1-2 minutes skimming, then spend 3-4 minutes per question hunting for information you never fully understood.
Step 3: Write Brief Summaries
For each tab, write two things: what's there (one short phrase) and what it's telling you (one line).
For the Guesthouse question:
Key principle: You need to understand the "big picture" that each information source is painting. This is information synthesis, which is a core MSR skill.
Don't write: Specific numbers, complete sentences, or anything you can re-find in 5 seconds.
Step 4: Capture Constraints/Rules (If Applicable)
If the MSR has specific rules—such as eligibility criteria, thresholds, date ranges, or scoring methods—write them separately from your tab summaries. This is instrumental in preventing us from falling into trap answers.
For the Guesthouse question:
Rules -
- Room must be available ALL requested nights
- Max occupancy ≥ number of people
- Bed sharing OK (beds don't need to match people)
Why this works:
THE CALCULATION ZONE
Keep your interim calculations organized in a separate zone on your scratchpad.
Why this matters:
Keep this zone separate from your tab notes so everything stays organized.
Using Your Notes to Solve Questions
When you tackle each question:
Example: Question asks if Request 1 (1 person, 3 consecutive nights) can start Monday. Your notes tell you: "Need Tab 2 for capacity (all rooms work for 1 person) + Tab 3 to check Mon-Tue-Wed availability (need one room free all 3 nights)." You navigate directly to the right information.
Key insight: Your summaries help you determine WHERE to look—not what the answer is.
What Doesn't Work
❌ DETAILED NOTES (OLD WAY #1):
Writing things like:
Result:15-20 minutes per set with low accuracy
❌ SKIM THEN ANSWER (OLD WAY #2):
Quickly scanning tabs thinking "okay there are booking requests... rooms table... calendar with X marks..." then jumping to questions and clicking randomly between tabs 10+ times per question.
Result:12-15 minutes per set, lots of re-reading, low accuracy
✅ THE RIGHT WAY:
Result:9-13 minutes per set with high accuracy
Bottom Line
Read deeply. Note strategically. Navigate precisely.
Your notes aren't meant to answer questions, they're meant to help you find answers quickly.
Target: 3-4 minutes reading + 2-3 minutes per question = 9-13 minutes total
70% accuracy on hard MSR = 90th percentile
MSR doesn't have to be your nightmare. We're hosting a live webinar on November 18 at 9 PM IST to show you exactly how to tackle 705+ level Multi-Source Reasoning questions. We'll walk through the complete approach—from strategic notes to reading techniques to solving frameworks—using real hard MSR questions. You'll learn how to hit 70%+ accuracy while finishing in 9-13 minutes. Save your spot here!
Core Philosophy
Your notes should serve as a navigation map, not a transcript. They help you know WHERE to look, not WHAT the data says.
THE 4-STEP SYSTEM (3-4 Minutes Total)
Let's walk through this using a real GMAT question about a guesthouse manager handling room reservations with three tabs: Reservation Requests (text), Rooms (table), and Availability Calendar (calendar grid).
Step 1: Pre-Divide Your Scratchpad
Before you read anything, divide your scratchpad into sections for each tab.
Step 2: Read With Complete Control
This step is non-negotiable: Be completely immersed in the reading. Avoid time anxiety and multitasking.
Here's how to read effectively:
- Interact with the scenario as if it's real. For the Guesthouse question, imagine you're the manager looking at your calendar, trying to figure out which rooms to assign.
- Read ALL tabs fully before answering anything. Don't skim, and don't jump to the questions prematurely.
Why this matters: The "skim tabs quickly then answer questions" approach creates a false sense of efficiency. You'll waste 1-2 minutes skimming, then spend 3-4 minutes per question hunting for information you never fully understood.
Step 3: Write Brief Summaries
For each tab, write two things: what's there (one short phrase) and what it's telling you (one line).
For the Guesthouse question:
Code:
Tab 1: Reservation Requests
→ 3 requests with different people/nights/dates
Tab 2: Rooms
→ 5 rooms table (beds, max occupancy, price)
Tab 3: Availability Calendar
→ Weekly calendar showing existing bookings (x = booked)
→ 3 requests with different people/nights/dates
Tab 2: Rooms
→ 5 rooms table (beds, max occupancy, price)
Tab 3: Availability Calendar
→ Weekly calendar showing existing bookings (x = booked)
Key principle: You need to understand the "big picture" that each information source is painting. This is information synthesis, which is a core MSR skill.
Don't write: Specific numbers, complete sentences, or anything you can re-find in 5 seconds.
Step 4: Capture Constraints/Rules (If Applicable)
If the MSR has specific rules—such as eligibility criteria, thresholds, date ranges, or scoring methods—write them separately from your tab summaries. This is instrumental in preventing us from falling into trap answers.
For the Guesthouse question:
Rules -
- Room must be available ALL requested nights
- Max occupancy ≥ number of people
- Bed sharing OK (beds don't need to match people)
Why this works:
- Many questions test whether scenarios meet specific criteria
- Having rules visible lets you eliminate impossible answers immediately
- This prevents you from repeatedly clicking back to find the same constraint
THE CALCULATION ZONE
Keep your interim calculations organized in a separate zone on your scratchpad.
Why this matters:
- You often reuse calculations from Q1 when solving Q2 or Q3
- This approach keeps your tab summaries clean and readable
- It prevents you from re-doing the same calculation multiple times
- It helps you track your work across all three questions
Keep this zone separate from your tab notes so everything stays organized.
Using Your Notes to Solve Questions
When you tackle each question:
- Read the question twice to understand what's being asked
- Check your RULES to eliminate impossible options immediately
- Check your tab summaries to identify which tabs you need
- Click tabs in targeted order instead of randomly clicking around
- Use your calc zone for all work and keep it organized
Example: Question asks if Request 1 (1 person, 3 consecutive nights) can start Monday. Your notes tell you: "Need Tab 2 for capacity (all rooms work for 1 person) + Tab 3 to check Mon-Tue-Wed availability (need one room free all 3 nights)." You navigate directly to the right information.
Key insight: Your summaries help you determine WHERE to look—not what the answer is.
What Doesn't Work
❌ DETAILED NOTES (OLD WAY #1):
Writing things like:
- "The manager at the Gentle Wave Guesthouse just received three requests..."
- "First request: 1 person for 3 nights starting Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday"
- "Moonlight Room: 1 bed, 2 max occupancy, ₩45,000"
- "Beach Room: unavailable Sunday, Thursday, Saturday"
- "Starfish Room: unavailable Wednesday, Saturday"
Result:15-20 minutes per set with low accuracy
❌ SKIM THEN ANSWER (OLD WAY #2):
Quickly scanning tabs thinking "okay there are booking requests... rooms table... calendar with X marks..." then jumping to questions and clicking randomly between tabs 10+ times per question.
Result:12-15 minutes per set, lots of re-reading, low accuracy
✅ THE RIGHT WAY:
- 3-4 minutes on engaged, deep reading with strategic notes
- Tab summaries tell you WHERE information lives (not WHAT it says)
- RULES section captures constraints you'll need repeatedly
- 2-3 minutes per question with targeted navigation
Result:9-13 minutes per set with high accuracy
Bottom Line
Read deeply. Note strategically. Navigate precisely.
Your notes aren't meant to answer questions, they're meant to help you find answers quickly.
Target: 3-4 minutes reading + 2-3 minutes per question = 9-13 minutes total
70% accuracy on hard MSR = 90th percentile
MSR doesn't have to be your nightmare. We're hosting a live webinar on November 18 at 9 PM IST to show you exactly how to tackle 705+ level Multi-Source Reasoning questions. We'll walk through the complete approach—from strategic notes to reading techniques to solving frameworks—using real hard MSR questions. You'll learn how to hit 70%+ accuracy while finishing in 9-13 minutes. Save your spot here!
14 Nov 2025, 08:54
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Great to see a strategy post about MSR.
I highly recommend everyone taking notes and reading comprehension at least until you get your accuracy up and then you can experiment not taking notes so this is hopefully is also a great way to improve MSR
I highly recommend everyone taking notes and reading comprehension at least until you get your accuracy up and then you can experiment not taking notes so this is hopefully is also a great way to improve MSR
14 Nov 2025, 21:12
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Thanks, bb! what people do not recognize is that most of the time, we take longer because we do back and forth between the orignial prompt and the Question. Our timing go away once we minimize that back and forth.
-Rajat
-Rajat
