Stuck at 3min/q in DI: Struggling with TA estimation and TPA equation

Question

Hey everyone, I am feeling pretty stuck with my Data Insights prep right now, specifically when it comes to timing. I am currently averaging around the 3-minute mark per question, which is obviously draining my clock.

I have figured out a fix for my Data Sufficiency attempts, since I am realizing that my lack of proficiency with Real Context Word problems in Quant (PS) is bleeding over and affecting my DI timing. I have a bad habit of trying to solve for the exact answer instead of estimating, though I am actively building some processes to avoid doing that.

My biggest pain points right now are TPA and TA. I am able to manage MSRs to some extent at least.

For TA, I get bogged down in multiple cell computations when I know I should just be eyeballing and estimating the data. For TPA, I am relying heavily on aggressive PITA (plugging in the answers), but the mental gymnastics required to build the equations  before  the PITA phase just burns through my time.

I am on my last 28 days of prep, so any advice would be super helpful!!

AllisonBell · Answer

Hi!

It’s great that you’ve done such specific reflection on where your struggles are. For Tables problems, since you know that your issue is getting bogged down in multiple cell computations, I would challenge you to start integrating practice problems where you see how much you can do with  no pencil, no calculator, just sorting .

Sounds a little daunting, I know. But it sounds like you need a quick and significant habit shift.  Removing those tools temporarily will push you to  prioritize  eyeballing, scanning, and estimating.  And you can always go back and replay those problems with additional tools.  Once you’ve started to  automatically  look for the easiest way to solve, start giving yourself permission to add the tools back —  after  a 15-20 second phase of understanding the problem and strategizing your approach.

For Two Part Analysis,  it sounds like you might want to build more flexibility into your approach . Plugging in answers is helpful for some of those problems, but it’s not always the most effective strategy. I’m curious if you’ve got access to some good explanations for your practice problems. If so,  one way to build your flexibility is to start by just going through the Understand and Plan phase of a problem, then stop and compare your thinking to the approaches suggested by the explanation.

The reason I suggest this is that  every time you fully solve a problem in a way that’s not serving you, you also more deeply embed that approach into your long-term memory.  To expand your way of thinking about these problems, trying cutting yourself off at the pass, so that you can see and use alternative strategies from the get-go. Eventually, those will start to present themselves to you as options without support.

If you need some practice problems with solid alternative strategies, we have a bunch in our   Free GMAT Starter Kit and QBank.

Best,

SarfrazAP · Answer

Specifically for TPA, it seems you are focusing too much on the quant based TPA questions. Do keep in mind that a large chunk of TPA questions (and a lot of DS ones as well) on the actual test will be verbal type, or at least that's the feedback I've been getting from students. And Table Analysis is usually the easiest of the five DI question types. Are there any specific types of questions you are doing too much computation on? Like correlation questions? It'll be useful if you can post the links to one or two such questions and one can give you more pointed advice then.

Stuck at 3min/q in DI: Struggling with TA estimation and TPA equation

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