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SnoozeAndScore
Joined: 13 Jun 2025
Last visit: 08 Apr 2026
Posts: 31
Given Kudos: 2
Location: India
Schools: ISB '26 (A)
GMAT Focus 1: 735 Q90 V83 DI86 
03 Apr 2026, 12:22
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If you are stuck at a score with a particularly bad section like D83 & Q90 and cant seem to improve by practice, shuffling the seciton order can be helpful.
My first attempt got me 695 although I was scoring higher in the mocks. Shuffling up the sections order in mocks helped me unlock a new insight: starting with DI seemed duanting and starting with Quant (my strongest section) seemed a good way to start and build confidence. But I experimented with starting with DI and realised that I was alot more alert for the first section and that helped me to solve DI better. My biggest problem with DI was my speed and starting that section helped me be faster and improve my score to 735 on the next attempt!
Also just being aware about exact one's own weakness/scope of improvement for each section is very helpful to prepare better.
My first attempt got me 695 although I was scoring higher in the mocks. Shuffling up the sections order in mocks helped me unlock a new insight: starting with DI seemed duanting and starting with Quant (my strongest section) seemed a good way to start and build confidence. But I experimented with starting with DI and realised that I was alot more alert for the first section and that helped me to solve DI better. My biggest problem with DI was my speed and starting that section helped me be faster and improve my score to 735 on the next attempt!
Also just being aware about exact one's own weakness/scope of improvement for each section is very helpful to prepare better.
08 Apr 2026, 13:48
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This is such a good point, and honestly one of the more underrated strategies out there. The section order thing is not random - it's actually doing something real.
When I was prepping for my own attempt, I did a ton of experimentation with this. My logic initially was the same as yours - start with Quant, get some confidence, then tackle the harder stuff. But what I found was that my DI accuracy on mocks was significantly worse when I saved it for last. Not because I was "worse" at it, but because by that point I was already mentally fatigued.
The cognitive load thing is real. Data Insights asks you to hold a lot of information simultaneously, especially in MSR and G&T questions where you're cross-referencing multiple sources. That kind of working memory task is much harder when you're already two sections deep.
Starting DI first when you're completely fresh actually lets you read faster, track the question constraints more carefully, and recover from wrong-path attempts without panicking about time.
The only caution I'd add: if DI genuinely stresses you out, starting there can backfire because anxiety burns cognitive fuel even faster than fatigue does. So it's worth being honest with yourself about whether the alertness benefit outweighs the stress of leading with your weaker section.
For me personally, starting Verbal > DI > Quant ended up being the sweet spot. Verbal got me warmed up, DI came while I was still sharp, and Quant (my strongest) absorbed whatever fatigue was left.
Congrats on the 735 - and good timing sharing this before test season picks up.
When I was prepping for my own attempt, I did a ton of experimentation with this. My logic initially was the same as yours - start with Quant, get some confidence, then tackle the harder stuff. But what I found was that my DI accuracy on mocks was significantly worse when I saved it for last. Not because I was "worse" at it, but because by that point I was already mentally fatigued.
The cognitive load thing is real. Data Insights asks you to hold a lot of information simultaneously, especially in MSR and G&T questions where you're cross-referencing multiple sources. That kind of working memory task is much harder when you're already two sections deep.
Starting DI first when you're completely fresh actually lets you read faster, track the question constraints more carefully, and recover from wrong-path attempts without panicking about time.
The only caution I'd add: if DI genuinely stresses you out, starting there can backfire because anxiety burns cognitive fuel even faster than fatigue does. So it's worth being honest with yourself about whether the alertness benefit outweighs the stress of leading with your weaker section.
For me personally, starting Verbal > DI > Quant ended up being the sweet spot. Verbal got me warmed up, DI came while I was still sharp, and Quant (my strongest) absorbed whatever fatigue was left.
Congrats on the 735 - and good timing sharing this before test season picks up.
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