I find myself spending an exhorbitant amout of time on the

Question

I find myself spending an exhorbitant amout of time on the Data Sufficiency questions which ask you to find x in relation to another number where the approach usually consists of substituting.

In some cases (where they don't specify that x or another number is an integer) I end up trying what seems like tons of different numbers. 

For instance, 

Is x<ab
Statement 1: x<a
Statement 2: b is 2

First I need to try
x=positive number greater than a (1 step)
x=positive number less than a (1 step)
repeat first two steps with negative values for x (which is 2 steps)
repeat first two steps with negative values for a (which is 2 steps)
repeat first two steps with negative values mixed (which is 2 steps)

Repeat all of the above using non-integer values

If I make it through all 16 steps above ...usually I have forgotten what I was supposed to be looking for in the first place. Does anyone else have this problem and have a good approach for plugging in numbers to test this DS problems where the approach is pretty much only solvable by plugging in test numbers?

Thanks,
Jim

yb · Answer

Is x hence, is x2a are possible.

x=5, a =10

52*-8 ----- -5>-16, x<ab does not hold

E.

The key is to figure out numbers should be picked. In this case, +ive or -ive. If a condition exists to answer yes and one exists to answer no, it must be E.

Hope this helps

I find myself spending an exhorbitant amout of time on the

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