{"id":29951,"date":"2021-05-13T14:15:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T18:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?p=29951"},"modified":"2022-01-26T10:14:57","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T15:14:57","slug":"how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Approach Data Sufficiency Questions on the GMAT"},"content":{"rendered":"

With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything.\u00a0<\/em>Manhattan Prep<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Stacey Koprince<\/strong><\/em><\/a> teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

If you have only recently started studying for the GMAT\u00a0(or even if you have been studying for a while!), you are likely annoyed by Data Sufficiency (DS). What is this weird question type, and why do they ask it? More importantly, how do we handle it?<\/p>\n

What is Data Sufficiency?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The GMAT really is not a math test. (Neither is the GRE.) These tests are actually trying to test us on our \u201cexecutive reasoning\u201d skills\u2014that is, how well we make decisions and prioritize when faced with too many things to do in too little time.<\/p>\n

So, DS questions are really about quickly analyzing a collective set of data and trying to figure out which pieces you need to do the job. Imagine your boss dumping a bunch of stuff on you and saying, \u201cHey, our client wants to know whether they should raise the price on this product. Can you answer that question from this data? If so, which pieces do we need to prove the case?\u201d<\/p>\n

We do, of course, have to do some math\u2014and sometimes that math is quite annoying. We usually do not, however, have to do as much as we usually do on regular \u201cproblem solving\u201d questions (the normal Quant questions).<\/p>\n

How does Data Sufficiency work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, we are given what is called the \u201cquestion stem.\u201d Here is an example:<\/p>\n

How old is Oliver?<\/em><\/p>\n

The question stem asks us a question, naturally. It can also provide information, such as the following:<\/p>\n

If Oliver\u2019s age is even, how old is Oliver?<\/em><\/p>\n

Now we know that Oliver\u2019s age is an even number. If they told me, for example, that Oliver is either 13 or 14 years old, now I know he is definitely 14, because I should only consider even numbers as possible values for Oliver\u2019s age.<\/p>\n

Next, the problem will give us two statements, such as the following:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(1) Oliver is 4 years older than Sam.<\/em><\/p>\n

(2) Sam will be 11 years old in 5 years.<\/em><\/p>\n

So, can we figure out how old Oliver is? What information would we need to do so? The first statement, by itself, does not help, because we do not know how old Sam is. The second statement, by itself, also does not help, because it does not tell us anything about Oliver.<\/p>\n

If we put the two statements together, however, then we can actually figure out how old Oliver is. In this case, using both statements 1 and 2 together is\u00a0sufficient<\/em>\u00a0to answer the question. (And this situation corresponds to answer choice C on the GMAT.)<\/p>\n

DS questions have five possible answers:<\/p>\n

(A) Statement 1 does help us to answer the question but statement 2 does not.<\/p>\n

(B) Statement 2 does help us to answer the question but statement 1 does not.<\/p>\n

(C) Neither statement works on its own, but I can use them\u00a0together<\/em> to answer the question.<\/p>\n

(D) Statement 1 works by itself\u00a0and<\/em> statement 2 works by itself.<\/p>\n

(E) Nothing works. Even if I use both statements together, I still cannot answer the question.<\/p>\n

Okay, these are weird. How do I get better?<\/strong><\/p>\n

These are going to take some practice, yes. In addition, this was only a very short introduction; a ton of great strategies are out there that you can learn. Look for books, articles, classes, and other resources to help.\u00a0(Here is one to get you started<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

You also, of course, have to learn a bunch of math. What we have presented here,\u00a0though, should help you get started on this kind-of-bizarre question type in the first place!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything.\u00a0Manhattan Prep\u2019s\u00a0Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. If you have only recently started studying for the GMAT\u00a0(or even if you have been studying for a while!), you are likely annoyed … Read More  <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[176,104,324,175],"class_list":["post-29951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","tag-data-sufficiency","tag-gmat","tag-gmat-math","tag-manhattan-prep"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Approach Data Sufficiency Questions on the GMAT | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Approach Data Sufficiency Questions on the GMAT | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything.\u00a0Manhattan Prep\u2019s\u00a0Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. If you have only recently started studying for the GMAT\u00a0(or even if you have been studying for a while!), you are likely annoyed … Read More  \" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-13T18:15:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-26T15:14:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-fallback-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Approach Data Sufficiency Questions on the GMAT | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Approach Data Sufficiency Questions on the GMAT | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","og_description":"With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything.\u00a0Manhattan Prep\u2019s\u00a0Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. If you have only recently started studying for the GMAT\u00a0(or even if you have been studying for a while!), you are likely annoyed … Read More  ","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/","og_site_name":"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","article_published_time":"2021-05-13T18:15:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-26T15:14:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-fallback-image.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/"},"author":{"name":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8239bb74f0e5086e58417043b2ff94c6"},"headline":"How to Approach Data Sufficiency Questions on the GMAT","datePublished":"2021-05-13T18:15:18+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-26T15:14:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/"},"wordCount":627,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Data Sufficiency","GMAT","GMAT math","Manhattan Prep"],"articleSection":["GMAT"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/","name":"How to Approach Data Sufficiency Questions on the GMAT | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-05-13T18:15:18+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-26T15:14:57+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/how-to-approach-data-sufficiency-questions-on-the-gmat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Approach Data Sufficiency Questions on the GMAT"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/","name":"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","description":"World's Leading MBA Admissions Consulting Firm","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"mbaMission","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-organization-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-organization-logo.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"mbaMission"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8239bb74f0e5086e58417043b2ff94c6","name":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","description":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen has been mbaMission\u2019s Writer\/Researcher since 2015. She is in charge of updating and revamping most of our publication materials, ranging from the extensive Insider\u2019s Guides series, the Interview Guides, and the International Program Guides to our shorter publications, including the HBS 2+2 and Deferred Admissions Guide and numerous blog posts.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/who-we-are\/team\/erika-vaatainen\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/erikavaatainen\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/author\/erika\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}