{"id":16186,"date":"2024-02-08T12:11:03","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T12:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/business-school-insider\/?p=6568"},"modified":"2024-02-09T21:57:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T21:57:42","slug":"when-to-guess-on-integrated-reasoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/gmat\/when-to-guess-on-integrated-reasoning\/","title":{"rendered":"When to Guess on Data Insights on the GMAT"},"content":{"rendered":"

The GMAT\u2019s Data Insights section is very challenging for most test-takers. It contains 20 questions, most of which have two or three parts, and you\u2019re only given 45 minutes to complete it. <\/span> That means that if you spread your time evenly among them, you should spend about 2 minutes per question.<\/p>\n

DI is one of many opportunities to advance your candidacy. Even if an MBA program does not place any particular emphasis on Data Insights, strong DI scores can only help your candidacy. A solid score can boost your admissions chances\u2014and can certainly hurt those chances if you blow it off as inconsequential. Let’s look at how to prep for the Data Insights section and when to guess during the test.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Prepping for Data Insights<\/h2>
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\nGMAT DI is identical to the GMAT Quantitative<\/a> and Verbal sections<\/a> in that you use a college-level command of grammar, reasoning, vocabulary, and math to negotiate critical thinking problems amidst the constraints of the clock and the online testing scenario. Similarly, DI offers business-oriented, problem-solving scenarios in which you must manipulate spreadsheets and statistical information to deduce inferences that answer the questions asked.<\/p>\n

Thus, the primary way to grow in DI is to <\/span>first<\/span><\/i> refresh yourself on the grammar and math you haven\u2019t seen in years to strengthen your cognitive prowess in the Quantitative and Verbal sections. Once you have rehearsed the pattern-recognition, translation, and work-smarter behaviors demanded by the Quant and Verbal sections to the point that you are raising your scores in those sections, <\/span>then<\/span><\/i> apply yourself to the different mediums presented by DI. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s one great way to approach your GMAT prep for Data Insights:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Drill yourself back to a daily familiarity with the math and language concepts demanded by the Quant and Verbal sections.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Apply that knowledge to the patterned ways that the Quant and Verbal sections require you to use those concepts.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Practice those applied behaviors until they\u2019re second nature, and your Quant and Verbal scores rise.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Acquaint yourself with the unique medium and format of the Data Insights section. Get used to the repeated ways in which DI presents information and questions and the patterned methods to efficiently attack the problem-solving it demands.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. When you see your DI practice scores rise, take full-length practice tests<\/a> so that you encounter DI in its \u201cnatural habitat.\u201d That way, you\u2019ll then see the continuity between the logical reasoning and data analysis demanded by DI and all the other sections of the GMAT.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When to Guess and Move On (GAMO)<\/h2>
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    \nWe have found the solution to fretting about timing on Test Day, and it may surprise you: Guessing blindly is the way to raise your Data Insights score. If you can quickly determine that a two-parts problems will take you more than three minutes to solve, just guess and move on (GAMO).<\/span><\/p>\n

    Of course, you can\u2019t raise your score by guessing blindly on the entire section. Knowing when to guess takes practice.<\/span>
    \n

    GAMO Step 1: Know thyself<\/h3>
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    \nBecause everyone is different, no GMAT instructor<\/a> can tell you which questions to skip. (And when I say \u201cskip,\u201d that means GAMO.) Your first step is to practice all five DI question types to learn which ones are most troublesome for you. <\/span><\/p>\n