Helpful for: GMAT Test Takers
Read Time: 5 minutes
Quick Facts:
• The GMAT Integrated Reasoning section tests your ability to analyze complex data and interpret it through several formats.
• You need to strengthen visual cognition when studying for the section. Information is presented in tables, graphs, charts and paragraphs. Kaplan points out:
Selected Quote:
One of the most common mistakes on the Integrated Reasoning section is using the wrong information because of a slight grasp of the presented information. The data you need to solve IR questions must lie on the various screens; you just have to know where to look. First understand what the question is asking, then stop and consider which table, graph, chart, or part of the passage provides the relevant information you’ll need to solve for the correct answer. Harder IR questions will require you to use more than one screen or ask you to take information or figures from one screen and apply it to another.
• Learning to recognize patterns and identify relationships between variables quickly will help you get a high score. By the end of your preparation, you should be able to summarize the link between diverse sets of figures, and make a conclusion based on their relationships.
• While solving speed is important, accuracy should not be sacrificed on its account. Remain focused throughout the entire section by pausing to read the entire data presented before going on to the question. Details such as titles, labels for the x and y-axes, and footnotes are all important information that will lead you to the correct answer.
• You need to be able to make simple conversions between different units. This may include converting data in seconds from one graph to months listed in a paragraph, or miles listed in one chart to kilometers in another.
Useful Information:
• The most important question to ask yourself is, what does this data tell me? Once you’re able to make a logical observation, you are on the right path to arriving at the solution.
Source: Kaplan
