A third of your score, and the most "business" section
Data Insights (DI) is 20 questions in 45 minutes (~2 min 15 s each) and counts as a full third of your Total Score — equal to Quant and Verbal. It's the section built to mirror a manager's real job: take messy information in several formats — a table here, a chart there, a paragraph that half-contradicts both — and reach a defensible decision.
It is the only section with an on-screen calculator (basic functions). Use it for genuinely ugly arithmetic, never as a substitute for estimating or reasoning.
The five formats. DI rotates through Data Sufficiency, Multi-Source Reasoning, Table Analysis, Graphics Interpretation, and Two-Part Analysis. They share one engine — disciplined reading of data — but each has its own response shape. Learn the shape of each and the section stops feeling random.
| Format | What you do | Response style |
|---|---|---|
| 🧩 Data Sufficiency | Decide whether the data can answer the question — without answering it | 5 fixed options |
| 🗂️ Multi-Source Reasoning | Combine 2–3 tabbed sources to answer several questions | MCQ + yes/no rows |
| 📋 Table Analysis | Sort and test conditions against a spreadsheet-style table | yes/no per row |
| 📈 Graphics Interpretation | Complete statements from a graph or chart | drop-down menus |
| 🔀 Two-Part Analysis | Pick two answers that jointly satisfy a condition | one per column |
What it actually measures
Strip away the formats and DI keeps testing a few recurring thinking moves — useful to name when you are unsure what a question wants:
- Transfer a rule — carry a principle into a fresh case ("does this new example follow the stated policy?").
- Weigh the evidence — decide whether data backs a claim or plan, or exposes a gap.
- Draw the forced conclusion — read off what must follow (a probability, a rate of change, a meaning in context).
- Read what is stated — pull out what sits on the surface: agreements, conflicts, correlations, rankings.
- Optimize for a goal — pick the choice that best meets an objective under constraints (minimize cost, maximize value, weigh trade-offs).
Three habits that travel across all five formats
Use only the data given. Every DI question is self-contained. Outside knowledge of the topic is a trap, not an advantage — answer strictly from the sources in front of you.
Read the labels before the numbers. Axes, units, column headers, footnotes, and the exact wording of the question decide more DI questions than the arithmetic does. A units mismatch between a chart and its caption is almost always deliberate.
Multi-question screens don't let you go back. DI sometimes shows several questions on one screen (especially MSR). You can change answers before clicking Next, but once you advance you cannot return to that screen. Commit each screen deliberately.
Pacing
At 2:15 per question, think in investments: an MSR or Table set is one reading cost amortized over several questions — map the sources well the first time and the later questions are quick. Don't let a single multi-part question devour the budget for three others.
Where to go next
Start with Data Sufficiency (the most teachable format and the backbone of DI logic), then learn each interactive format's response shape. The practice question bank lets you drill by format.
Sample Questions
Continue Your Prep