GRE Data Interpretation

The GRE’s Quantitative Section contains Quantitative Comparison questions, Problem Solving questions, and Data Interpretation Questions

Data Questions

There are only about 5 questions of this type, so you might think they’re not too important. However, people get these questions wrong most often, so you want to be prepared for them. Data interpretation gives you a graph, chart or table, and asks 2 or 3 questions regarding that graph.

What to do?

The most important first step for these questions is look at the graph. That might seem trivial, but it’s important to look at things like the legend, labels on the axes, and the title- things that would tell you exactly what the graph represents. This will save you time when answering the question.

Next, read the question, and try to understand what information will be necessary to answer it. All the information you need will be on the graphs or charts given, but you might have to look at different things to find it. Remember, you only get about 1.5 minutes a question, so if you’ve already studied the graph you won’t have to look very far to find the answer. Examples are the best way to illustrate how this works.

Examples:

Use the following chart, titles Balls Purchases for 2007 to answer the following questions:

Approximately how many balls were purchased during the summer of 2007?

1. 25
2. 30
3. 35
4. 40
5. 45

Answer: You need to estimate this answer based on the graph. Summer is the last column, and to find the total number of balls you need to add baseballs and footballs. Since the numbers both hover around 20, the approximate sum must be . That’s the answer.

Approximately, by how much did revenues from football purchases increase in the spring from the winter of 2007?

1. $64
2. $49
3. $27
4. $36
5. $55

Answer: First, you need to approximate the difference in ball purchases. Look only at footballs- there were about 3 purchased in winter and 16 in spring, so the difference is about 13 balls. The price per ball is about $5, so the revenue increase must be . The closest approximate number is 64, so that’s your answer.

See? It’s not too bad, but you should practice as much as possible until you can answer these fast and are comfortable with different types of graphs and charts and ways of representing data.

Online GRE Practice Tests

Here are some great practice questions for you:

GRE Quantitative (10 questions), GRE Quantitative Practice (10 questions), GRE Quantitative Practice Test (10 questions), GRE Quantitative Questions (10 questions), GRE Quantitative Comparison (10 questions), .

More Quantitative Stuff!

Don’t forget to practice for the other parts of the Quantitative Sections: Problem Solving and Quantitative Comparison questions. Good luck!