GMAT & MBA Admissions Blog

GMAT Data Sufficiency problems present you with some initial information and a question, followed by two statements.  You have to decide whether the information contained in each statement is sufficient, when combined with the initial information, to give a definite answer to the question.  In this case, a definite answer means being able to answer either “definitely yes” or “definitely no” to the question.  If you can only answer “definitely maybe” then the statement is not sufficient by itself.  If neither statement is sufficient by itself to give a definite answer, you then evaluate whether the two statements taken together are sufficient to find a definite answer.  Some questions involve solving for a value; for these questions, a statement is sufficient if it allows you to solve for one, but no more than one, value.