Data interpretation is the most scoring and time consuming section in
IBPS and other competitive examinations. In quantitative aptitude
section you can see at least 2 data interpretation sets each having 5
questions. In IBPS PO there are 50 questions in Quantitative aptitude section
and the cutoff remains 18-19. So if you solve those two sets corrected
you need to solve 10 questions out of remaining 40 questions. Here are
three important techniques to make Data Interpretation calculations fast
Now lets come to our topic. How to use visual estimation technique to solve Data Interpretation questions. Let's take an visual example :-
Example - Red bars states wheat production state and Green bars states rice production.
Question - In which year percentage increase Wheat production was highest ?
As you can see there is increase of 5 tonnes in production both wheat and rice production every year.
10% of 50 = 5
10% of 70 = 7
So answer should 2006.
In the above example you can find average of above number in just 5 seconds :-
7800 ( 14 +29 + 108 + 22 + 120/5 ) = 7800 + 58.6 = 7858.6
always try to find answers by approximation, in my mind I calculated answer 7860. Try it yourself.
Let's take an example :- How much 468 of 21428 ?
Let me make this simple for you.
1% of 21428 = 214
2% of 21428 = 428
0.1% of 21428 = 21
For me answer should be around 2.2%
Visual Estimation
It is a well known fact that it is near to impossible to solve 200 questions in 120 minutes accurately. Term "Accurately" is important here because we have seen many candidates attempting 190+ questions and fails to qualify. The reason behind failure is low accuracy and many times accuracy level falls below 40%. Important point to be noted down here is by attempting 190+ with low accuracy you gets less time for questions you are sure about and there is negative marking in most of the competitive exams.Now lets come to our topic. How to use visual estimation technique to solve Data Interpretation questions. Let's take an visual example :-
Example - Red bars states wheat production state and Green bars states rice production.
Question - In which year percentage increase Wheat production was highest ?
As you can see there is increase of 5 tonnes in production both wheat and rice production every year.
10% of 50 = 5
10% of 70 = 7
So answer should 2006.
Finding averages
Many times in Data Interpretation, questions are asked to find average of 5-6 big numbers. As all these numbers are from a same graph, there is high probability that these number will be close to each other. Take a look to following visual example :-
7800 ( 14 +29 + 108 + 22 + 120/5 ) = 7800 + 58.6 = 7858.6
always try to find answers by approximation, in my mind I calculated answer 7860. Try it yourself.
Solve the fractions quickly
Learn the value of fractions in percentages. Please read Time and work chapter in our previous post in which we explained via a table.Faster calculations
Only thing that you require to score well in data interpretation questions is fast calculation. Try to find tricks and shortcuts. You can find multiplication tricks from my previous post.Let's take an example :- How much 468 of 21428 ?
Let me make this simple for you.
1% of 21428 = 214
2% of 21428 = 428
0.1% of 21428 = 21
For me answer should be around 2.2%
