GMAT Data Insights syllabus 2026

Data Insights is the section that catches experienced test-takers out. It absorbed the old Integrated Reasoning section, took data sufficiency across from quant, and unlike Integrated Reasoning it now counts equally towards your total score.

20 questions, 45 minutes, and the only section where you get an on-screen calculator. The scoring and section order are on the GMAT syllabus.

Section structure

The five question formats

Data sufficiency

A question followed by two statements, and the same A to E answer choices the GMAT has used for decades. You decide whether each statement alone, both together, or neither is sufficient to answer. You never actually solve the question.

This is the format most candidates already know, and it is now here rather than in quant. It carries the same arithmetic and algebra content as the quantitative reasoning section, so preparation for one supports the other.

• Evaluate each statement in isolation before combining them
• Sufficiency means a unique answer, not a convenient one
• A statement that gives one value is sufficient even if that value is awkward
• Watch for statements that look insufficient but are constrained by the question stem

Multi-source reasoning

Two or three tabs of information, which may be text, tables, diagrams or emails. You switch between tabs to answer questions that require reconciling them. Usually two to three questions per prompt.

The trap is that one tab often contradicts or qualifies another, and answering from the first tab alone gets you a plausible wrong answer. Read all tabs before the first question, since the reading cost is shared across the set.

Table analysis

A sortable table with several columns and a set of statements to be marked as true or false, or as supported or not supported. Sorting the right column is usually the whole question, and candidates who do not use the sort function lose most of their time to scanning.

Graphics interpretation

A chart, scatter plot or graph with one or two sentences to complete from dropdown menus. Formats include scatter plots with trend lines, bar and line charts, bubble charts and flow diagrams. Read the axes and the units before the sentence, because the answer usually turns on one of them.

Two-part analysis

A scenario with a table of options where you select one answer in each of two columns. The two parts are usually related, such as a minimum and a maximum, or a value for each of two variables. Both parts must be right to score, and there is no partial credit.

What Data Insights is actually testing

Every question in this section is a question about whether you can work out what you have and what you are missing. That is why data sufficiency fits here, and why GMAC weighted it equally with quant and verbal when business schools asked for a better signal on data literacy.

The content itself is not new. The arithmetic is the same arithmetic as the quant section and the reasoning is the same reasoning as critical reasoning. The difficulty is in the interface and the clock.

How to spend the 45 minutes

• Budget by prompt rather than by question, since multi-source sets carry several questions off one reading
• Use the calculator for anything beyond two operations, because it is only available here
• Sort tables rather than reading them
• Answer every part of a two-part question, since a half-answer scores nothing
• Guess and move on when a prompt is not resolving, rather than carrying the time debt forward

Common mistakes

• Under-preparing the section because Integrated Reasoning used to be unscored
• Treating data sufficiency as a quant topic and practising it separately from this section
• Answering multi-source questions from one tab
• Ignoring the sort function on table analysis
• Forgetting that both halves of a two-part question must be correct
• Practising on static material that does not reproduce the tabbed and sortable interface

How Data Insights compares with CAT DILR

Both sections put data and logic in one timed block, and they reward different things. CAT DILR is puzzle-led, runs four or five long sets, gives no calculator and is not adaptive. Data Insights is interface-led, runs 20 discrete questions across five formats, gives you a calculator and adapts as you go.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are in GMAT Data Insights?

20, in 45 minutes.

Does Data Insights count towards my GMAT score?

Yes, equally with quant and verbal. Integrated Reasoning, which it replaced, was scored separately.

Is data sufficiency part of Data Insights?

Yes. It moved here from the quantitative section.

Is a calculator allowed?

Yes, an on-screen calculator, and only in this section.

Is there partial credit on multi-part questions?

No. Every part of a question must be correct.

How is Data Insights different from Integrated Reasoning?

It is longer at 20 questions against 12, it includes data sufficiency, and it counts towards the total score.

Is Data Insights adaptive?

Yes, like the other two sections.

Which is the hardest GMAT section?

Data Insights is the one candidates most often under-prepare, largely because its predecessor did not count towards the total.

Do I need statistics knowledge?

Only what the quant section covers: averages, median, range and standard deviation as a concept.

How should I practise for it?

On material that reproduces the interface, since sorting tables and switching tabs is part of what the section measures.