Can anyone suggest me how to learn reading and interpreting difficult graphs?

Hi,

You can use the following approach: 

1. Take a minute to look at the graph
2. Read the graph title
3. Look at the graph type and define the type (pie chart, line chart, etc)
4. Look at the legend (ask for clarifying questions if necessary)
5. Identify whats going on on the graph. Look for: Trends, % structures,
6. Look for unusual things (consultants love to integrate these traps in charts) - correlations, outliers, etc
7. Make 3-4 conclusions from the graph. Think of potential hypothesis on what could be the root cause / what are the consequences
8. Prioritize the most important for your current analysis and move forward with the case

Sources to learn from (prioritized):

1. Study "Say it with Charts" book
2. Learn basic statistics (Any GMAT or MBA prep guides)
3. Check all available MBB presentations and publications. Practice to derive conclusions and check yourself with the actual ones from the article / presentation
4. GMAT IR part (Official guide and Manhattan prep)
5. "Consulting Bible" and "Vault guide for consulting" - check the chapters on cases with graphs in these books

Good luck!

Hi Anonymous,

as generally practice I would reccomend the following three-steps approach to properly read graphs:

1. Read the graph

• Ask for one minute of time to understand the graph.
• Summarize what the graph is about. Read in particular the graph title (often forgotten), the axes and the legend.

2. Analyze the graph

• Repeat the main question you have to answer. Many people don’t spend time to clarify the specific question they have to answer; consequently, they answer the wrong question. Don’t be one of them and be sure to restate what is the main insight you have to derive
• Provide an analysis related to the question. Once you have a clear understanding of the graph, then, and only then, you can move to an analysis of how the graph can answer the question you have repeated.

3. Provide a conclusion for the graph.

• Answer to the question asked. Again, very often people simply state what the graph is about, without providing any conclusion. A great candidate will provide a connection between the analysis done and the previous question formulated, with a clear summary of the whole analysis
• Present the next steps to follow based on such conclusion. As a last step, a great candidate will present what can be done next to help further the client on the particular question raised.

In terms of material you can use the following to practice:

• Graphs in Casebooks
• Graphs in PST and Potential Test
• GMAT Integrated Reasoning section

Hope this helps,

Francesco

GMAT Integrated Reasoning questions can help you a lot!

Cheers
Serhat

Hi Anonymous,

For general advice how to improve graph reading, the GMAT chapter for integrated reasoning is a good ressource (I believe it was added 2012 or 2013 to the GMAT, so you can take any GMAT ressource after that period).

Apart from that: practice, practice, practice.

Hope that helps - if so, please be so kind to give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Hello!

I would practice leveraging GMAT. 

GMAT unfortunately only gets better with practicing. Good news is that there are many ways of doing so! 

There are free exams in the internet that you can use for practice (the one of LBS MBA page, Verits prep, as well as some free trials for courses such as the one of The Economist (https://gmat.economist.com/)

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Dear A,

• To interpret a graph or chart, read the title, look at the key, read the labels. Then study the graph to understand what it shows.

• Read the title of the graph or chart. The title tells what information is being displayed.

• Look at the key, which typically is in a box next to the graph or chart. It will explain symbols and colors used in the graph or chart

• Read the labels of the graph or chart. The labels tell you what variables or parameters are being displayed. 

• Draw conclusions based on the data. You can reach conclusions faster with graphs than you can using a data table or a written description of the data. 

To practice all this bullets GMAT Integrated Reasoning questions helps you a lot!

Best,

André