Analytical is perhaps the most misunderstood topic when an aspirant is first starting out. They’re already somewhat familiar with Math and English - but analytical is something they’ve almost never heard of before. So they’re naturally very worried about it in the beginning. They tend to think that Analytical is this new hard subject that they need to study.

But to their surprise, Analytical is arguably the easiest topic out of the three. 

As the name suggests - the topic is made to test a candidate’s analytical ability. It evaluates logical reasoning, data interpretation, and problem-solving skills. These are tested through a number of topics such as Puzzles, Critical Reasoning, Data Sufficiency etc.

Topics that are usually tested

Three topics are mainly tested - Puzzles, Data Sufficiency, and Critical Reasoning. Other than these a number of miscellaneous topics are also tested. People generally only prepare for the three main topics, and it is actually enough. Don’t worry about the miscellaneous topics tho. Most of it is solvable if you have good reasoning and thinking skills. It does serve its purpose that way lol.

Mark Distribution

This section generally contains 15-20 marks. Usually we see 1-2 puzzle sets, 3-4 data sufficiency questions, 3-4 critical reasoning questions, and sometimes other miscellaneous IQ test-like questions.

Resources

More-or-less everyone uses the same resources for this section. Might sound limiting but these resources - if done properly - should suffice.

Puzzles 

There is this list of “200 GRE puzzles” that you will find online or in GRE prep books. This is like the bible of puzzles. But 200 puzzles is a lot so you’ll find another list of “30 must solve puzzles”. This summarises 30 different types of puzzles out of the 200 list. You should complete the must solve ones first and then move on to the main list.

Critical Reasoning
This section is mainly practiced from GMAT prep books (GMAT Official Guide to be exact). Almost everything regarding this section is there along with really good explanations. Studying from here is very helpful because everything is pretty self explanatory.

Data Sufficiency 

Again, people mainly practice this section using the GMAT Official Guide as well. The questions are good, and the explanations are even better if you pay attention.

And if you’re smart, you can skip all of these resources and stick to “THE IBA BOOK”. Js saying :).

Junayen Monjur
IBA BBA 33rd Batch