IBPS Clerk · Bite-size lessons
Data Sufficiency
About 6 min · Reasoning Ability · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 409 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
Data Sufficiency tests your ability to determine whether given information is enough to answer a question — without actually solving for the final answer. It combines logical analysis with concepts from other topics like coding, blood relations, direction, ranking, or arithmetic.
Key ideas
- The question stem is incomplete information. It presents a scenario but lacks enough data to reach a definite answer on its own.
- Each statement provides additional clues. You must check whether Statement I alone, Statement II alone, both together, or neither can answer the question.
- You are not asked to find the answer — only whether it CAN be found. Stop once you know sufficiency; don't solve further.
- Statements are independent. When testing Statement I, ignore Statement II completely, and vice versa.
- "Both together" means combining I and II. Only choose this if neither alone works but together they do.
Quick reference
- Sufficiency ≠ Solution — determine if answerable, don't solve completely.
- Test each statement in isolation first, then combine if needed.
- One unique answer = Sufficient; Multiple possibilities = Not sufficient.
- Answer pattern: A (I only), B (II only), C (Both needed), D (Either works), E (Neither enough).
- Common topics embedded: Ranking, blood relation, direction, coding, ages.
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. What is the age of Rahul? Statement I: Rahul is 5 years older than his sister Priya. Statement II: Priya's age is 20 years.
2. Five persons P, Q, R, S and T have different heights. Who is the tallest? Statement I: P is taller than Q and R. S is taller than T. Statement II: S is shorter than P. Q is taller than T.
3. How is M related to N? Statement I: M is the brother of K. K is the daughter of N. Statement II: P is the wife of N. P has only one son and one daughter.
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 17 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
Read the full noteFlashcards for this topic
Saves this lesson and its 3 questions in this browser on this phone. No sign-in; nothing about you is saved or sent. A saved copy is not updated until you save it again. Parts that load from the server when you use them (the AI tutor, adaptive practice, sign-in) still need a connection.