Table DI
Data interpretation questions give a table or chart and ask for totals, differences, ratios or percentage changes drawn from it. The marks are lost in reading, not arithmetic: check the units and the row-column orientation first, compute the row and column totals once and reuse them, and approximate whenever the options are far apart.
Data interpretation is the largest single block in a bank prelims quant section — commonly ten to fifteen marks across two or three sets — and it is the most reliably scoreable, because every question is arithmetic you already know applied to numbers printed in front of you. What separates a fast candidate from a slow one is almost never calculation ability. It is whether they read the table once, carefully, or five times, anxiously.
Try it against the clock. Data Interpretation (Table) runs at 40s easy, 50s medium and 65s hard. The clock is stamped and judged on our server, so the limit you see is the deadline that is actually enforced — and it starts when you tap Start, not while the question is loading.
Spend fifteen seconds on what the table actually holds: what each row is, what each column is, and whether the figures are absolute numbers, thousands, lakhs or percentages. A set answered in the wrong unit loses every mark in it, and the error is invisible from inside the arithmetic.
Most sets ask about row totals or column totals repeatedly. Work them out at the start and write them in the margin. Recomputing the same column three times is the commonest way a five-question set eats four minutes instead of two.
If the options are 22%, 31%, 44% and 58%, an estimate to the nearest ten settles it and exact arithmetic is wasted effort. Only compute precisely when two options sit close together. This one habit is worth more time than any multiplication shortcut.
A rise from 240 to 300 is a factor of 300/240 = 5/4, so a 25% increase, with no long division anywhere. Fractions beat decimals on almost every DI percentage question, and the common ones are worth memorising.
Most sets contain one question needing every cell in the table. Leave it, answer the other four, and return only if time remains. Attempting it in order is how candidates run out of clock with easy marks still unread.
| Percentage | Use this fraction |
|---|---|
| A rise to 5/4 of the value | 25% increase |
| A rise to 4/3 of the value | 33.33% increase |
| A fall to 3/4 of the value | 25% decrease |
| A fall to 2/3 of the value | 33.33% decrease |
| A rise to 6/5 of the value | 20% increase |
| A rise to 3/2 of the value | 50% increase |
Generated by the same engine that mints the ComputePrep daily. Each answer is computed from the numbers printed in the question, and the walkthrough below each one is the engine's own working — not a solution written afterwards. Reload this page's live drill and you get different numbers.
Staff strength at four branches of a bank: (figures in staff)
Branch Men Women
North 900 250
South 600 300
East 300 300
West 400 400
What is the total Men across all 4 branches?
Depot allocation across four routes: (figures in counts)
Route Buses Trips
R-1 250 400
R-2 500 100
R-3 500 400
R-4 900 300
By how much does Trips differ between R-1 and R-2?
Orders received by a retailer, by channel: (figures in orders)
Month Online In-store
Jan 900 350
Feb 350 200
Mar 500 150
Apr 200 50
What is the total Online across all 4 months?
The wrong options are not random numbers. Each one is the result of a specific careless error for this topic, so picking one tells you which habit is costing you marks.
Tables stating figures in thousands or lakhs are standard, and the wrong options are built for a candidate who read the raw number. Read the unit line before the first question and note it in the margin.
Exact arithmetic on a question that an estimate would settle costs thirty seconds and gains nothing. Glance at the option spread first and let it decide how much precision the question actually needs.
A share moving from 20% to 25% is a five percentage-point rise and a 25% increase. DI sets ask for both, and the option list reliably contains whichever one you did not compute.
The specific wrong numbers this topic produces, and what each one tells you about the step you took. If you have just got a question wrong and want to know which habit did it, start here.
The unit in the header. Tables print figures in lakhs, or in thousands, once above the data, and every row inherits it silently. When two questions in a set quote different units, do the conversion on paper rather than in your head — that is where the factor of a thousand goes missing.
A 20% fall. Percentage change is measured against the original value, so 50 ÷ 250 = 20%. Going back up from 200 to 250 is a 25% rise, because the base is now 200. DI sets ask both directions in the same question, and the two numbers are never equal.
Read the option spread before you calculate. When they sit ten percent apart, two significant figures land you on one in a few seconds. When two options are within two percent, the setter made them close on purpose and you have to compute properly. Deciding this first saves more time than any calculation shortcut.
Usually ten to fifteen marks in a bank prelims quant section, spread over two or three sets of five questions. That makes it the largest single block in the section and the one where preparation pays back fastest, because the underlying arithmetic is ordinary — the skill is reading and organising the table.
Let the options decide. When they are widely spaced, an estimate to the nearest ten settles the question in seconds. Compute exactly only when two options are close. Candidates who calculate everything precisely finish the set correctly and too late to matter.
Turn the ratio into a fraction rather than dividing. Going from 240 to 300 is 5/4, which is a 25% rise, and no long division is involved. Learning the eight or ten fractions that recur removes most of the arithmetic from a DI set.
Generally yes, because a table states its numbers directly while a caselet buries them in prose and a graph requires reading values off an axis. Table DI is also the commonest form in prelims, which is why it is the right place to build the habit first.
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