For the following parabola 
why is the graph like this?
Shouldn’t it be something like this?
In a quadratic abs value parabola we should not include -y values alone. So when you remove the abs signs you get y = x²+4 and y = -x²+6. Then when you plot them you get a graph similar to what I drew. But the actual graph is different, so why does this happen?
Try finding the value of y when x = -1, 0 and 1.
Hey are there any shortcuts to identify graphs of abs value quadratic equations without taking the +ve and -ve values and then deriving two equations, etc, etc.?
Identify or graph? Identification is easy - just look at the equation.
What about graph or to just visualize maybe?
and one more thing, what level questions on the GMAT Club mimic GRE level 4 or 5 problems?
Looking at the minima of the curve would be a good start.
What about this?
I don’t know - this is a separate question.
