Charts
Chart questions usually do not involve much computation, but you must be careful. Follow these three steps and you’ll be well on the way to mastering any chart question.
1. Read any text that accompanies the chart. It is important to know what the chart is showing and what scale the numbers are on.
2. Read the question.
3. Refer to the chart and find the specific information you need.
If there is more than one question about a single chart, the later questions will tend to be more difficult than the earlier ones. Be careful!
Don’t Be in Too Big a Hurry
When working with charts and graphs, make sure you take a moment to look at the chart or graph, figure out what it tells you, and then go to the questions.
Here is a sample chart.
Club Membership by State, 2012 and 2013
State 2012 2013
California 300 500
Florida 225 250
Illinois 200 180
Massachusetts 150 300
Michigan 150 200
New Jersey 200 250
New York 400 600
Texas 50 100
There are many different questions that you can answer based on the information in this chart. For instance:
What is the difference between the number of members who came from New York in 2012 and the number of members who came from Illinois in 2013?
This question asks you to look up two simple pieces of information and then do a tiny bit of math.
First, the number of members who came from New York in 2012 was 400.
Second, the number of members who came from Illinois in 2013 was 180.
Finally, look back at the question. It asks you to find the difference between these numbers. 400 – 180 = 220. Done.
The increase in the number of members from New Jersey from 2012 to 2013 was what percent of the total number of members in New Jersey in 2012?
You should definitely know how to do this one! Do you remember how to translate percentage questions? If not, go back to Chapter 2.
In 2012, there were 200 club members from New Jersey. In 2013, there were 250 members from New Jersey. That represents an increase of 50 members. To determine what percent that is of the total amount in 2012, you need to ask yourself, “50 (the increase) is what percent of 200 (the number of members in 2012)?”
Translated, this becomes:
50 = × 200
With a little bit of simple manipulation, this equation becomes:
50 = 2g and 25 = g
So from 2012 to 2013, there was a 25% increase in the number of members from New Jersey. Good work!
Which state had as many club members in 2013 as a
combination of Illinois, Massachusetts, and Michigan had in 2012?
First, take a second to look up the number of members who came from Illinois, Massachusetts, and Michigan in 2012 and add them together.
200 + 150 + 150 = 500
Which state had 500 members in 2013? California. That’s all there is to it!
Graphs
Some questions will ask you to interpret a graph. You should be familiar with both pie and bar graphs. These graphs are generally drawn to scale (meaning that the graphs give an accurate visual impression of the information), so you can always guess based on the figure if you need to.
The way to approach a graph question is exactly the same as the way to approach a chart question. Follow the same three steps.
1. Read any text that accompanies the graph. It is important to know what the graph is showing and what scale the numbers are on.
2. Read the question.
3. Refer back to the graph and find the specific information you need.
This is how it works.
The graph in Figure 1 shows Emily’s clothing expenditures for the month of October. On which type of clothing did she spend the most money?
(A) Shoes (B) Shirts (C) Socks (D) Hats
This one is easy. You can look at the pieces of the pie and identify the largest, or you can look at the amounts shown in the graph and choose the largest one. Either way, the answer is (A) because Emily spent more money on shoes than on any other clothing items in October.
Emily spent half of her clothing money on which two items?
(A) Shoes and pants (B) Shoes and shirts (C) Hats and socks (D) Socks and shirts
Again, you can find the answer to this question two different ways. You can look for which two items together make up half the chart, or you can add up the total amount of money Emily spent ($240) and then figure out which two items made up half (or $120) of that amount.
Either way is just fine, and either way, the right answer is (B), shoes and shirts.