Reading data displays drills

Read and interpret bar graphs, histograms, line plots, and pie charts.

Free, timed SHSAT practice sets on reading data displays— every question includes a full worked explanation, and there's no account required.

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How to read data displays

Most data-display questions take two steps: read the right numbers, then do the one operation the question asks for.

  1. Read the title, the labels, and the units before any numbers. Find the exact rows or bars the question names.
  2. Match the operation to the words:
    • "How many more" means subtract: bigger \(-\) smaller.
    • "Percent of the group" means percent \(\times\) total. If a chart shows 25% of 200 people, that is \(0.25 \times 200 = 50\) people.
    • "In all" means add.

Common traps: reading the row next to the one you need, adding when the question asks how many more, stopping at one count, giving the percent (25) when the question asks for a number of people (50), and finding the people who are NOT in the group.

Worked examples

Example 1.
The table shows the number of members in 4 after-school clubs. How many more members does Debate Club have than Robotics Club?
ClubMembers
Drama Club13
Chess Club30
Debate Club33
Robotics Club9
Show answer and explanation
Answer:
B

Debate Club has 33 members and Robotics Club has 9. Difference = 33 \(-\) 9 = 24. (Adding the two numbers (\(33 + 9\)) gives 42. Reading the Drama Club row (\(33 - 13\)) gives 20. Stopping at the Debate Club count gives 33.)

Example 2.
The table shows the number of members in 4 after-school clubs. How many more members does Robotics Club have than Debate Club?
ClubMembers
Debate Club14
Robotics Club37
Science Club28
Chess Club17
Show answer and explanation
Answer:
A

Robotics Club has 37 members and Debate Club has 14. Difference = 37 \(-\) 14 = 23. (Adding the two numbers (\(37 + 14\)) gives 51. Reading the Chess Club row (\(37 - 17\)) gives 20. Stopping at the Robotics Club count gives 37.)