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StatisticsFoundation and Higher

Charts GCSE questions with answers

8 charts questions to try, each with the answer and the full working one tap away. Every question here was made and worked out by the Show Working maths engine, not typed in by hand.

Chart questions ask you to read pie charts and stem-and-leaf diagrams, and on Foundation bar charts and pictograms too. You also use scatter graphs to name the type of correlation and to estimate a value from a line of best fit.

Quiz yourself: 8 questions

Worked example 1: reading bar charts

The bar chart shows how many cakes a café sold each day. How many cakes is that altogether?

02468101214MonTueWedThuFriFrequency
  1. Read each bar against the scale (each line is 2): Mon 14, Tue 12, Wed 8, Thu 10, Fri 4.
  2. Add them: 14 + 12 + 8 + 10 + 4 = 48.

Answer 48

01 / Quiz yourselfTry it, then tap to check

Charts questions to try

Work each one out on paper first. Then open the answer and compare your working with ours, step by step.

01 / Reading bar chartsBoth tiers

The bar chart shows how many cakes a café sold each day. How many more cakes were sold on Tuesday than on Friday?

02468101214161820MonTueWedThuFriFrequency
Show the answer and working
  1. Read the two bars (each line is 2): Tue is 20 and Fri is 18.
  2. 20 − 18 = 2.

Answer 2

02 / Reading bar chartsBoth tiers

The bar chart shows the favourite colours of some pupils. How many more pupils chose red than black?

0510152025303540RedBlueGreenPinkBlackFrequency
Show the answer and working
  1. Read the two bars (each line is 5): Red is 35 and Black is 25.
  2. 35 − 25 = 10.

Answer 10

03 / PictogramsBoth tiers

The pictogram shows the colours of the cars in a car park. How many red cars are there?

RedBlueSilverBlackWhiteKey:stands for 4 cars
Show the answer and working
  1. One whole circle stands for 4 cars, so a half stands for 2 and a quarter stands for 1.
  2. Red: 4 whole circles and a quarter of a circle = 17.

Answer 17

04 / PictogramsBoth tiers

The pictogram shows the favourite fruit of some pupils. How many pupils chose apples?

ApplesBananasGrapesOrangesKey:stands for 6 pupils
Show the answer and working
  1. One whole circle stands for 6 pupils, so a half stands for 3.
  2. Apples: 2 whole circles = 12.

Answer 12

05 / Types of correlationBoth tiers

The scatter graph shows age of car and value. What type of correlation does it show?
A: positive correlation
B: negative correlation
C: no correlation

Age of car (years)Value (£1000s)
Show the answer and working
  1. The points go down from left to right: as one value increases, the other decreases. That is negative correlation.
  2. So the answer is B.

Answer B

06 / Pie chartsBoth tiers

18 people were asked which they liked best. The table shows the results. They are to be shown in a pie chart. Work out the angle for Fish.

ChoiceFrequencyDog5Cat5Fish4Rabbit4
Show the answer and working
  1. The whole pie is 360° for 18 people, so each person gets 360° ÷ 18 = 20°.
  2. Fish: 4 × 20° = 80°.

Answer 80°

07 / Stem-and-leaf diagramsBoth tiers

The stem-and-leaf diagram shows the marks some pupils got in a test. Work out the mode.

1117792244888389406Key: 2 | 4 means 24 marks
Show the answer and working
  1. The mode is the value that appears most often. Look for a leaf repeated on the same row.
  2. 28 appears 3 times, more than any other value.

Answer 28

08 / Scatter graphs: estimate from a line of best fitBoth tiers

The scatter graph shows how many hours some pupils revised for a test, and their scores. A line of best fit has been drawn. Another pupil scored 75. Use the line of best fit to estimate how many hours this pupil revised for.

0123456789100102030405060708090100Hours of revisionTest score
Show the answer and working
  1. Find 75 on the test score axis.
  2. Go across to the line of best fit, then straight down to the other axis.
  3. The line meets 75 at 7. Readings from 6.7 to 7.3 are fine.

Answer 7

02 / What's covered6 kinds of question

Charts at GCSE and where marks go

  • Reading bar chartsBoth tiers
  • PictogramsBoth tiers
  • Types of correlationBoth tiers
  • Pie chartsBoth tiers
  • Stem-and-leaf diagramsBoth tiers
  • Scatter graphs: estimate from a line of best fitBoth tiers

Worked example 2: scatter graphs: estimate from a line of best fit

The scatter graph shows the midday temperature and the number of ice creams a beach café sold, on some summer days. A line of best fit has been drawn. On another day, 70 ice creams were sold. Use the line of best fit to estimate the temperature that day.

10121416182022242628300102030405060708090100Temperature (°C)Ice creams sold
  1. Find 70 on the ice creams sold axis.
  2. Go across to the line of best fit, then straight down to the other axis.
  3. The line meets 70 at 22. Readings from 21.4 to 22.6 are fine.

Answer 22

A common mistake

Forgetting that the angles in a pie chart add up to 360°. If 12 out of 40 people chose blue, its angle is 12/40 × 360° = 108°, not 12°.

03 / Practise itiPhone and iPad

More charts questions in Show Working

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More statistics topics

Averages and rangeCumulative frequency, box plots and histogramsSamples and populationsAll GCSE maths topics
The worked answer in Show Working: the answer, then numbered steps in plain words

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