GCSE · Data representation

Misleading graphs and chartsExam-style questions

How a chart with correct numbers can still tell a false story, and how to say exactly what is wrong with it: a vertical axis that does not start at zero, uneven scales, pictures and 3D bars that grow two ways, missing labels and keys, overlapping classes, the wrong chart for the data, and totals compared across groups of different sizes. How to work out how much a chart exaggerates, and what a fair version looks like.

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16 questions · GCSE (Higher) level · mark scheme and worked solution on each · no sign-up to try

DifficultyAll Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

1
A company recycled twice as much plastic in 2025 as in 2015. Its poster shows each year as a cube. The edges of the 2025 cube are twice as long as the edges of the 2015 cube.(a) How many times as much space does the 2025 cube take up as the 2015 cube?

(2 marks)
(b) Explain why the poster is misleading.

(1 mark)

The company wants the volume of the 2025 cube to be exactly twice the volume of the 2015 cube.
(c) Work out the number the company should multiply the edges of the 2015 cube by. Give your answer correct to $2$ decimal places.

(2 marks)
Level 4 · 5 marksTry it
2
A choir had $52$ members in January and $64$ members in July.

The choir shows these numbers in a bar chart. The vertical axis starts at $a$ , not at $0$ . On the chart, the July bar is exactly $3$ times as tall as the January bar.(a) Work out the value of $a$ .

(3 marks)
(b) Work out the percentage increase in the number of members from January to July. Give your answer correct to $1$ decimal place.

(2 marks)

The choir redraws the chart with the vertical axis starting at $0$ . On the new chart the January bar is $6.5$ cm tall.
(c) Work out the height of the July bar on the new chart.

(2 marks)
Level 4 · 7 marksTry it