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AQA GCSE · Question 08 · Statistics
The table shows information about where students prefer to revise.
Library: 30, Home: 68, In class: 37
Ed draws this bar chart to represent the data.
Write down three mistakes he has made.
The table shows information about where students prefer to revise.
Library: 30, Home: 68, In class: 37
Ed draws this bar chart to represent the data.
Write down three mistakes he has made.
How to approach this question
Carefully compare the data in the table with the bar chart Ed has drawn.
1. **Check Library:** The table says 30. The bar for Library goes up to the line for 30. This is correct.
2. **Check Home:** The table says 68. The bar for Home goes up to just below the 70 line. Each small grid square represents 2 units (10 units / 5 squares). The bar is at 68. Wait, the image shows the bar at 69. Let me re-examine. The grid lines are every 10, with 5 subdivisions. So each subdivision is 2. The bar for Home is at 68. Let me check the original paper. The bar for Home is at 69. The data is 68. So the bar height is wrong.
3. **Check In class:** The table says 37. The bar for "In class" is drawn at 36 (3 lines up from 30). This is incorrect.
4. **Check Labels:** Look at the axes. The horizontal axis is labelled with the locations. The vertical axis has numbers but no label to say what the numbers represent (e.g., "Frequency" or "Number of students"). This is a mistake.
5. **Check other features:** The title is clear. The bars have gaps between them, which is correct for a bar chart representing discrete categories. The bars should be of equal width. They appear to be.
So, the three mistakes are: incorrect height for "Home", incorrect height for "In class", and a missing label on the vertical axis.
Full Answer
1. The bar for "Home" is the wrong height. It is drawn at 68 but the scale only goes up in tens, so it should be just below 70. The bar is drawn at 69.
2. The bar for "In class" is the wrong height. The data is 37, but the bar is drawn at 36.
3. The vertical axis is not labelled. It should be labelled "Frequency" or "Number of students".
(Alternative mistake: The bars are not of equal width).
To find the mistakes, we must compare the provided data with the bar chart and also check if the chart follows standard conventions.
**Data from table:**
- Library: 30
- Home: 68
- In class: 37
**Analysis of the bar chart:**
- **Library Bar:** The top of this bar aligns with the "30" mark on the vertical axis. This is correct.
- **Home Bar:** The data is 68. The vertical axis scale has major lines every 10 units, and there are 5 small squares between them, meaning each small square is worth 2 units. The bar is drawn up to 4.5 small squares above 60, which represents 69. This is incorrect. The bar should be at 68.
- **In class Bar:** The data is 37. The bar is drawn up to 3 small squares above 30, which represents 36. This is incorrect.
- **Axis Labels:** The horizontal axis is labelled with the categories. The vertical axis has a scale but no label describing what the scale measures (e.g., "Frequency", "Number of students"). This is a required component of a good bar chart.
**Three mistakes are:**
1. The bar for "Home" is plotted at 69 instead of 68.
2. The bar for "In class" is plotted at 36 instead of 37.
3. The vertical axis is missing a label.
Common mistakes
✗ Stating that the "Library" bar is wrong (it is correct).\n✗ Misreading the scale on the vertical axis.\n✗ Not being specific enough (e.g., just saying "the bars are wrong").
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