Introduction

This chapter covers line graphs, scatterplot graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, area graphs, and bubble graphs. It is not comprehensive, however, because graphics come in many forms. They might seem intimidating at first glance, but they all represent a whole broken down into its different parts. You can “read” them by using the same set of skills that you use when you read test passages.

Always read all the information on the graph carefully: its title and what’s being represented. Notice what the x-axis and y-axis measure, the overall shape of the trends or quantities being tracked, and whether there are any outlying points. Some test questions try to trick you by switching numbers for percentiles, and others mix up names and dates to create incorrect answers.

A graphic can look especially difficult when the data it presents is unfamiliar. However, you don’t need to know anything about the topic of the graph because you are only interested in how whatever is being measured has changed over time. In other words, it doesn’t matter that a joule is a unit of energy, only whether the number of them has increased or decreased.

Graphics that are paired with passages may seem even more intimidating, but they are actually much easier than they look as long as you take the time to note the main point of each one. Also, many questions that ask you to match a statement from the passage with information from the graph can be answered without referring to the passage at all because the answer choices are paraphrases of the passage. That means just need to match the graphic with the correct answer choice.

Questions that ask you to consider both the passage and the graphic can be divided into two groups: those that can be answered either with information from the graphic or the passage and those whose answers can only be determined by looking at both. Sentence completion and inference questions often fall into this category.

As always, careful reading is your key to success. Take the time to verify that each part of an answer choice is correct and that no details have been changed or misstated.