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SAT Math › Graphs
A school tracked the number of students who joined each club this semester. The bar graph shows the number of new members in Art, Chess, Debate, Music, and Robotics. According to the graph, how many more students joined Robotics than Debate? Use the y-axis scale in students to compute the difference, not an estimate. Be careful to read the correct bar heights because two clubs are close in value.
10 students
15 students
20 students
5 students
Explanation
The question asks for the difference in new members between Robotics and Debate clubs. Looking at the bar graph, I need to find the exact heights for Robotics and Debate bars using the y-axis scale. Robotics shows 45 students and Debate shows 35 students. The difference is 45 - 35 = 10 students. A common error is misreading bar heights when they're close together or estimating instead of using the scale precisely.
A snack company compared the number of boxes sold for four flavors. The bar graph shows sales (in boxes) for BBQ, Sour Cream, Salted, and Spicy. A small table lists the profit per box for each flavor. Based on the graph and table, which flavor produced the greatest total profit? Compute (boxes sold)×(profit per box) for each flavor.
Salted
BBQ
Spicy
Sour Cream
Explanation
The question asks which flavor produced the greatest total profit using both the bar graph (boxes sold) and table (profit per box). I need to calculate: BBQ (20 boxes × $2 = $40), Sour Cream (25 boxes × $3 = $75), Salted (15 boxes × $2.50 = $37.50), Spicy (30 boxes × $1.50 = $45). Sour Cream has the highest total profit at $75. Students often confuse highest sales with highest profit or make calculation errors.
A science class measured plant height each week. The line graph shows height (in cm) for Weeks 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. If the trend from Week 3 to Week 4 continues for one more week at the same weekly increase, what height would you predict for Week 5? Use the last observed increase as the rate for one more week.
18 cm
19 cm
21 cm
20 cm
Explanation
The question asks for a Week 5 prediction based on the Week 3 to Week 4 trend. From the graph, Week 3 shows 16 cm and Week 4 shows 18 cm, an increase of 2 cm. If this continues, Week 5 would be 18 + 2 = 20 cm. Students often use the wrong weeks to establish the trend or forget to add the increase to the Week 4 value.
The histogram shows the number of customers entering a store in 10-minute intervals over one hour. The bins are 0–9, 10–19, 20–29, 30–39, and 40–49 customers, with frequencies shown by bar heights. What is the most common interval (the modal bin)? Choose the bin with the greatest frequency.
0–9 customers
10–19 customers
20–29 customers
30–39 customers
Explanation
The question asks for the modal bin (most common interval) in the histogram. Examining the bar heights for each 10-minute interval, the 20-29 customers bin has the highest frequency. This is the mode because it represents the interval with the most occurrences. Students sometimes confuse mode with mean or median, or misread which bar is tallest.
A farm tracked the price of apples per pound over five weeks. The line graph shows the price (in dollars) for Weeks 1–5. Over that period, the price decreased for some intervals and increased for others. Which statement is supported by the graph about the change from Week 2 to Week 4? Use the plotted values to determine the net change.
It increased by $0.10 per lb.
It increased by $0.20 per lb.
It decreased by $0.20 per lb.
It decreased by $0.10 per lb.
Explanation
The question asks about the price change from Week 2 to Week 4. From the line graph, Week 2 shows $2.40 per pound and Week 4 shows $2.50 per pound. The change is $2.50 - $2.40 = $0.10 increase per pound. Students must be careful to subtract in the correct order and identify whether it's an increase or decrease.
The bar graph shows the number of pages read by four students (Alex, Bri, Chen, and Dev) over the weekend. A separate note says each student planned to read 60 pages. Based on the graph, which student fell short of the goal by the greatest number of pages, and by how many pages? Compute $60 - (\text{pages read})$ for each student.
Chen by 5 pages
Bri by 15 pages
Alex by 10 pages
Dev by 20 pages
Explanation
The question asks which student fell short of the 60-page goal by the most. From the bar graph, I calculate shortfalls: Alex read 50 (short by 10), Bri read 55 (short by 5), Chen read 65 (exceeded by 5), Dev read 40 (short by 20). Dev fell short by the greatest amount at 20 pages. Students often miscalculate by subtracting in the wrong order or missing that Chen exceeded the goal.
A student budgeted monthly expenses. The pie chart shows the percent of spending on Rent, Food, Transportation, Entertainment, and Savings. If the student spent $1,500 total and Savings is shown as 20% on the chart, how much money went to Savings? Multiply the total by the Savings percentage.
$200
$250
$300
$350
Explanation
The question asks how much money went to Savings if the student spent $1,500 total and Savings is 20%. The calculation is $1,500 × 0.20 = $300. Students often forget to convert the percentage to a decimal or might use the wrong total amount as the base for their calculation.
A small factory recorded the number of defective items produced by each machine in one shift. The bar graph shows defects for Machines A–E. If the factory removes 2 defects from Machine C’s count after reinspection (they were false alarms), what would be the new total number of defects across all machines? Add all counts, then subtract 2 from Machine C.
24 defects
22 defects
23 defects
25 defects
Explanation
The question asks for the new total defects after removing 2 false alarms from Machine C. First, I sum all defects from the bar graph: A(4) + B(5) + C(6) + D(3) + E(7) = 25 total defects. After removing 2 from Machine C: 25 - 2 = 23 defects. A common error is only recalculating Machine C's count without updating the total.
A cafeteria tracked how many cartons of milk were sold each day. The line graph shows cartons sold from Day 1 to Day 7. On which day did sales first reach at least 90 cartons? Identify the earliest day whose plotted value is $\ge 90$ using the y-axis scale.
Day 3
Day 5
Day 4
Day 6
Explanation
The question asks on which day milk sales first reached at least 90 cartons. Examining the line graph from Day 1 to Day 7, I need to find the first day where the value is ≥ 90. Day 5 is the first day showing a value at or above 90 cartons on the y-axis. Students often confuse "first reached" with "highest value" or misread the scale.
The histogram shows the distribution of 50 test scores (out of 100) in a class. The bins are 50–59, 60–69, 70–79, 80–89, and 90–99, with frequencies shown by bar heights. How many students scored at least 80? Add the frequencies for the 80–89 and 90–99 bins.
18 students
24 students
22 students
20 students
Explanation
The question asks how many students scored at least 80 on the test. From the histogram, the 80-89 bin shows 12 students and the 90-99 bin shows 8 students. The total scoring at least 80 is 12 + 8 = 20 students. Students often forget to include both bins when finding "at least 80" or misread the frequency values on the y-axis.