Lesson Guide
Explanation
The routine never changes: read every value off the data and write it down before looking at a single statement. The axis here goes up in fives, so a bar between twenty and twenty-five needs the gridlines, not a glance. Once the five numbers are on your page, the statements become arithmetic you can do in seconds. Reading and judging at the same time is exactly where these marks are lost.
Your Turn
From the graph, what were the Tuesday and Thursday temperatures? Check: 24 °C and 12 °C.
Watch Out
Read the scale before the bars. An axis in 5s and an axis in 2s look identical at a glance.
Explanation
Take the statements one at a time and mark each in the margin. Friday at twenty-seven beats every other day, tick. Tuesday's twenty-four is exactly twice Thursday's twelve, tick. Wednesday's twenty-one is less than Tuesday's twenty-four, cross. Three separate decisions, and one being right says nothing about the next. Only when all three are marked do you look at the options, and then the answer picks itself.
Your Turn
Tue 24 and Thu 12. Is "Tuesday was twice as warm as Thursday" true? Check: yes, exactly twice.
Watch Out
Never pick an option as soon as you find one true statement. That is what the options are designed to catch.
Explanation
A handful of words do most of the damage. More than twice needs strictly more, so twenty-four against twelve — exactly twice — makes that claim false, while at least twice makes the same numbers true. The warmest has to beat every other day, not just its neighbour. And every day was above fifteen is sunk by a single day below it. Turn the words into a sum and the ambiguity disappears.
Your Turn
Is "every day was above 15 °C" true, given Mon 18, Tue 24, Wed 21, Thu 12, Fri 27? Check: no — Thursday was 12.
Watch Out
"Every" needs the whole list checked. One counter-example is enough to make it false.
Explanation
The same format is dressed up four different ways — a column graph, a spinner, a shaded strip, a table — but the method never changes. Turn the picture into numbers first: blue is a half of the spinner, the strip is three tenths, the table is read straight off. Then mark the three statements and match. On a spinner watch the difference between most likely and likely, because an outcome at exactly a half is the first and not the second.
Your Turn
A strip has 3 of 10 parts shaded. Is "more than a quarter is shaded" true? Check: yes — 0.3 is more than 0.25.
Watch Out
Convert the picture to numbers before judging. Comparing a sector to a fraction by eye is guessing.
Explanation
The last step is the one people rush. Read your three marks — tick, tick, cross — and find the option that says exactly that, one and two. The options are deliberately similar, with one and two sitting right beside one, two and three, so a student who checked only the first two statements picks the wrong one. Never work backwards from an option that looks likely; work forwards from your own marks. Quiz and exercises now.
Your Turn
Your marks are ✗, ✓, ✓. Which option do you want? Check: "2 and 3".
Watch Out
Check all three statements even when the first two already match an option. The third decides between two options.
📌 Key Points — this lesson in a nutshell
- Read the data and write the numbers down before you look at a single statement.
- Mark each statement ✓ or ✗ on its own. One being true tells you nothing about the next.
- Only then match your three marks to an option — the options are built to punish a half-check.
- The words that decide it: more than needs strictly more, at least allows equal, the most must beat everything.
Step 1: Introduction
Step 1 of 5
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