Some ACER Humanities questions use cartoons, tables and maps instead of paragraphs; read the caption and labels first, then ask what the picture supports. For students entering Year 7 or 8, the cooperative test is on 27 February 2027.
ACER asks your child to think critically about fiction, non-fiction, poetry, cartoons, diagrams and maps. These pictures and charts are visual texts: the meaning is carried by a drawing, a layout or figures in a grid as much as by words.
We treat tables with diagrams, because your child reads them the same way: title, labels, pattern, then the question.
Title, column headings and any note on the figures
Which conclusion do the figures support?
Diagram
Title, labels and arrows
What happens at a stage, or what causes what?
Map
North arrow, key and caption
Which direction, where, and why there?
How should your child read a cartoon?
A cartoon makes a point, sometimes by showing a gap between what people say and what they do. Your child's job is to find that gap.
Read the words first: the caption, any speech, any sign in the picture. Then look for the detail that doesn't fit, such as someone doing the opposite of what a banner asks. Look for the point in the clash between them.
A cartoon can be ironic. A caption praising everyone for "doing their bit", under a picture of people doing nothing of the kind, means the opposite of what it says, and a child who reads it straight misses the joke.
How should your child read a table, diagram or map?
In the same order every time: the words around the picture first, then the pattern. These steps stop your child answering from the most striking figure before they know what it measures.
Read the title and caption first
They say what the figures are, and can add a fact the picture can't show, such as when something happened.
Find the key or the north arrow
On a map, up the page is north only if the arrow says so. In a table, check what the figures measure and whether they are rounded.
Look for the pattern, not every figure
Which rows rise, which fall, which stay level? A pattern can answer the question.
Combine the picture and the words
Some answers need both: a trend in the table and a fact in the caption.
Ask what is shown, not what is likely
If a map shows no heights, it can't tell you whether the land is flat.
Four worked examples
These go with two visual texts we wrote.
The first is a table of town populations in an invented goldfields district, with a caption about gold finds and a railway. The second is a simple map of an island with a bay, a town, a walking track and cliffs. Each one shows the answer and the working, so read them together.
Four Towns of the Rocky River District
Four Towns of the Rocky River District
Census populations of four towns in an inland district, 1851–1901 (figures rounded to the nearest hundred; 0 means no town yet).
Gold was first found in the district in 1852, and more finds followed over the next twenty years. The railway reached Hartley in 1879 and was never extended to the other three towns.
Town
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
Bell's Creek
0
6500
2100
900
400
200
Granite Hill
0
400
3900
2600
900
400
Hartley
300
900
1400
2400
3800
5200
Mirrabool
200
1800
1700
1700
1600
1500
Worked explanation 1
Which town most likely grew because of a later gold find, rather than the first one in 1852?
AA.
Hartley
BB.
Bell's Creek
CC.
Granite Hill
DD.
Mirrabool
Answer: C
Answer: C (Granite Hill)
A gold-rush town grows fast and then shrinks when the gold runs out. Bell's Creek does this straight after the first find of 1852: biggest in 1861, then falling. Granite Hill was still small in 1861 (400), but it grew almost tenfold to 3,900 by 1871, while Bell's Creek was already emptying, and then it fell away too. Its boom came about ten years after the first find, which fits one of the 'more finds' in the caption. The answer is C.
The trap: B tempts because Bell's Creek is the biggest gold town in the table. But its boom came straight after the first find of 1852, and it was already shrinking by 1871.
Why the other options are wrong
A (Hartley): Hartley grows steadily for fifty years, fastest after the railway came in 1879, and never rises and falls like a rush town.
B (Bell's Creek): Bell's Creek boomed straight after the first find, then shrank.
D (Mirrabool): Mirrabool grew in the 1850s, with the first find, and barely changes after 1861.
Worked explanation 2
Using the table and the caption, which conclusion about the railway is most reasonable?
AA.
The railway probably helped Hartley keep growing while the others did not.
BB.
The railway went to Hartley because it was already the district's largest town.
CC.
The railway caused the gold at Bell's Creek and Granite Hill to run out.
DD.
The railway made Mirrabool's population fall sharply soon after 1879.
Answer: A
Answer: A (The railway probably helped Hartley keep growing while the others did not.)
After the railway arrived in 1879, Hartley grew from 2,400 (1881) to 5,200 (1901), while Bell's Creek and Granite Hill kept falling and Mirrabool stayed almost level. A railway brings trade and jobs, so it is reasonable to think it helped. The word 'probably' keeps the claim careful. The answer is A.
The trap: B tempts because Hartley is the biggest town by the end. But in 1871, just before the railway, Granite Hill (3,900) was much bigger than Hartley (1,400).
Why the other options are wrong
B (The railway went to Hartley because it was already the district's largest town.): In 1871 Granite Hill was far bigger than Hartley.
C (The railway caused the gold at Bell's Creek and Granite Hill to run out.): A railway cannot make gold run out; the falls began before 1879.
D (The railway made Mirrabool's population fall sharply soon after 1879.): Mirrabool went from 1,700 to 1,500 over twenty years, which is not sharp.
Map of Gannet Island
Map of Gannet Island
The map shows Gannet Island, with north at the top. A bay called Calm Bay cuts into the middle of the north coast. A jetty sticks out into the bay, and the town of Port Teal is just inland from the jetty. A dashed walking track runs from Port Teal to a lookout on a hill in the south-east of the island. Cliffs line the south coast. A group of small rocks called Seal Rocks lies just off the west coast.
Caption: Strong winds and big waves at Gannet Island usually come from the south.
Worked explanation 3
A walker follows the track from Port Teal to the lookout. In which general direction are they heading?
AA.
north-east
BB.
north-west
CC.
south-east
DD.
south-west
Answer: C
Answer: C (south-east)
North is at the top of the map. Port Teal is near the top in the middle, and the lookout is lower down and to the right. Lower means south and right means east, so the walker heads south-east. The answer is C.
The trap: A tempts children who see the track rising to the right on the page and think 'up'. On this map, going down the page is going south.
Why the other options are wrong
A (north-east): The track goes down the page, which is south, not north.
B (north-west): The lookout is to the right (east) and lower (south), the opposite of north-west.
D (south-west): The lookout is east of the town, not west.
Worked explanation 4
A student writes: "Port Teal was built on the north coast because the land there is flat." Which comment on the student's reason is best supported by the map and caption?
AA.
It is wrong, because the map shows that the land around Port Teal is steep.
BB.
It has no support, but the map and caption do show why the bay is a safe harbour.
CC.
It is well supported, because cliffs on the south coast mean the north is flat.
DD.
It has no support, because the map shows Port Teal is too far from the jetty.
Answer: B
Answer: B (It has no support, but the map and caption do show why the bay is a safe harbour.)
The map shows no heights, so nothing on it tells us whether the land near Port Teal is flat: the student's reason has no support. But the caption says strong winds and big waves usually come from the south, and the map puts Calm Bay and the jetty on the north coast, with the whole island between them and that weather. Together, the map and caption show why the bay makes a safe harbour. The answer is B.
The trap: C tempts because the cliffs really are on the map, and cliffs sound like 'not flat'. But cliffs on the south coast tell us nothing about the land in the north.
Why the other options are wrong
A (It is wrong, because the map shows that the land around Port Teal is steep.): The map shows no heights near the town, so 'steep' is no better supported than 'flat'.
C (It is well supported, because cliffs on the south coast mean the north is flat.): Cliffs in the south say nothing about whether the north is flat.
D (It has no support, because the map shows Port Teal is too far from the jetty.): Port Teal is just inland from the jetty, not far from it.
What traps should your child watch for?
Each trap comes from the table or the map. Ask your child what the picture really shows, and where its evidence stops.
The biggest boom. The town that grew fastest is not the answer to every question. A question about a later gold find needs the town whose rise came later.
Cause from coincidence. A railway arriving while a town grows makes "the railway probably helped" reasonable. An option saying the railway made the gold run out claims far more than the figures show.
Up the page means north. It does here because the arrow says so. A child who sees the track "going up" can pick the wrong direction.
A reason the picture can't support. A claim about flat land may sound sensible, but a map with no heights can't back it. The right comment says so, then points to what the map and caption do show.
Why are pictures and maps in a Humanities test?
Humanities texts may come from History, Geography and Social Studies, where much of the evidence is visual: maps, census tables, posters and political cartoons. For these texts no specialist knowledge is assumed, so your child never needs the history behind a table, only a careful reading of it.
These questions reward a different habit from passage reading. Your child holds a figure, a label and a caption in mind at the same time and decides what they support together. Quick readers who skim visuals can lose marks here.
Visuals are everywhere. Ask your child to explain a newspaper cartoon to you: who is being criticised, and how can they tell?
For tables and maps, a weather map, a train map or a nutrition label works well: "What does this show? What doesn't it tell us?"
That second question matters most. Knowing where a picture's evidence stops is what the last of our worked examples tests.
Four examples show the method. Practice test 1 has a full Humanities section on ACER's time, and its results by skill show whether visual texts are costing marks.
ACER's advice is to read widely and think critically; we'd add pictures, tables and maps to that reading. The app's visual texts lesson has an Interactive version and Notes, with skill drills for more practice. Inference and main idea apply to cartoons as much as to passages.
