Data questions give a table, graph or timetable; your child reads the labels and condition words, then uses only what's shown. A child in Year 7 now sits Quantitative Reasoning in Year 8, in June 2027 Expected.
What does a data question look like in VIC Quantitative Reasoning?
It's a table, graph or timetable with a question that only careful reading can answer. ACER says Quantitative Reasoning tests thinking and reasoning with numbers, patterns and shapes, in abstract and real-world settings. Data questions are the real-world end: a ferry table, a rainfall graph, a tram timetable.
The reading is the hard part, not the sums, and everything your child needs is on the page. These three are our own, from easier to harder, each with the answer and the working shown. For each wrong option, ask your child to point to the cell or bar it uses, then read its label aloud together.
Worked explanation 1
The table shows how many passengers travelled on the morning and afternoon ferries to four islands on one day. Which island's ferry carried fewer passengers in the afternoon than in the morning?
Island
Morning ferry
Afternoon ferry
Pelican Island
64
58
Gull Rock
47
62
Shell Island
71
75
Heron Island
55
55
AA.
Pelican Island
BB.
Gull Rock
CC.
Shell Island
DD.
Heron Island
Answer: A
Answer: A
Compare the two numbers in each row: Pelican Island went from 64 down to 58, Gull Rock and Shell Island went up, and Heron Island stayed at 55. Only Pelican Island carried fewer in the afternoon. Heron Island is tempting because its number did not grow, but carrying the same number is not carrying fewer.
Worked explanation 2
The graph shows the rainfall in a country town in each of the first six months of a year. In which month did the total rainfall for the year so far first go above 200 mm?
AA.
March
BB.
April
CC.
May
DD.
June
Answer: B
Answer: B
Keep a running total: January 40, February 100, March 150, April 220. April is the first month the total passes 200 mm. May is tempting because it is the wettest single month, but by then the total had already gone past 200 mm.
Worked explanation 3
Noor needs to be at a meeting in the town hall by 9:00 am. The town hall is a 12-minute walk from the Town Hall tram stop. From home, Noor can walk to the Hillview stop in 5 minutes or to the Library stop in 9 minutes. Using the tram timetable, what is the latest time Noor can leave home and still arrive on time?
Tram stop
Tram 1
Tram 2
Tram 3
Tram 4
Hillview
7:40 am
8:05 am
8:25 am
8:50 am
Library
7:52 am
8:17 am
8:39 am
9:02 am
Town Hall
8:01 am
8:28 am
8:50 am
9:11 am
AA.
8:00 am
BB.
8:05 am
CC.
8:08 am
DD.
8:30 am
Answer: C
Answer: C
Work backwards. With a 12-minute walk, the tram must reach Town Hall by 8:48, so Tram 3 (8:50) is too late and she needs Tram 2. Tram 2 leaves Hillview at 8:05 (leave home 8:00) and Library at 8:17 (leave home 8:08). The later time is 8:08. Choosing 8:00 checks only the nearer stop; 8:30 forgets the walk at the end.
Start from the question, not the data, and read the labels before any numbers. That way your child looks for one thing instead of reading every number twice. Quantitative Reasoning shares 60 minutes with Mathematics, so that saved time counts.
With no calculator allowed, it's worth jotting each step in the margin of the exam paper. This is our method, not ACER's.
Read the question first
Know what you are looking for before you look at the data. It saves reading every number twice.
Read the labels
Check the title, the headings and the units, so you know what each row, column or bar means.
Mark the condition words
Fewer, first, latest, so far. Words like these decide which number answers the question.
Work backwards from a deadline
For a timetable, start from the time you must arrive and step back through each part of the trip.
Check the option against the data
Before choosing, go back to the table or graph and confirm the option really fits.
The slips here are about reading, not arithmetic: a word read loosely, a single bar read instead of a total, or a last step left out. For each wrong option, find the matching slip below. Then ask your child to reread the condition word in the question and say what it rules out.
Treating "the same" as "fewer". In the first question, Heron Island stayed at 55. That is not fewer, so it is not the answer.
Reading one bar instead of the running total. In the second, May is the wettest month, but the total for the year passed 200 mm in April.
Dropping a step at the end. In the third, 8:30 am forgets the 12-minute walk, and 8:00 am checks only the nearer stop. The latest safe time is 8:08 am.
How can we practise reading data at home?
Real tables are everywhere, and they're free. ACER says these skills grow over time, through a culture of learning, varied engaging material and talking freely about ideas, so talking through a single table properly is worth more than racing through many.
Plan a trip on a real bus or train timetable, working back from when you need to arrive.
Keep a simple chart for a fortnight, such as rain or steps walked, and ask "so far" questions about it.
When a graph appears in the news, ask your child what the title, the labels and the units say before reading anything else.
More worked questions are on our quantitative reasoning sample questions page. Three questions show the habit; a full sitting shows whether it holds up when Mathematics is on the same clock. Our selective entry practice tests keep the real timing, Practice test 1 is free, and the results by skill show whether data questions cost marks.
