Each card shows a small table of data and what someone wants it to show. Pick the chart that shows it best before the time bar at the bottom runs out: 1 line graph, 2 bar (or column) chart, 3 pie chart, 4 scatter graph. Then the right chart is drawn from the data, with the reason.
Every other wave is Fix it: a chart with exactly one thing wrong. Press 1 if it has no title, 2 no axis titles, 3 no legend where it needs one, or 4 if it's the wrong chart type for what it's meant to show. Then it's drawn put right, with the fix in gold.
A wrong answer, or the time running out, costs a life: you have 5. Core uses the clearer cases, with hints on the buttons; Advanced adds harder ones with less time and no hints. Both are IGCSE level.
Which chart?
- Line graph: a trend, how something changes over time (hours, days, months, years), with the times in order along the x-axis. Two lines on one graph compare two trends.
- Bar or column chart: comparing separate categories (pets, cities, players). A column chart is a bar chart with vertical bars. Two bars for each category compare two groups.
- Pie chart: proportions, the parts of one whole: each sector's share of the total. Only when the parts add up to the whole (100%, the whole budget, all the votes).
- Scatter graph: correlation, whether two numeric variables measured for each case are related (revision and marks, temperature and sales). One point per case; don't join the points.
What every chart needs
- A chart title that says what it shows.
- Axis titles on both axes (with the units, e.g. "Height (cm)") on a line graph, bar chart or scatter graph. A pie chart has no axes.
- A legend when colours stand for different things: more than one data series, or the sectors of a pie (unless each sector is labelled).
Common mistakes in the exam
- A pie chart of data over time (monthly sales are a trend: a line graph), or of percentages that add up to more than 100% (people could choose several: a bar chart).
- A line joining categories that have no order (the line suggests a trend that isn't there).
- A line graph for two variables that aren't time: when both columns are numbers, ask whether the first is time (a line graph) or a second variable (a scatter graph).
- No chart title; no axis titles, or no units in them; or a legend on a chart with only one data series, where it adds nothing.
Scoring
A right answer scores 10 in Core and 15 in Advanced, plus up to half as much again for a quick one, and a streak multiplies it (×2 from 4 right in a row, up to ×5). A wrong answer, or a card you miss, costs a life and starts your streak again. Scores are checked on the server, so the leaderboards (the world's, and your class's and school's when you're signed in) are fair.
Objective: select the appropriate type of chart for a purpose, and add and identify a chart title, axis titles and a legend (Cambridge IGCSE ICT 0417, section 16, graphs and charts).
Where this fits
- Cambridge: Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology (0417); Cambridge A Level Information Technology (9626); Cambridge AS Level Information Technology (9626)
- Pearson Edexcel International: Edexcel International GCSE ICT (4IT1)
