This bar chart shows Lucy's test scores. What was her score in Science?
Show worked explanation
Reading from the bar chart, the Science bar reaches up to 8. ✓
11+ Data Handling Practice
(GL Assessment)
Data handling makes up roughly three to six questions on a typical GL Assessment 11+ maths paper, around 6 to 12 per cent of the 50 questions. It covers reading and interpreting charts, graphs and tables, working with averages (mean, median, mode and range), and pulling answers out of pictograms, pie charts and Venn diagrams. Almost every question shows a real chart or dataset, then asks your child to read a value off it or calculate something from it.
The GL maths paper is 50 multiple-choice questions in 50 minutes, about a minute each, with five answer options (A to E) every time. Data questions nearly always begin with a picture or table, so your child has to take in the information quickly before the clock counts against them.
The reassuring part is that these are some of the most predictable questions on the whole paper. The chart types repeat, the question styles repeat, and focused practice turns them into reliable marks.
What the GL 11+ Tests on Data Handling
Data handling questions are always multiple-choice with five options (A to E). Across a paper, expect these sub-skills in roughly this order of frequency:
- Reading values from charts and graphs (the most common): bar charts, line graphs, pictograms and tables, including reading between the scale markings.
- Calculating from data: finding totals, differences ("how many more"), and fractions or percentages of a total.
- Averages: mean, median, mode and range, usually from a small dataset.
- Interpreting trends and comparisons: comparing categories or time periods, spotting rises and falls.
- Pie chart interpretation: converting between fractions, percentages and amounts.
- Critical data evaluation (less common, usually the hardest): deciding what the data does or does not actually show.
Difficulty spans easy single-value reading through to multi-step problems such as the "backwards mean" (finding a missing value from the average). Note: median, mode and range are not strictly in the Year 5 to 6 National Curriculum but GL tests them regularly.
Sample Data Handling Questions
Five questions drawn from PrepStep’s data handling bank, spanning Foundation to Challenging. Tap “Show worked explanation” to see the full method after you’ve had a go. The correct answer is highlighted on each question so you can check immediately.
Emma scores these marks in five tests: 8, 9, 7, 9, 9. What is the mode?
Show worked explanation
The mode is the value that appears most often. Count each: 7 appears once, 8 appears once, 9 appears three times. The mode is 9. ✓
Tom records the temperatures: 12°C, 15°C, 18°C, 14°C, 16°C. What is the mean temperature?
Show worked explanation
Mean = sum of all values ÷ number of values. Sum = 12 + 15 + 18 + 14 + 16 = 75. Mean = 75 ÷ 5 = 15°C. ✓
The mean of four numbers is 12. Three of the numbers are 10, 11, and 15. What is the fourth number?
Show worked explanation
If the mean is 12 and there are 4 numbers, the total sum must be 12 × 4 = 48. The three known numbers add up to 10 + 11 + 15 = 36. So the fourth number = 48 - 36 = 12. ✓
This pie chart shows favorite sports. If 120 children were surveyed, how many chose Football?
Show worked explanation
Football takes up 120° of the circle. 120° out of 360° = 1/3. So 1/3 of 120 = 40 children. ✓
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Common mistake 1 of 4
Not checking the scale interval first.
Tip: A y-axis often goes up in 2s, 5s, 10s or more, so the third line up can mean 15, not 3. Read the numbers on both axes before reading any bar or point.
Common mistake 2 of 4
Misreading half-symbols on a pictogram.
Tip: If each symbol stands for 10, two and a half symbols mean 25, not 2.5 or 20. Read the key first, then count whole and half symbols and multiply.
Common mistake 3 of 4
Giving the total instead of the mean (and the highest value instead of the range).
Tip: For the mean, always ask "did I divide?"; for the range, remember it is highest minus lowest, always a subtraction.
Common mistake 4 of 4
Finding the median without ordering the data first.
Tip: GL deliberately lists numbers out of order. Make "median means order it first" an automatic habit before picking the middle value.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is data handling in the 11+ maths exam?
Data handling is the part of the GL 11+ maths paper that uses charts, graphs and tables. Children read values from bar charts, pie charts, line graphs, pictograms and tables, calculate totals and differences, work out averages (mean, median, mode and range), and interpret what the data shows. It is always multiple-choice with five options.
How many data handling questions are in the GL 11+ maths paper?
Roughly three to six questions per paper, about 6 to 12 per cent of the 50 questions. Number questions dominate a GL maths paper (around five times more common than any other category), so data handling is a smaller but still regular and very winnable part of the exam.
Does the GL 11+ test mean, median, mode and range?
Yes. Although the Year 5 to 6 National Curriculum focuses mainly on the mean, GL papers expect children to handle all four. Mean is add and divide, median is the middle value once ordered, mode is the most common value, and range is highest minus lowest.
What is the hardest type of data handling question in the 11+?
The "backwards mean" is one of the trickiest: children are given the average and all but one value, then have to find the missing one. Pie chart calculations and Venn diagram "only" questions (counting one group while excluding the overlap) are also common stumbling blocks.
How can my child practise data handling for the GL 11+?
Use timed, five-option questions that show real charts, graphs and tables, just like the exam. Drill the highest-frequency skills first: reading non-unit scales, finding totals and differences, and calculating the mean. Then add pie charts, pictogram keys and the backwards mean. Always check the scale before reading any value.
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