Data Handling and Representation
MYP Year 1 Mathematics — Data Handling and Representation
This chapter is really just three skills stacked on top of each other: turn messy raw data into a tidy table, pick the correct picture for that table, then read the picture back into words. Almost every mark lost in this topic isn't a maths error — it's a counting slip in the tally, a missing total, or describing a trend in one word when the question wanted a sentence.
Overview — The Shape of the Chapter
What this chapter is actually testing
Every question in this bank does one of three things: asks you to build a table from a list of raw responses, asks you to read a value or trend off a chart, or asks you to say what type of data you're even looking at. The maths is simple — the marks are lost on process (miscounted tallies, forgotten totals, one-word answers where a full sentence was needed).
- Raw data is the messy original list (colours shouted out, scores written down) — nobody can read a pattern in it directly.
- A frequency table sorts and counts that list so patterns become visible at a glance.
- The picture you draw next (bar, line, pie, stem-and-leaf, dot plot) depends entirely on what type of data you have — get this choice wrong and the whole answer is off-track even if your arithmetic is perfect.
The shape of the chapter
Command terms you'll actually meet in this topic
| Command term | What it demands | AO | Mark-earning move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identify | Pick out and name a specific fact directly visible in a table or graph — no explanation needed. | AO1 | A one-word or short-phrase answer wins full marks; a long explanation wastes time but isn't penalised, the marker just ignores the extra. |
| State | Give a short, precise fact with no justification required. | AO1 | Bare correct value scores full marks — no working expected for 1-mark 'state' questions. |
| Calculate | Obtain a numerical answer, with the method shown. | AO2 | Marks usually split between method (e.g. adding the frequency column) and the final correct total — showing working can rescue a mark even if the final number is wrong. |
| Describe | Give a full-sentence account of a trend or pattern — how one quantity changes as another does. | AO2 | A single word like 'increases' loses the second mark in 2-mark describe questions; you must state the direction AND link it to what's changing. |
| Complete | Fill in missing values in a table or diagram using the data given. | AO1 | Every blank must be filled and totals must be internally consistent — a blank Total row loses a mark even if every individual frequency is right. |
| Compare / Distinguish | State a similarity or difference between two data sets, tables, or graph types. | AO3 | Both things being compared must be named explicitly — describing only one side of the comparison scores zero. |
Key point
Overview