KS2 Mathematics: Pie Charts, Line Graphs and Tables

Charts, graphs and tables appear on the reasoning papers of the Key Stage 2 mathematics tests, and they test more than reading a value: you often have to calculate with what you read. The Year 6 national curriculum asks pupils to interpret and construct pie charts and line graphs and to use them to solve problems, building on the tables, bar charts and timetables met in earlier years. This material practises all of those skills.

Because there are no pictures in the questions, every chart is described in words inside the question: the angles of a pie chart, the points plotted on a line graph, the cells of a table or the times on a timetable. The twelve quiz questions cover finding the number of people in a pie chart sector from its angle, from a fraction of the circle and from a percentage; working out the angle of a sector from a frequency; comparing two pie charts that represent different totals, where a bigger sector does not always mean more people; reading a scale where one small square is worth more than one; finding the greatest increase on a line graph and estimating a value between two points; finding a missing cell in a two-way table from its totals; working out journey times from a timetable and choosing the latest bus that arrives on time; and using a miles-to-kilometres conversion graph, with 5 miles roughly equal to 8 kilometres.

The flashcards summarise the facts behind these questions: 360 degrees in a full turn, the rule for the angle of a sector, how to work out the value of each division on a scale, what line graphs and conversion graphs show, how totals work in a two-way table, and how to find durations with the 24-hour clock.

The printable written work has eight longer tasks: interpreting a pie chart in degrees, calculating the angles needed to draw a pie chart, comparing percentages, describing and estimating on a temperature graph, converting in both directions between miles and kilometres, completing a two-way table, calculating journey times from a timetable and comparing two pie charts with different totals. Each task asks you to show how you worked it out, as the reasoning papers do.

In the oral exam an examiner describes a chart or a table and asks you one question at a time, then asks how you found the answer.

The material is aimed at Year 6 pupils preparing for the end of Key Stage 2 tests. Use the quiz to spot the misreadings you make most often, then practise the written tasks with a ruler and a protractor to hand if you want to draw the charts yourself.

• Interpret pie charts given in degrees, fractions or percentages
• Calculate the angles needed to construct a pie chart
• Compare pie charts that represent different totals
• Read scales and line graphs, find changes and estimate between points
• Use a miles and kilometres conversion graph
• Complete two-way tables and solve timetable problems with the 24-hour clock

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the Year 6 mathematics programme of study in the national curriculum for England (DfE, 2013): statistics (interpret and construct pie charts and line graphs), measurement (convert between miles and kilometres), and on the STA key stage 2 mathematics test framework (reasoning papers).