The bar chart shows the number of books checked out from different sections of a library during one week. A...
GMAT Problem-Solving and Data Analysis : (PS_DA) Questions
The bar chart shows the number of books checked out from different sections of a library during one week. A total of 418 books were checked out from all sections combined. How many books were checked out from the Poetry section?
1. TRANSLATE the question requirements
What we need to find:
- The number of books checked out from the Poetry section specifically
Given information:
- A bar chart showing 10 different library sections
- Total of 418 books checked out (this confirms the data but isn't needed for finding Poetry's value)
2. TRANSLATE the visual information from the chart
Locate the Poetry section:
- Scan the horizontal axis labels from left to right
- Poetry is the 6th section, located between Biography and Travel
Read the bar height:
- Follow the top edge of the Poetry bar horizontally
- Trace to the vertical axis on the left
- The bar aligns with the 19 mark on the 'Number of books' axis
Answer: 19 books
Why Students Usually Falter on This Problem
Most Common Error Path:
Weak TRANSLATE skill (visual reading): Students may misread the bar height by estimating incorrectly or misaligning with the gridlines.
The Poetry bar is relatively short, falling between the 10 and 20 gridlines. A student who doesn't carefully trace the bar height to the vertical axis might:
- Round to the nearest major gridline (20)
- Underestimate slightly (18)
- Confuse it with adjacent bars
This leads to reporting an incorrect value such as 18 or 20 instead of 19.
Second Most Common Error:
TRANSLATE error (section identification): Students may misidentify which bar corresponds to Poetry.
A student who doesn't carefully read the section labels might:
- Confuse Poetry with the adjacent Reference section (which has a value of ~24)
- Read the wrong section entirely due to rushing
This may lead them to report the value from a different section instead of Poetry's actual value of 19.
The Bottom Line:
This problem tests careful visual reading skills. The challenge isn't mathematical complexity—it's precision in:
- Identifying the correct section label
- Accurately reading where the bar top aligns with the vertical axis scale
Success requires slowing down and methodically tracing from the section label → up to the bar top → across to the vertical axis value.