Most of QR's difficulty hides in the presentation, not the maths. A wordy stem wrapped around a busy table can make a one-step calculation feel impossible. Get a system for reading data fast, get clear on rates and percentages, and the questions shrink back to the simple sums they really are.
Read the question before the chart
Always read the question first, then go to the data. If you study the table before you know what you are looking for, you absorb numbers you will never use and waste time. Read the question, decide exactly what you need, then go hunting for only those figures. This one habit cuts the time you spend on data-heavy questions more than any calculation trick.
Work a chart from the outside in
When a graph or table looks overwhelming, orient yourself before reading any value. Check the title for context, the row and column headings, the axis labels and the legend, the units, and any footnote — footnotes love to hide a crucial exception or a conversion. Only once you know what the data means and where your number lives should you actually read it off. Outside-in beats diving straight at the numbers.
Watch the units and the trend
Units are where silly mistakes breed: a table in centimetres against a question asking for metres, or speeds in km/h when the answer wants minutes. Glance at units before you calculate and convert early. For graphs, you can often read a trend or compare two bars by eye without precise values — if one quantity is clearly about double another, you may already have enough to choose between spread-out options.
Ratios and parts of a whole
A ratio tells you how to split a total into equal parts. For 200 students in a 2:3 ratio of male to female, add the parts (2 + 3 = 5), divide the total into five (200 ÷ 5 = 40 per part), then scale: 2 parts is 80, 3 parts is 120. The same logic handles fractions of a whole — find the size of one part, then take as many parts as you need. Cancel any ratio down first; 40 to 100 is simply 2 to 5.
Rates: speed, distance and time
Rate questions almost always come down to one relationship: speed equals distance over time. Rearrange for whatever is missing — distance is speed times time, time is distance over speed — and the only real work is choosing the right form and keeping units consistent. If a distance is covered at one speed and you want the time at another, find the distance first, then divide by the new speed. Decide which value is missing, pick the matching formula, then calculate.
Percentage change vs percentage of
These two are quietly different and the exam exploits the confusion. Percentage of is a straight slice: 20% of 300 is 60. Percentage change compares a new value with an old one — it is the difference divided by the original, not the other. If a rate rises from 80 to 100, the change is 20 over 80, which is 25%, not 20%. The trigger to check: always divide by the starting value, and make sure you have the initial and final figures the right way round.
Build a silly-mistake checklist
Speed without accuracy just produces fast wrong answers. Keep a short mental checklist of your recurring slips and run it before you lock in an answer: did I use the right units, the right currency, the correct formula, the starting value for percentage change, and have I rounded the way the question asks? As your pace improves, this checklist is what carries you from roughly right to consistently right.