Data Handling Sums for Class 6 — Free CBSE Worksheet PDF with Answers

Every time you check the weather forecast, read a sports scorecard, or see election results on TV, you are looking at data. Data handling teaches you how to collect raw information, organise it neatly, and present it so anyone can understand it at a glance. In Class 6 CBSE, this is your first formal introduction to the tools that scientists, journalists, and economists use every day.

The NCERT Class 6 Data Handling chapter focuses on four core skills: recording data using tally marks and frequency tables, reading and drawing pictographs, reading and drawing bar graphs, and computing the arithmetic mean. These are the building blocks that lead to median, mode, histograms, and probability in higher classes.

This worksheet gives you 60 graded practice questions — 20 at each of three difficulty levels. Level 1 covers tally marks and pictograph reading. Level 2 builds confidence with bar graphs and mean. Level 3 includes drawing graphs from raw data, multi-step interpretation, and reasoning questions.

A pictograph uses a symbol to represent a fixed number of items. The number is called the key. If one apple symbol represents 5 apples, then 3 symbols mean $3 \times 5 = 15$ apples. A half-symbol represents half the key value. Always read the key before counting symbols — this is the single most common pictograph mistake.

A bar graph uses rectangular bars of equal width but different heights to show data. The height of each bar tells you the value, read against a numbered scale on the y-axis. If the scale is 1 cm = 10 students and a bar is 4.5 cm tall, then $4.5 \times 10 = 45$ students chose that option. Bar graphs are usually more precise than pictographs because you can read exact values from the scale.

When drawing a bar graph, choose a scale that fits your data range on the page. For data going from 10 to 90, a scale of 1 cm = 10 works well. Always include a title, label both axes, and state the scale clearly. Marks are deducted in CBSE exams when these are missing.

The mean of a set of numbers is the total divided by how many numbers there are. To find the mean of $12, 15, 18, 9, 21$: add them up to get $75$, then divide by $5$ (the count) to get $15$. So the mean is $15$. The mean is sometimes called the average and is one of the simplest ways to summarise a data set in a single number.

Class 6 students often get a 'topping up' style question — given that a batsman has scored some runs in 6 matches and wants the mean to reach a target after a 7th match, find the runs needed. The trick is to multiply the target mean by the new total of matches, then subtract the runs already scored. This pattern shows up regularly in Chapter 9 exam questions.

First, miscounting tally marks. Every fifth mark crosses the previous four. Always double-check your tallies against the original list. Second, ignoring the key in pictographs — students see 3 symbols and write 3 instead of multiplying by the key value. Third, choosing a poor scale on bar graphs, which makes bars too small to read or too tall to fit. Fourth, drawing bars of unequal width — only the height should vary. Fifth, forgetting axis labels and titles, which always cost marks.