Pictograms are a favourite topic with the test paper writers and this is a typical example which children should not have too much of a problem with if they have had plenty of practice with interpreting graphs and pictograms. The first part of the question is about a pictogram where one symbol represents many units. Children should be used to this kind of data from Years 3 and 4 onwards. In this case one symbol represents 100 bottles, cans or bags. Once this has been recognised, it is also important to work out what the fractions of the symbols mean.  The bottles fraction looks very much like half a bottle symbol and therefore would be representing  50 bottles. Note that the answer page allows for a range between 40 and 60 as it is not entirely clear that it is exactly a half. The smaller rectangular bag looks like a quarter of the whole symbol, so will represent a quarter of 100, which is 25. Because this is a clearer fraction of a regular shape there is no allowance either side of the quarter. Once all this has been established it is a simple task to answer the questions. The bottle total is 4 lots of 100 plus 50, which is 450. To work out how many more bags than cans, find the total of bags (400 + 25); find the total of cans (300) and work out the difference (425 – 300 = 125). Go to Maths SAT Question  3