Problem-Solving and Data Analysis is the area students overestimate. It is about a sixth of the section, four of its seven skills carry almost all of that, and the other three are close to absent. We counted every Problem-Solving and Data Analysis question on all 8 Bluebook practice tests, then checked the ratio against the 408 Problem-Solving and Data Analysis questions in College Board’s Question Bank. Counted September 2026, after College Board’s August Question Bank update.
- 7.6 Problem-Solving and Data Analysis questions per test, 17% of the section (College Board’s published weight: about 15%).
- Most common skill: One-variable data: distributions and measures of center and spread, 1.8 per test, 23% of the area.
- Hardest by College Board’s labels: Evaluating statistical claims: observational studies and experiments, 55% of its bank questions rated Hard.
The 7 Problem-Solving and Data Analysis skills, ranked by how often they appear
| # | Skill | Per test | Test share | Bank | Bank share | Hard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | One-variable data | 1.8 | 23% | 81 | 20% | 31% |
| 2 | Ratios and rates | 1.6 | 21% | 90 | 22% | 21% |
| 3 | Percentages | 1.6 | 20% | 83 | 20% | 40% |
| 4 | Two-variable data | 1.6 | 20% | 69 | 17% | 16% |
| 5 | Probability and conditional probability | 0.8 | 10% | 47 | 12% | 21% |
| 6 | Inference from samples | 0.4 | 5% | 27 | 7% | 19% |
| 7 | Evaluating statistical claims | 0.0 | 0% | 11 | 3% | 55% |
"Per test" is the average on a 44-question form. "Test share" is that skill’s slice of the Problem-Solving and Data Analysis questions on a test and "Bank share" is its slice of the bank’s Problem-Solving and Data Analysis questions, so the two can be read against each other. "Hard" is the share of the skill’s bank questions labeled Hard.
What to take from it
- Four skills carry the area. One-variable data, ratios and rates, percentages, and two-variable data each average between 1.6 and 1.8 per test. Between them that is 6.5 of the area’s 7.6 questions.
- Probability averages 0.8 per test and inference 0.4. Evaluating statistical claims appeared on none of the 8 tests. The bank still holds 85 questions on the three of them.
- This is the area where reading matters most. Most of these questions are short word problems with a table or a graph, and the arithmetic is easy. The misses come from reading the wrong row, not from the math. Our word problems piece covers how to read them.
For what each skill asks and how the questions are built, see the Problem-Solving and Data Analysis guide.
How we counted
All 8 Bluebook practice tests (528 unique Math questions, each carrying College Board’s own skill label; "per test" is a 44-question form averaged over 16 module combinations) set against the full Math Question Bank (1,876 questions, counted September 2026, after College Board’s August Question Bank update). Difficulty labels come from the bank, since Bluebook questions carry none. No College Board question is reproduced. The full method is in the overview.
One Problem-Solving and Data Analysis question, answer marked, video solution in the app: