NYC Information Ordering and Visualization 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A supervisor receives the following incident reports and must file them in reverse chronological order: Report A (March 5), Report B (March 12), Report C (February 28), Report D (March 9). Which sequence is correct?
- B, D, A, C (Correct answer)
- C, A, D, B
- B, A, D, C
- D, B, A, C
Correct answer: B, D, A, C
Reverse chronological order means most recent first: March 12 (B), March 9 (D), March 5 (A), February 28 (C).
Question 2: A bar chart shows monthly complaint totals for five city departments. Which feature best helps a reader quickly identify the department with the fewest complaints?
- A legend listing department names alphabetically
- Bars sorted from shortest to tallest (Correct answer)
- A footnote explaining the data source
- Color-coding by borough
Correct answer: Bars sorted from shortest to tallest
Sorting bars from shortest to tallest immediately places the lowest-value department first, making it instantly visible.
Question 3: An officer must arrange the following case numbers in ascending numeric order: 4782, 4719, 4803, 4756, 4711. Which sequence is correct?
- 4711, 4719, 4756, 4782, 4803 (Correct answer)
- 4803, 4782, 4756, 4719, 4711
- 4719, 4711, 4756, 4782, 4803
- 4711, 4756, 4719, 4782, 4803
Correct answer: 4711, 4719, 4756, 4782, 4803
Ascending numeric order starts with the smallest value: 4711, 4719, 4756, 4782, 4803.
Question 4: A pie chart is used to display budget allocations across six city agencies. What limitation should a reader be aware of when interpreting this chart?
- Pie charts cannot display more than four categories accurately
- Pie charts make it difficult to compare slices of similar size (Correct answer)
- Pie charts always show data in alphabetical order
- Pie charts can only represent data collected in a single year
Correct answer: Pie charts make it difficult to compare slices of similar size
Pie charts make it hard to judge small differences between similarly sized slices because human eyes poorly estimate angles.
Question 5: A clerk is organizing personnel files alphabetically by last name. Where should the file for 'St. Claire, Maria' be placed relative to 'Stafford, James' and 'Stanley, Kevin'?
- After Stanley, Kevin
- Before Stafford, James (Correct answer)
- Between Stafford, James and Stanley, Kevin
- After Stafford, James but before Stanley, Kevin only if middle names match
Correct answer: Before Stafford, James
Treating 'St.' as 'Saint,' it alphabetizes before 'Sta-,' placing St. Claire before Stafford.
Question 6: A line graph tracks daily arrests in a precinct over four weeks. A sudden spike appears in week three. What should an analyst do FIRST before drawing conclusions?
- Remove the spike from the graph as an outlier
- Check whether a data entry error or special event explains the spike (Correct answer)
- Extend the trend line to predict future arrests
- Convert the line graph to a bar chart for clarity
Correct answer: Check whether a data entry error or special event explains the spike
Before interpreting unusual data points, an analyst should verify whether the spike reflects a real event or a recording error.
Question 7: When arranging the following street addresses in ascending order, which sequence is correct? 142 Main St, 89 Main St, 210 Main St, 17 Main St, 134 Main St
- 17, 89, 134, 142, 210 (Correct answer)
- 89, 17, 134, 142, 210
- 17, 134, 89, 142, 210
- 210, 142, 134, 89, 17
Correct answer: 17, 89, 134, 142, 210
Ascending numeric order of street numbers: 17, 89, 134, 142, 210.
NYC Information Ordering and Visualization 2
A supervisor receives the following incident reports and must file them in reverse chronological order: Report A (March 5), Report B (March 12), Report C (February 28), Report D (March 9).
Which sequence is correct?