Chart & Exhibit Interpretation · Interview Question
An interviewer shows you a chart. What is your systematic approach to interpreting it?
How to answer
Follow TALC: (1) Title — read the title and subtitle to understand what's being shown. (2) Axes — check both axes, units, scale (is it truncated? log scale?), and time period. (3) Labels — read the legend, data labels, and any annotations. (4) Content — now analyze: What's the main trend? Are there inflection points? How do segments compare? What's the 'so what'? Common traps: (a) Y-axis not starting at zero — makes small changes look dramatic. (b) Different scales on dual-axis charts — can mislead correlation. (c) Cumulative vs. incremental data. (d) Indexed vs. absolute values. Always state your interpretation aloud: 'This shows that revenue grew 20% over 5 years, but essentially all growth came from the Asia segment, while North America was flat.'
Key idea: TALC: Title, Axes, Labels, Content. Watch for truncated axes and misleading scales.
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