Mean, Median & Mode Practice
20 questions · 60 seconds · mean, median, mode & range of small data sets
Free · no login · instant feedback on every answer
Learn to read a data set four different ways: each question presents a small set of numbers and asks for its mean, median, mode, or range. The sets are built to keep the arithmetic honest but clean — means always divide evenly, medians come from odd-sized sets, and every mode is unmistakable — so attention stays on choosing the right procedure.
These four statistics are the vocabulary of every data unit from 6th grade onward, and the classic error is mixing up their recipes: adding when the question says median, or reporting the largest value as the range. Mixed, timed practice with instant feedback is the fastest way to make each word trigger its own procedure — sum-and-divide for mean, sort-and-middle for median, most-frequent for mode, spread for range.
Tips That Make It Stick
- Sort first for the median. The median is the middle of the sorted list, not the list as given. For 12, 5, 9, 20, 7: sort to 5, 7, 9, 12, 20 and the median is 9 — no adding required.
- Mean is share-out-evenly. Add everything, then divide by how many values there are. The mean of 4, 8, 6, 2 is 20 ÷ 4 = 5 — the value every entry would have if the total were split fairly.
- Range is a subtraction, not a list. Range = biggest minus smallest, a single number measuring spread. For 3, 15, 8, 11 the range is 15 − 3 = 12.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between mean, median, and mode?
All three describe the "center" of a data set differently. The mean is the sum divided by the count; the median is the middle value once the set is sorted; the mode is the value that appears most often. For 2, 4, 4, 6, 9 the mean is 5, the median is 4, and the mode is 4.
What grade learns mean, median, and mode?
Mean, median, mode, and range are introduced in 6th grade statistics and used throughout 7th and 8th grade data work, so this drill fits middle schoolers building or refreshing those skills.
How do you find the median of a data set?
Sort the values from smallest to largest and take the one in the middle. Every set in this game has an odd number of values, so a single middle value always exists — for 5, 7, 9, 12, 20 the median is 9.
📝 Matching Printable Worksheets
Prefer paper practice? These free PDF worksheets cover the same skill — each includes an answer key: