Approach strategically
Note the word "approximately" in the question stem and be prepared to estimate an answer rather than calculate it exactly.
In the left-hand circle graph you find a percent of students who graduated from high school C, 25.4%. Be careful! This is the percent of all students. The question is asking for the number of C students as a percent of just high school graduates. (D), 25%, is not correct. At this point, you might realize that since just high school grads is a smaller number than all grads, the number of C students as a percent of high school grads will be greater than 25.4%. Only one answer choice works, so pick (E). If you don't have this insight, then you can still solve pretty efficiently...
In the pie graph, add up the percents of students who graduated high school. That's 83.2%. So, 83.2% of graduates graduated high school, and 25.4% of graduates graduated school C. To find the percent of high school graduates who graduated from high school C, divide 25.4 by 83.2 When you do that, you'll get roughly .305 or, calculated as a percent, 30.5%. Choice (E) is the closest, and that's the answer.
TAKEAWAY: Look for time-saving approaches to estimate values without having to simplify an expression completely by hand or on your calculator.
Analyze the graphs
The line graph shows the numbers, in hundreds of thousands, of graduating high school and college students, and total such students, in state M for consecutive years from 1982 to 1990.
The circle graph shows the percentages of high school and college students graduating by school in state M during the year 1991.
