Tackling trick questions: image reading order and how it applies to passing exams

This free resource shows how people tend to get their eye diverted by an eye-catching big diagram or graph or picture, and not read the text above it.

I regularly show this to my students to help them understand that examiners write exams downwards, and that often the very start of the text before a picture or diagram hides vital information that they can easily skip over. It really helps them visualise what’s going on and the importance of looking everywhere for the information to solve questions. They often burst out laughing when they get the joke.

This image was based on a popular meme distributed without copyright statement whose original author I have not been able to trace, so I’m making it available for free. A couple of different versions are included in colour and black and white.