Scatter Plots Worksheets, Grade 8 (8.SP.A.1) – Free PDF + Answer Key

First page of the scatter plots practice worksheet

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PDFs print on US Letter paper. Free for classroom and home use.

Step-by-step math videos on the Math With Mr DJ YouTube channel →

Key idea

One point, two measurements. Direction: positive, negative, or none. Shape: linear or non-linear — a separate question. Outliers get investigated, not deleted. Association is not causation: ask what third thing could drive both.

Sample problems

What does each point on a scatter plot represent?
Temperature against hot-chocolate sales: (2,48) (5,43) (8,37) (11,30) (14,26) (17,19) (20,14). Describe the association.
Explain the difference between a negative association and no association.
Why are direction and shape two separate questions? Give a pattern that is positive but not linear.

Common mistakes to watch for

Gave only “positive”. Direction alone is half the description, and the shape is what decides whether a straight line may be used later.
Said to remove it so the pattern is clearer. That is the misconception exactly — an outlier is data, and a pattern made tidy by deletion is no longer a description of what happened.
Wrote “correlation is not causation” and stopped. The phrase is correct and it demonstrates nothing — the question asks for a third thing, and naming hot weather is what shows the idea is understood rather than remembered.

The answer key explains each one, so you can tell what a wrong answer means.

How to use this set

Teach with the slides (about 15 minutes), or watch the video together.
Practice with the worksheet. Questions climb from fluency to application to reasoning.
Check understanding with the exit ticket, and send the homework home.
Mark with the answer key — each answer shows the steps and the most likely mistake.