ACADEMIC TASK 1 - Bar Graph

Tips for IELTS Task 1 Bar Graph

The most common type of Question in Academic Writing Task 1 is – Bar Graph

Structure of Task 1 Bar Graph

Map should follow the following structure

Introduction (Paraphrase the given statement in your own words
Overview (Highlighting the key feature i.e. High and low points in the graph)
Body Paragraph 1 (Briefly describing the some categories of graph)
Body Paragraph 2 (Briefly describing rest of the categories of graph)

Write 2, 3 or 4 key feature in an overview

Use variety of sentence structure to write graph for example: Combination of Simple, Complex and compound sentences, Active and Passive sentences to get a higher band score than just writing simple sentences.

Vocabulary

Tense to be used:

Past Tense (if graph is about the years that have already passed)
Present or Past Tense: if no time period is mentioned
Past, Present and future Tense: if graph is about past, present and future projections
Do Paraphrasing using Synonyms

Bar Graph 7 bands Sample Answers

1. The chart below shows how frequently people in the USA ate at fast-food shops between 2003 and 2013.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

You should write at least 150 words

Model Answer:

The diagram outlines the frequency of having fast food meals by Americans at restaurants from 2003 to 2013. Generally speaking, almost half of the Americans ate fast food in a bistro either once or more than a few times a week between 2003 and 2013. It is worth noticing that more Americans chose not to eat junk food as frequently as they used to do so in the past.

As the diagram suggests, almost one of twenty Americans ate junk food daily at a restaurant in 2003 while this rate slightly decreased over the period. Interestingly around the same percentage of US citizens never ate at such restaurants, as the data suggests. Again, around 17% of Americans ate at fast-food eateries several times a week and the ratio of such people increased in 2006 before it dropped to just over 15% in 2013. Many Americans preferred eating fast food once a week and they constituted almost one third. Their ratio, however, fell by few percentages over time. A similar percentage of Americans had fast food meals once in a month and their ratio went higher. People who rarely dined at a fast-food café accounted for around 15% of the total. The increase in the last two categories suggests that many Americans who more frequently ate at fast food shops had stopped doing so after a decade.

2.The chart below gives information on the percentage of British people giving money to charity by age range for the years 1990 and 2010.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Write at least 150 words.

Model Answer:

The given bar chart presents information on the percentage of Britishers in different age groups donating money to a charity in 1990 and 2010. Overall, while the age group 36 to 50 was dominant donator in 1990, those in the age group 51 to 65 became largest donors in 2010.

The percentage of people in the age group 18 to 25 making donations remained the lowest in both years and fell drastically from 17 percent to just 7 percent during this period. The percentage of 26 to 35 age group contributors decreased by more than six percent and those of 36 to 50 age declined marginally by a similar number.

On the other hand, the percentage of people between 51 to 65 years were the second largest group in 1990 and rose to prominence in 2010. While those above 65 years of age were the third largest group in 1990, they were equal to the 36 to 50 age group in 2010.

While the percentage of donors increase till age group 36 to 51 in 1990 and declined thereafter, the contributors increased consistently till the age group 51 to 65 in 2010 and then declined.

3.The chart below shows the results of a survey about people’s coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Write at least 150 words.

Model Answer:

The given bar chart illustrates the percentage of residents’ coffee and tea purchasing and consuming habits in last 4 weeks in five different cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart) in Australia.

In general, it is evident that going to a cafe to have coffee or tea was the most common habit, except in Adelaide. Additionally, the percentage of people buying instant coffee was always higher than that of those purchasing fresh coffee in all cities.

In terms of Sydney and Melbourne, while the percentage of Sydney’s people drinking tea or coffee at a cafe was about 61%, the figure for Melbourne was slightly higher, at around 63%. Meanwhile, above 45% of citizens in Sydney and Melbourne had a habit of buying instant coffee, whereas the proportions of those purchasing fresh coffee in these two cities were around 44% and 43% respectively.

Moving on to the remaining cities, having coffee or tea at a cafe accounted for the largest percentage of people in Hobart, followed by Brisbane and Adelaide, at approximately 51% and 49% respectively. At the same time, around 53% of people in Brisbane and Hobart chose to buy instant coffee, compared to nearly 50% of those in Adelaide. Finally, a close similarity can be seen in the percentage of people buying fresh coffee in Brisbane and Adelaide, at around 34%, while Hobart’s figure was higher, at roughly 38%.

4.The bar chart shows the top ten countries for the production and consumption of electricity in 2014.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Write at least 150 words.

Model Answer:

The chart illustrates electricity consumption and production in the top ten highest countries in 2014. It is clear from the chart that all countries, with the exception of Germany, produce marginally more than they consume. The two top countries, the United States and particularly China, were strong outliers while the remaining countries had similar numbers and lagged far behind in both production and consumption.

China produced and consumed the most, at 5,398 billion and 5,322 kWh, respectively. The next nearest country in terms of both statistics was the US, where residents consumed 3,866 kilowats an hour and produced slightly more at 4,099.

Russian lead the rest of the nations with 1,057 (in production) and 1,038 kWh (consumption) followed by Japan (936.2 for production and 856.7 kWh for consumption). India and Canada ranked 5th and 6th with India producing 871 kWh and consuming 698.8 while Canada was slightly lower in both (618.9 and 499.9 kWh). In the 7th and 8th spots were France (producing 561.2 kWh and consuming 462.9) and Brazil, which recorded numbers at 530.7 and 455.8 for production and consumption, respectively. In the final two positions were Germany and the Republic of Korea with Germany having higher production that Korea (526.6 to 485.1 kWh) as well as consumption (582.5 kWh compared with 449.5).

5. The graph below show the types of music albums purchased by people in Britian according to sex and age.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

» Write at least 150 words.

Model Answer:

The purchasing pattern of three different music albums based on their gender and age in Britain is illustrated in the given charts.

It is evident from the charts that most purchasers for all three genres of albums are males. In case of rock music, the rate of male purchase is 28, which is 10 more than the female purchasers. The disparity is seen shrunken by 2% in the case of pop-music purchase. This difference becomes even shallower(2%) in the case of the least preferred music album(classical music).

The younger age groups are seen buying more albums with an exception in the case of classical music. When 32% of the youth aged 25-34 buy rock music albums, the younger age group(16-24) who buys the same is 2% less. The pattern is very similar in case of pop music. Around 25% of 35-44 age group buys both pop and rock music, whereas it is far less for the 40+ group.In case of classical music, most customers are from the oldest age group(20%), which is almost 5% more than 25-34 age group.The least purchase is by the youngest age group.

Overall, there are more male customers for all types of music and more customers are from second age group.

The bar chart shows the percentage of young people in higher education in 2000, 2005 and 2010.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. » Write at least 150 words

Model Answer:

The bar chart details changes in the proportions of young people studying in higher education across 4 countries and at 3 intervals of 5 years from 2000 to 2010. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that, with the exception of country B where growth was flat, all countries experienced rises. Country D had the highest overall numbers Throughout, while country A overtook country C and count was generally lowest.
Looking first of all at the overall leader, country D, 60% of young people studied higher education in 2000 followed by a slight uptick to 65% in 2005 and a final upswing to 80% In contrast. country B had far Looking first of all at the overall leader, country D, 60% of young people studied higher education in 2000 followed by a slight uptick to 65% in 2005 and a final upswing to 80%. In contrast, country B had far lower levels at 40% in both 2000 and 2010, with a small dip in between to just under 40%. Country A had 37% of youngsters studying in university at the beginning of the period, trailing country C by approximately 13%. Both countries underwent increases in 2005 (by 11 and 2%, respectively) before country A surged ahead to nearly 60% and country C’s growth stagnated at 53%. (179 words)