Academic Task 1
Comparison rather than trend, which changes what you write. With a worked example and a practice exercise.
An IELTS bar chart usually asks you to compare separate categories rather than follow something through time. That single difference changes the language: comparatives and superlatives do the work that trend verbs do in a line graph.
Some bar charts do cover time, and those behave like line graphs. Checking which kind you have is the first decision, because it determines whether you are describing change or difference.
The task
Six points, starting with the decision that changes everything else.
If the horizontal axis is time, describe change. If it is categories such as countries, age groups or products, describe difference. Everything else follows from that.
Highest few, lowest few, and anything that behaves unexpectedly. Describing every bar in order is the commonest way to write 200 words and score Band 6.
Name the highest and the lowest, and any pattern that runs across the categories. No figures, and no attempt to cover everything.
A grouped chart compares two or more sets side by side, so say how the sets differ overall before you go into individual categories. A stacked bar shows parts of a whole, so proportions matter more than absolute values.
Twice as many as, considerably higher than, the second largest, marginally above, accounted for just under a third of. This is where the marks are.
The figure for Japan was higher than that for Spain, never higher than Spain. Repeated across an answer, this error is very visible.
Worked example
The data below is what a typical bar chart would show. The model covers the introduction and overview.
| Activity | 18 to 29 | 30 to 49 | 50 and over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watching television | 9.5 | 11.0 | 18.5 |
| Sport and exercise | 6.0 | 3.5 | 2.0 |
| Socialising | 8.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| Reading | 1.5 | 2.5 | 6.5 |
Introduction. The chart compares the average number of hours per week that three age groups spent on four leisure activities.
Overview. Television was the most popular activity in every age group and dominated the oldest one, while active and social pursuits declined steadily with age. Reading was the only activity apart from television that became more popular in older groups.
Body paragraph. The clearest contrast was in television viewing, which rose from 9.5 hours a week among the youngest group to 18.5 hours among those aged 50 and over, roughly twice as much. Sport showed the opposite pattern, falling from six hours to only two.
The overview groups the four activities into two patterns rather than mentioning each one. That is selection, and it is what Task Achievement is measuring.
Method
Six things that decide whether this task reaches Band 7.
The highest and lowest bars are almost always significant features, and naming them gives you an overview in one sentence.
If a value rises consistently across age groups or countries, that pattern is worth more than any single bar.
The highest for three or more, the second highest to rank without a new sentence, and higher only when exactly two things are being compared.
Slightly, considerably, roughly twice as many as, marginally. Without these, every comparison in your answer sounds the same size.
A twelve-bar chart does not need twelve sentences. Choose what matters, group the rest, and leave the small differences out.
Hours, percentages, thousands and millions are all common, and using the wrong one turns an accurate sentence into a wrong one.
Practice
Six questions on the language this task needs. Choose the best option.
Every option below is grammatically possible. The question is which one an examiner would read as accurate and appropriately selective.
That judgement is what Task Achievement and Lexical Resource are measuring in this task.
1The chart compares four activities across three age groups. Which is the better overview?
The second. It names the overall pattern without figures. The first is data, the third is an opinion the chart cannot support, and the fourth is the introduction.
2Correct the error: The oldest group watched twice more television than the youngest.
Twice as much television as. Multiples use the as ... as pattern, not the comparative. Television is also uncountable here, so it takes much rather than many.
3Correct the error: Spending in Germany was higher than France.
Than that in France. As written, the sentence compares spending with a country. That replaces the repeated noun so the two sides match.
4Which sentence is the best use of a superlative here?
The second least popular. Ranking within a group needs the superlative, and adding second lets you place an item without writing another sentence.
5A bar chart has time on the horizontal axis. How should you describe it?
As a change over time. The shape of the chart matters less than what the axis shows. With time on the axis, trend language applies exactly as it would to a line graph.
6Which sentence adds the most to an answer?
The third. It names the pattern, the degree and two supporting figures in one sentence. The others are true but say less than the chart makes available.
That is the harder half of this task, and it is invisible from inside your own answer. An answer can be accurate in every sentence and still score Band 6 because it described everything instead of choosing what mattered.
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Choosing the better sentence from four is not the same as producing one under time with a chart in front of you.
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Not usually. A line graph tracks change over time; most bar charts compare separate categories. Check the horizontal axis, because some bar charts do show time.
As many as carry meaning, which is rarely all of them. Group similar bars and name the extremes rather than working through the chart in order.
Yes, for every Task 1 question. Without one the answer cannot score above Band 5 on Task Achievement.
Past simple if the chart gives past dates, present simple if it is undated or describes a general situation.
One where each bar is divided into parts of a whole. Describe proportions within the bar as well as differences between bars.
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Task Achievement rewards choosing the significant features and reporting them accurately. Nobody can judge their own selection, because the things you left out are exactly the things you did not notice.
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