How To Describe A Bar Chart for IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
Let's do this.
Summarize and describe the following information.
This is a chocolate bar chart and I'll describe it.
The following bar chart represents consumption of chocolate over a five-minute period.
This one is really tasty but it doesn't fill you up.
This one is similar and it's quite cheap as well.
And this one...
Hi there.
My name is Ben Worthington.
In this video we're going to look at (in a very detailed fashion) we'll also look at
how to write a high-scoring IELTS Academic Task 1 answer.
We're going to look at it from a very different viewpoint.
We're going to look at it from viewpoint of making the examiner happy, satisfying what's
in the band requirements,
and hopefully scoring high, passing the exam, and saying "Goodbye" to IELTS.
So it's a slightly different video.
I'm going into more detail.
But first of all I'm going to tell you the sentences that I recommend you start to master
so you can incorporate them into your writing.
These sentences are the superlative.
Master this.
Master it, dominate it, learn the rules, write out a million sentences, get it checked.
It's superlative.
It's essential to dominate (not to learn it) to dominate that sentence structure.
That grammatical point.
The next one: Learn how to make comparisons.
Learn how to say "Whereas, while," for those sections.
The next part is learn how to group the data.
That's not too bad, just looking for similarities.
Not really a language skill but it's another story.
Next one: Learn how to use the sentence respectively.
So we can make a mini list.
The next one: Learn how to describe the data in an advanced fashion.
This means like...
Let's see...
I don't know...
Pollution increased ten-fold...
"Pollution practically doubled over the five-year period."
"Practically doubled"
That's quite an emphatic way of saying it.
Or it's quite a descriptive way.
Instead of just going "Pollution jumped from 20 to 40."
I say "practically doubled" shows the examiner that I am a master of IELTS Academic Task
1.
Alright.
Let's carry on.
So the other sentences that we have to know is also how to make a mini list as well.
I'm not a big fan of making lists in this part of the exam.
But making a list help you describe the data and make it go a little smoother.
So in the video, we're going to look at all of those points in much more detail.
Trust me.
Do the tutorial, follow it all the way through the end, even (if you want) make a description
yourself with the bar chart we're going to look at.
Like I said, a million and one times before.
You cannot learn to ride a bike in a classroom.
Take action, write it down, grab a pen, start studying, and pass IELTS.
Simple as...
Let's go.
Have a look at this graph and remember that the process...
We've already got two sentences accounted for.
We've got to find eight sentences more or less, in which we're going to use those structures
that we talked about a few minutes ago.
Now, first of all, we're going to try and choose a way to organize the data.
The most logical thing would be to do a whole paragraph about this,
a whole paragraph about this,
and a whole paragraph about this group.
That's okay, it's chronologically organized and there is at least some organization there.
However, we're going to miss an opportunity to make some comparisons.
So what I would do is make a small compromise and maybe just choose these two groups to
talk about the first.
We've got a good comparison there and then use that all the way (not all the way through)
but at least for the first going through probably the second one.
So let's just have a quick look.
I did the first sentence which is just a description.
It's not the story.
So there's a plain description of what there is there.
And this one, you can see different life periods and at the title, I used up three distinct
age groups.
Just to avoid using the same words and the same vocabulary as in the title.
We can't get any points if we do that.
Now then, immediately I go for clarity and starting with the subject.
"Dairy for the 0-24 age group was the highest source of calories,"
And as I said before, we've got the superlative there and we've got the subject, they've all
checked.
And "dairy" straight in there, two feet straight in, bar.
Superlative: "the other categories each represent about 20% each."
Now you can see before that I wanted to group my data.
So this is a perfect group.
It's roughly similar and I could just bunch it together.
'Cause what happens, the usual tendency is to group that data...
Well, not to group that data but to list it (which is horrible) and go through
"meat represented 20%"
"pulses represented 18%"
'vegetables represented 20%"
That's just boring.
The other part...
And then I am going through it chronologically but I'm not going through it in a listed fashion.
Once again, I followed...
Actually, no.
I've started with "dairy" again but I've used the fancy sentence saying
"it fell to around a quarter" since it's roughly the case there
"and meat became the main source of calories,"
Another way to show I can...
It's sort of superlative but it's showing you the main, that's the most popular one.
So I'm going for the key points in the data here.
And here, I do make a list afterwards but just because I want to use the respectively
sentence.
The famous respectively sentences.
And once again, I start with "pulse"...
I don't start with "pulses" but I start with the most popular.
Start with the largest.
And this is the way it's kind of organized.
So although I've gone like this, I haven't done the list from here to here, I've always
started with the most significant.
And also, you'll see there's the comparison there (which I managed to squeeze in).
And let's see...
And also, there's another fancy sentence here.
"increased six fold"
And once again, you can see I'm starting with this subject.
I'll start in this subject for object.
Bang, bang, bang.
And it's clear.
It's crystal clear.
And then...
Where is it now?...
Finishing off.
And here, I just added this sentence 'cause when I did the word count afterwards, it was
130 words.
So I added this:
"The 50+ group shows the most marked preference out of all the groups and also confirms the
gradual decline in vegetable consumption as males become older."
So what I'm saying is I'm assuring the examiner that I have realized that the "Over 50" group
is the extreme.
It's the largest out of all of them.
And it also confirms this general mini-trend within the data of vegetables slowly decreasing.
And then now I have the overall sentence.
The famous one.
"Overall it is clear that each age group has a clear favourite..."
Perhaps now if I'm just looking at it again, I would delete that because it's clear twice
(which isn't good).
As a market, I've already used...
I would say
"Overall it is obvious..."
maybe...
Anyway I could use that another time.
"varies depending on age,"
And I haven't...
What usually happens, I haven't said "0-24 meat, 25-49 dairy."
I haven't repeated what I've already said here.
I've just said it's a clear favorite.
And I've also said "vegetables are consistently amongst the least popular regardless of age."
And that's also true.
Not only are they declining but they are usually amongst (not the least but amongst) the least
popular here.
They're amongst the bottom two here.
They're in the bottom two.
And here is the lowest.
So just mini data points that you can include.
Let's just see...
So yeah.
I described it in an advanced fashion.
Talking of "six fold" I used the "respectively."
I did it in a normal fashion as well.
Which is making a little list here "and slightly less than dairy (15%)."
I've done the exceptions in the pattern.
"Vegetables" there is the exception.
And there's also a mini pattern.
But the main pattern was they have a clear favorite.
Okay, grouping the data points here, we did that straight away.
And superlative all the way through.
Highest, sure I've got the lowest as well, somewhere.
Okay, consistent, "the least" similar.
So yeah, all the way through, 156 words.
But the main point here, main lesson is selecting the information.