IELTSAcademic Writingtask1lesson8barchartspart1

Hello! Welcome to lesson 8 in our IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 series. In this lesson, we are going to look at how to analyse and write about bar charts.

Bar charts are common in IELTS Writing Task 1 (Academic). There are three different scenarios you may encounter:

1. A bar chart with categories on the x-axis
2. A bar chart with dates or years on the x-axis (acts like a line graph)
3. Two bar charts presented together

Each scenario requires a slightly different approach. This lesson covers the first scenario: a bar chart with categories on the x-axis.

Let’s start with our first bar chart question!

The chart below shows the proportion of male and female students studying six art-related subjects at a UK university in 2011. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Step 1: Analyse the chart and plan how to group the information

First, organise the information into two groups. For this task, it’s straightforward: male and female. Next, identify information that stands out—you can’t write about every single data point.

To find what stands out, look for high and low values. Here is how to group the data for two body paragraphs.

The next step is to determine the overall trend. The following two checks help:

1. Check if there is one category that is significantly higher or lower overall.
2. Which subjects show large differences vs. small differences between genders?

Let’s apply this strategy to this task:

Step 2: Write an essay using the recommended essay structure

Now that you’ve analysed and grouped the information, write your essay using the language taught in previous lessons. Then return here to check the model essay and analysis.

Model Essay

The chart below shows the proportion of male and female students studying six art-related subjects at a UK university in 2011. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Important functional words are highlighted in red

Useful vocabulary and phrases are highlighted in green

Synonyms and topic vocabulary are highlighted in blue

Introduction

The bar chart shows the distribution of students by gender across six art-based disciplines at a UK university in 2011.

Overview

Generally speaking, females outnumber males in most disciplines, and the gender gap is modest in five subjects. Notably, Philosophy shows a pronounced gap, with female students outnumbering males by almost three to one.

Body paragraph 1

Regarding male enrolment, Art and Design was the only subject with more men than women at a ratio of 120 to 90. Among language-based subjects—Linguistics, English Language and Literature, and Communication and Media—enrolments were comparatively strong. The least popular subject for males was Philosophy, with only 50 students enrolled.

Body paragraph 2

Looking specifically at female enrolment, a higher proportion of women than men enrolled in five of the six subjects. Like men, women were also drawn to language-based subjects; of these, English Language and Literature was the most popular with an enrolment of 250 students. With regard to the least popular subject for females, History and Archaeology had about 120 students.

As you’ve learned in previous lessons, it is important to group information into two groups. Next, you’ll learn different strategies for grouping information based on the type of bar chart.

First up is the same as the previous example, except we’ll be working with percentages instead of numbers. Let’s look at the example now.

The chart illustrates the percentage of male and female executives in six different types of profession across the UK in 2007. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where necessary. Write at least 150 words.

Step 1: Analyze the chart and plan how to group the information

In this step, the first thing you need to do is to organize the information into two groups. Here is how you can group the data into two body paragraphs:

The next thing you need to do is to find out the overall trend.

Step 2: Write an essay using the recommended essay structure

Take a look at our model essay below.

Model Essay

The chart illustrates the percentage of male and female executives in six different types of profession across the UK in 2007. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where necessary. Write at least 150 words.

Important functional words are highlighted in red

Useful vocabulary and phrases are highlighted in green

Synonyms and topic vocabulary are highlighted in blue

The chart compares the percentage of male and female professionals in seven very different career settings, from advertising to law, in 2007.

Overall, in roughly half of the occupations listed, both genders were approximately equally represented. However, in traditionally gender-dominated professions such as teaching, construction, and therapy, gender gaps still exist.

From the outset, there were far more men than women in the traditionally male-dominated fields of construction and science, with men making up 90 percent and 60 percent of jobs respectively. By contrast, only one in ten men held positions in teaching. The only field with men holding exactly the same number of positions as women was journalism.

Looking specifically at female-dominated fields, women held more jobs in the traditionally female-dominated areas of teaching and therapy. Women dominated the former, accounting for 90% of positions, and therapy was similar, with women holding 82% of all jobs as opposed to 18% for men. In contrast, women held only 10% of jobs in the male-dominated construction field.

The chart below presents some of the most commonly reported issues among people living in UK cities in 2008 (%). Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Step 1: Analyse the chart and plan how to group the information

The first thing you need to do is organize the information into two groups. It is clear that Health Services and Education and Training account for a much higher proportion of living issues than Air Pollution. Therefore, you can group Health Services and Education and Training together, and Air Pollution separately.

The next step is to identify the overall trends.

Step 2: Write an essay using the recommended structure

Now, take a look at the model essay below.

Model Essay

The chart below presents some of the most commonly reported issues among people living in UK cities in 2008 (%). Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Important functional words are highlighted in red

Useful vocabulary and phrases are highlighted in green

Synonyms and topic vocabulary are highlighted in blue

The chart illustrates key living issues reported by residents of seven major UK cities (Newcastle, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow, and London) in 2008. Units are expressed as percentages.

Overall, health services were the most significant living issue in most cities, followed closely by education and training. Air pollution was the least concerning issue across the UK, averaging roughly five times less significant than other problems for urban populations.

Regarding health services, in five of the seven cities, over half of the residents identified it as their top concern. This was particularly true in Belfast and Cardiff, where almost 60% of inhabitants cited it as their main issue. Education and training ranked a close second across all city populations, showing less than a 10% difference from health services — except in Glasgow (53%) and London (52%), where it became the most serious problem.

With regard to air pollution, only Manchester (16%), London (14%), and Cardiff (12%) recorded figures above ten percent. The least concerned city was Newcastle, where only 5% of residents considered air pollution an issue.