IELTS Standard

TASK 1
TYPE 3: PIE CHART

A. Observe this sample task

Sample task
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Write a report for a university lecturer
describing the information in the two graphs below. You should write at least 150 words.
HighestLevel ofwomeneducationinSomeland,1945
5. Year 12 4% 6. FirstDegree 1%

4. Year 9 10%

1. No Schooling 35%

3. Year 6 15%

2. ThirdGrade 35%

Highestlevel ofWomeneducationinSomeland1995

4.Year9 10%
7.PostGraduate
20%

5.Year12 20%

6.FirstDegree
50%

Sample answer
The pie charts compare the highest level of education achieved by women in
Someland across two years, 1945 and 1995. It can be clearly seen that women
received a much higher level of education in Someland in 1995 than they did in
1945.

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In 1945 only 30% of women completed their primary education and among them, 1%
went on to a first degree. No women completed post-graduate studies. This
situation had changed radically by 1995. In 1995, 90% of women in Someland
completed secondary education and of those, half graduated from an initial degree
and 20% went on to postgraduate studies. At the other end of the scale we can see
that by 1995 all girls were completing lower secondary, although 10% ended their
schooling at this point. This is in stark contrast with 1945 when only 30% of girls
completed primary school, 35% had no schooling at all and 35% only completed the
third grade.
In summary, we can see that in the 50 years from 1945 to 1995 there were huge
positive developments to the education levels of women in Someland.

Teacher's comments on the sample answer

Here is what an IELTS teacher said about the sample answer.

The report structure is clear and well organised with an introduction, body and conclusion.
The candidate uses a variety of grammatical structures and vocabulary so that the writing is
not repetitive.
In terms of task requirements, the report meets the word limit. Although the candidate has not
included every figure presented in the charts, the answer does accurately reflect the content of
the graphic material and gives a strong impression of the trend of change in the education of
women which is the main point of the comparison of those particular charts.
The sample answer above is therefore a very good one.

B. Analyse the writing

1. The report structure:

a. INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH

i. First sentence: Introduction of the graph

ii. Second sentence: Topic sentence, started with “Overall/Generally”

b. BODY PARAGRAPH

i. Data of the first pie are described to ………………………………………...…

……………………………………….................................................................
ii. Data of the second pie are included to ………………………………………....
iii. ………………………………………………………………………………….

c. SUMMARY PARAGRAPH

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IELTS Standard

Repeat the general message of the topic sentence in the Introductory Paragraph.
Here, ………………………………………………………………………………..

2. Language of the model task:

a. Tenses: These are past data; therefore, PAST TENSES are primarily used.
b. Functions of language:
i. Data description: Essential language to describe data is used.
ii. Comparision and Contrast: This function is the most important in this task.
iii. Describing Trend: Less important, since trend can be found out by Comparison
and Contrast.

C. Focuses on Language Use and Strategies

Language Awareness
Since this types of description normally contains MANY SUB-ITEMS that require your ability
to use DIFFERENT verbs that mean “account for”. Take this pie chart as an example:

Young people leisure activities in Someland

Sports Listening to
10% music Listening to music
Reading 20%
Meeting with friends
10% TV watching
Meeting with
friends Internet use
Internet use 20% Reading
30% Sports
TV watching
10%

 Different ways to express “account for”:

1. By varying language to express the idea:

 In Someland, young people ………………. 10% of the total leisure time for sports
 Internet ……………………… young people in Someland 30% of their leisure time.
 20% of Someland young people’s leisure time are used in meeting with friends.
 Out of 100% leiture time for young people in Someland, reading …………………. 10%.

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2. By varying the use of the verb “account for”:

 Listening to music accounts for 20% of young people leisure time in Someland.
 In Someland, TV watching ………………………. 10% of young people leisure time.
 Internet use ……………………… 30% of Someland young people leisure time.
 Sports ……………………….. 10% of young people total leisure time.

IELTS Strategies

IELTS Examiners often appreciate candidate’s ability to ANALYSE the information

visualised from the graph. To do this, you would have to prepare some “techniques”. For
Pie chart, there are 2 basic techniques:

1. Grouping and Degrouping items in the pie charts:

Items can be presented not in an order way. They need you to group and degroup together like
this (Take the above graph as an illustration):

o Out of 100% of leisure time, outdoors activities occupy 30% (Grouping) of

young people time in Someland, in which 20 % is for meeting with friends and 10% is for
sports (Degrouping).

o Indoors activities dominate young people’s leisure time in Someland, 70% of

their total time (Grouping), with 30% for Internet use, 20% for Listening to music, 10% for
Reading and another 10% for watching TV (Degrouping).

In this way of treating the data, you would reveal to examiners something that are NOT
PHYSICALLY THERE in the graph. Thus, you may have bonus on this!!!

2. Creating something to Compare and Contrast:

Doing Pie chart description is not merely listing all the data in a certain way. You have to create
something to compare and/or contrast to show the examiners that you SEE SOMETHING that
are …………………………………………………………. For instance:

o Listening to music accounts for 30% of young people leisure time in Someland,
which is ………………………………………….. the time they spend on reading.

o Sports, ………………………………. watching TV, just occupies 10% of their

total leisure time.

o Meeting with friends, with 20% of total leisure time for young people in
Someland, is ……………………………………………. that of reading whereas watching
TV constitutes just 10%, half of the time they spend on listening to music.

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Further Practice With Pie Chart

EXERCISE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The pie graph below shows the results of a survey of children’s activities. The first
graph shows the cultural and leisure activities that boys participate in, whereas the
second graph shows the activities in which girls participate.
Write a report describing the information shown in the two pie graphs. (404 Helpful
Hints)
You should write at least 150 words.

Boys’ Cultural & Leisure Activities Girls’ Cultural & Leisure

Activities

L is tening to M us ic , G ym nas tic s , 11%

10%
D anc ing, 27%
B as ketball, 26%
S katebo arding, 11%
R eading, 21%

L is tening to M us ic ,
10%
S o cc er, 17%
C o mputer G ames , EXERCISE
N etball, 15%
C o2
m puter G am es ,
34% R eading, 2% 18%

You should spend 20 minutes on this

task

It is often claimed that

women have achieved
greater freedom and have access to the same opportunities as men. The pie charts
below show some employment patterns in Great Britain.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information in the charts
below.

You should write at least 150 words.

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Managerial and
Other manual
31%
Females Professional
22%

General Labourer
0.5%

Craft or similar
4.5% Clerical and Related
30%

Other non-manual
11%

Males Managerial and

Other manual Professional
28% 38%

General Labourer
2%

Clerical and
Related
Craft or similar 5%
Other non-manual
21%
6%

Manual Non-manual
Craft or similar Managerial and professional
General labourers Clerical and related
Other manual Other non-manual