Read the horizontal axis first
Bar charts come in two kinds, and they need different essays. The difference is on the x-axis.
| If the x-axis is… | Then the chart is about… | And your verbs are… |
|---|---|---|
| Time (1990, 2000, 2010…) | Change — this is a line graph drawn with bars | rose, fell, peaked, levelled off |
| Categories (countries, age groups, products) | Comparison — there is no trend at all | is higher than, twice as many as, the largest |
So before writing anything: is this chart telling me how something changed, or how things differ? Everything follows from the answer.
A third case exists and is common: grouped bars, where the x-axis is categories and each category has two or three bars (by year, or by gender). That chart is asking for both — compare the categories, and compare the groups within them. Say so in your overview, or you will only have answered half the question.
The overview for a comparison chart
For a chart with a time axis, the overview describes the shape of the change. For a comparison chart there is no shape, so the overview has to do something else: state the extremes and the spread.
Three things belong in it, and no numbers:
- The highest and the lowest category.
- How big the gap is — is one category far ahead, or are they all clustered?
- Any group that behaves differently from the rest.
Overall, car ownership was highest in the United States and lowest in India, with a very wide gap between them, and the European countries clustered closely together in the middle.
That sentence contains no figures and it tells the examiner you understood the chart. Numbers belong in the body paragraphs, as evidence for claims you have already made.
Twenty bars, four sentences
The problem with bar charts is that they often have too many bars to describe, and a candidate who describes them all produces a list. A list scores badly on Coherence and Cohesion, because a list has no organisation — it just proceeds.
The fix is to group before you write. Look at the bars and find the two or three natural groups:
- The four Asian countries all exceeded 60%, whereas none of the European countries reached 40%.
- Only two categories — housing and transport — accounted for more than a fifth each; the remaining six were all under 10%.
- Every age group under 35 preferred online shopping, and every group above it preferred shops.
Each of those sentences handles four to eight bars at once, and each makes a claim rather than reciting data. Then support the claim with one or two figures and move on.
The language of comparison
This is where Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range are actually earned on a bar chart, and where most answers repeat the same structure fifteen times. There are four kinds of comparison, and using all four is itself evidence of range.
1. Comparatives and superlatives
- Germany recorded the highest figure, at 62%.
- Spending on housing was considerably higher than on any other category.
- Japan had by far the lowest rate of the six countries.
2. Multiples and fractions — the ones that raise a band
These are what a strong answer uses, because they express a relationship rather than two separate numbers.
- Twice as many men as women chose this option.
- The figure for France was roughly three times that of Poland.
- Only about a quarter as many people cycled to work in 2010 as in 1990.
- Canada's total was just under half Australia's.
3. Contrast structures
- …, whereas only 12% of respondents in Italy said the same.
- By contrast, the figure for rural households was negligible.
- While the US led on car ownership, it ranked last on public transport use.
4. Similarity — the one everyone forgets
Bars that are nearly equal are information, and saying so is a comparison too.
- The figures for Spain and Portugal were almost identical, at around 30% each.
- Three categories were broadly comparable, each accounting for roughly a fifth of the total.
A structure that fits any bar chart
- One sentence paraphrasing the chart's title. Do not copy it word for word — copied text is discounted.
- Overview: the highest, the lowest, the spread, and anything that behaves oddly. No figures.
- Body 1: the first group — the leaders, or the highest category — with figures as support.
- Body 2: the second group — the rest, or the contrast. Include the comparisons between the groups.
Two body paragraphs is almost always right. The organising question is how should these bars be split into two groups?, and answering it well is most of the Coherence mark.
Do not write a conclusion. Task 1 does not want your opinion, and there is nothing to conclude — the overview already did that job at the top, where the examiner is looking for it.
What costs the most
| Mistake | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Trend verbs on a category axis | Task Achievement. It shows the chart was misread. |
| Listing every bar in order | Coherence. A list is not an organised answer, however accurate. |
| No overview | The heaviest single loss available in Task 1 — the descriptors expect a clear overall statement. |
| Numbers with no claim | Germany was 45%. France was 40%. Italy was 38%. Three sentences, no comparison, and the reader has to do the work. |
| Explaining why | Task 1 asks what the data shows, not why. Speculating about causes is off-task and earns nothing. |
| Copying the chart title | Copied wording is not counted toward your words, and it can drag the word count under 150. |
Frequently asked questions
Should I use 'increased' and 'decreased' for a bar chart?
Only if the horizontal axis is time. If the bars are categories — countries, age groups, products — then nothing increased or decreased, because nothing moved, and a sentence like 'cycling increased in Germany and decreased in Japan' is describing a change the chart does not show. Comparison charts need comparison language: higher than, twice as many as, the largest.
What goes in the overview of a bar chart?
The highest and lowest categories, how wide the gap between them is, and anything that behaves unlike the rest. No figures — numbers belong in the body paragraphs as evidence for claims you have already made. If the chart has a time axis instead of categories, the overview should describe the shape of the change rather than the extremes.
How do I describe a bar chart with too many bars?
Group them before you write. Find two or three natural groups and make a claim about each — 'the four Asian countries all exceeded 60%, whereas none of the European countries reached 40%' handles eight bars in one sentence. Describing every bar in turn produces a list, and a list scores poorly on coherence no matter how accurate it is.
What comparison language raises the band?
Multiples and fractions, because they express a relationship rather than two isolated numbers: 'roughly three times that of Poland', 'just under half Australia's', 'about a quarter as many'. Also worth using is similarity language — bars that are nearly equal are information too, and 'the figures for Spain and Portugal were almost identical' is a comparison.
Do I need a conclusion in IELTS Task 1?
No. Task 1 asks you to report what the data shows, not to reach a verdict or offer an opinion, and there is nothing to conclude that the overview has not already said. Put the overall statement near the top, where the examiner expects to find it, and stop when the data has been reported.