IELTS task 1 - patterns in bar charts http://www.dcielts.

com/task-1-2/ielts-barcharts-patterns/

Identifying patterns in bar charts

► IELTS Vocabulary
► IELTS Writing
► IELTS Listening Test
This lesson looks in detail at one way to organise your answer when describing a chart or graph in part 1.
The suggestion is that you should try and look for patterns in the data. When you write , you report those
patterns and note any exceptions to them. This works on several levels:

your writing becomes more coherent – linking ideas together

you are more likely to identify the key points
the report becomes easier to write

To help you do this, you will find a bar chart with a sample answer below. I also show you one way how to
identify patterns in bar charts.

Sample task
The bar chart below shows the different types of accommodation chosen by the British when they went on
holiday in 2012. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant

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IELTS task 1 - patterns in bar charts http://www.dcielts.com/task-1-2/ielts-barcharts-patterns/

Analysing the key details

The first step is to analyse the chart – carefully. Don’t rush this stage. One way to do Don’t look at the
this is by asking yourself some simple questions. Ask yourself which is the whole chart,
biggest/longest? Are there any patterns? As you do this I suggest that you look at the x
axis and the y
don’t worry about names of countries and types of accommodation. Think
axis separately
colours and lengths. Look don’t read.

look at each element one by one. It can be very confusing of you look at the chart as a whole.

look at the extremes (the biggest/the smallest) first – they are almost always important

look for patterns – these are also important. Note that a pattern can have exceptions.

note exceptions – these are also details you want to include.

Test yourself

Ask yourself if Try this brief quiz to analyse the y axis. As you go through the test, you should notice
the lines look how I ask simple questions. What is the biggest? Are they the same, different or
similar, different similar? Does any one bar look different from the rest? Remember that you are
or the same looking for patterns.

Reading a bar chart

Start

My conclusion from this is that we must state:

hotels were the most common form of accommodation at over 50%

self-catering was second most popular (just below 30%) but there is one major exception
caravan and camping holidays were typically least popular (around 10%) but again there was an
exception
England, Scotland and Wales follow a broadly similar pattern (Scotland is only slightly different)
the popularity of caravanning in Northern Ireland needs to be highlighted

Organising the report – choose the simplest option

There is always more than one way to organise a report. In the exam you are under time pressure, so it
makes sense to choose the simplest option. Here the 2 main choices you have are:

go through each type of accommodation (the y axis option)

go through the countries (the x axis option)

My choice would be to use the countries. There are only 4 of them and 3 of those are very similar and it
seems natural and easy to group England, Scotland and Wales together. Northern Ireland is the odd one

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IELTS task 1 - patterns in bar charts http://www.dcielts.com/task-1-2/ielts-barcharts-patterns/

out.

A sample answer
This answer is not perfect. It is not meant to be. Rather you should note how it is logically organised,
grouping similar information together. There is one paragraph for England, Scotland and Wales
showing the main pattern. I start by noting the most evident feature of the chart. I also use England as a
model and then compare the situation in Wales and Scotland. Then there is a separate paragraph for
Northern Ireland, highlighting the key exception.

This bar chart shows illustrates the holiday accommodation chosen by people in the United
Kingdom in 2010. Generally, it is possible to say that the English, Scottish, Northern and Welsh
made very similar choices and that hotels were much the most popular form of accommodation.

In all four countries approximately half the people chose to stay in hotels. This figure was
highest in England at around 55%, almost twice the number of people who cooked for
themselves (27% of the sample) and far greater than the number who stayed in campsites
(12%) and finally caravans (6%). A similar pattern was repeated for the Scots and the Welsh. In
each case, around 50% of holidaymakers went to hotels with around 30% in self-catering
apartments. The one difference being that caravan holidays at 12% were twice as popular as
camping holidays in Scotland, while the opposite pattern could be seen in Wales.

The one country that shows a different pattern is Northern Ireland. It is notable how there just
over 30% of the population chose caravan holidays in preference to self-catering
accommodation and camping (both around 12%).

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16 Responses to Identifying patterns in bar charts

Blixa May 8, 2012 at 7:03 am # REPLY

Dear Dominic:

This explanation about how to find out key points it’s very useful, specially because you
highlighted them in different colors!

Thanks for this sample.

Milo Vu June 3, 2012 at 3:01 pm # REPLY

Hi Dominic. It is a basic question I would like to ask. Is the sample answer you
provided a complete essay for task 1? (since there are only 3 paragraphs while normally an
essay of 4 paragraphs would be more preferable to me)
Thankssssssssss

Dominic Cole July 6, 2012 at 8:50 am # REPLY

In task 1, there are probably more possible ways of answering the question than
there are in task 2 (the essay). This is because you may get from one to three charts/graphs
to describe. As such, I personally do not insist on the concept of 4 paragraphs.

meme August 24, 2012 at 11:30 am # REPLY

hi sir ,

can we use we write

For example :
(>>>>>>>>>>>>>.the sentese <<<<<<<<< some coun-
– tries

just for keep organizing the essay ?

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IELTS task 1 - patterns in bar charts http://www.dcielts.com/task-1-2/ielts-barcharts-patterns/

Paul December 6, 2012 at 8:49 pm # REPLY

Hi Dominic

“The one difference being that caravan holidays at 12% were twice as popular than camping
holidays in Scotland”

Is it right: “was twice as popular as”? Also for part 1, is that we do not need the topic sentence
for paragraphs and conclusion?

Thank you!

Irene September 9, 2013 at 1:48 pm # REPLY

Hi Dominic,

The quiz you mentioned in the test yourself section, is there a missing link? I can’t seem to find
the quiz, thanks!

mann December 30, 2013 at 6:50 pm # REPLY

i am little confused. like england, wales, northern ireland and scotland are the part of
UK. they might be not countries. so i use country word for england, wales, northern ireland
and scotland is right.

your material is really helpful to prepare for test.

thank you for sharing this material.

mann

Buubee February 20, 2014 at 11:30 am # REPLY

This is a really helpful guidance and it is easy to follow. Thank you so much Dominic.

Evie February 20, 2014 at 12:01 pm # REPLY

thank you , i think this is very helpful

jolly April 21, 2014 at 6:54 am # REPLY

i cannot see the chart..been refreshing It;(

REPLY

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IELTS task 1 - patterns in bar charts http://www.dcielts.com/task-1-2/ielts-barcharts-patterns/

Dominic Cole April 21, 2014 at 11:51 am #

Thanks for letting me know. I’ll get it fixed.

Sevinj April 22, 2014 at 8:56 pm # REPLY

Thank you for sharing, sir! I have a question: I have done the test (83%) I failed one
question about the least popularity, the right answer for which was shown as ‘no pattern’. Now
I am in hesitation. The lowest column of the bar chart is yellow (Scotland). First I ticked
yellow. Why it is wrong? I could not understand it.

Dominic Cole April 22, 2014 at 9:48 pm # REPLY

The idea is to look at the y axis for all 4 countries. That way you see a pattern.

The yellow line (camping) is different for each country. In England and Wales for example
it is more popular than caravanning, but in Scotland it is less popular.

Tram November 6, 2014 at 5:28 am # REPLY

Hi Mr Cole, is it fine if I chose to do with description of each of 4 kinds of

accommodation instead of your way to describe 4 kinds in each country?

Tram November 6, 2014 at 5:32 am # REPLY

Oh, I saw your suggestion above that we could have 2 ways to do. Thank you.

Dominic Cole November 6, 2014 at 7:34 am # REPLY

Yes, that could work too. There is almost always more than one way to do these
things, you just need to choose one that is clear and logical.

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