IELTS bar chart answering strategy:

1. Introduction

You should start your answer by writing an introduction. The introduction is 1 or 2 sentences, where you
paraphrase the information from your question. You should mention two things in your introduction:

* what your graph shows

* for what period of time

In our example, the introduction can look like this:

The bar chart provides information about the percentages of divorces in Finland and Sweden between
2011 and 2015.

See how I used synonyms to paraphrase the question:

shows → provides information about

divorce rates → percentages of divorces

two European countries → Finland and Sweden (it’s good to be more specific)

from 2011 to 2015 → between 2011 and 2015.

2. General Overview

The second paragraph of your answer is a general overview, where you briefly describe major trends on
your graph. Ideally, you should describe 2-4 key features.

To make major trends easier to notice, you can outline Sweden’s bars and Finland’s bars like this:

Now it’s obvious that:

* Sweden experienced a downward trend

* Finland experienced an upward trend

* both countries showed fluctuations

* Initially Finland had a lower rate, but in 2015 Finland outraced Sweden

Use word overall to start your general overview. In our case, the overview may look as follows:

Overall, Sweden experienced a downward trend, while Finland showed an upward trend throughout the
period. Both countries’ divorce rates had some fluctuations. Although Finland initially had a lower rate, it
outraced Sweden at the end of the period.

3. Specific details

After we’ve written the introduction and general overview, it’s time to give the specific details. You
should describe the specific features in 2 or 3 (sometimes more) paragraphs.

You can group data in such way:

Details about Sweden

Details about Finland

When you have two countries (or two cities or any other two things depicted on the graph), the
simplest way of grouping data - is to describe each country’s trend in a separate paragraph.

When giving specific features, you have to write exact numbers/percentages and include as much
details as you can.

In our case, the specific details may look as follows:

Sweden’s divorce rate was about 45% in 2011, being higher than Finland’s rate by approximately
8%. Then, it rose to almost fifty percent in 2012. However, the figure showed a gradual decrease to
about 47% in 2013, and continued to decline steadily to the end of the period, reaching around 45%
in 2014 and hitting a low-point of about 37% in 2015.

Percentage of divorces in Finland was less than 40% in 2011, and it decreased in 2012, when about
one third of marriages in Finland ended with a divorce (as opposed to almost a half in Sweden).
However, the figure experienced a steady growth during the next two years. It rose to approximately
39% in 2013, then increased by around 3% in 2014, and remained steady for the next year,
outracing the rate of Sweden.

Tips:

* When analyzing a bar-chart, we cannot always give exact details (due to inaccuracies of the chart),
so use words around, about and approximately when giving inexact data.

* Give data for each year shown on the chart

Example of good introduction:

Question:

The graphs below give information about computer ownership as a percentage of the population
between 2002 and 2010, and by level of education for the years 2002 and 2010.

Introduction:

The bar charts show data about computer ownership, with a further classification by level of
education, from 2002 to 2010.

To write a good introduction, follow these techniques:

* Change introductory expressions

* the graph/chart/table/diagram not pie charts

* gives information about/on

* provides information about/on

* shows

* illustrates

* represents

* depicts

* gives reason why (only if graph provides reasons for smth)

* explains why (only if graph provides explanation for smth)

* compares (only if several items are compared)

Attention with word compare! You can say:

the charts compare two cities in terms of the number of employed people.

compares smth in year1 and year2

the graph compares the population in 2000 and 2013.

Examples:

“The pie charts provide information on the proportion of males and females working in agricultural
sector.” OR “The pie charts show the proportion of males and females working in agricultural
sector.”

“The table compares five companies in terms of the number of employees.” OR “The table illustrates
the number of employees in five companies.”

Paraphrasing

You can rewrite a phrase by using the word how:

shows the number of people ... = shows how many people ...

depicts changes in spending on ... = depicts how much changed spending on ...

You can rewrite a phrase by using synonyms:

* number of = quantity of (not interchangeable with amount of)

* spending = expenditure

* rate = percentage

* ratio = proportion

* information = data

* change can be sometimes replaced by increase, decrease or variation

* share = portion

* place = site

Time periods

from 1985 to 1995 = between 1985 and 1995

in 1985 = in the year 1985

in 1985 and 1995 = in 1985 and 1995 respectively = in the years 1985 and 1995
Examples:

The table shows consumption rates from 2001 to 2004.

The graph shows consumption rates in 2012 and 2015 respectively.