A Simple Guide To Writing Well On IELTS Writing Task 1 - Questions Type 3: A Bar Chart

Necessary words:
- rectangular bars
- values
- plotted vertically/horizontally
- axes



Example Reports:
(These would achieve Band 8&9)

1. The bar chart below shows a survey of a group of young professionals aged 20-30 years old who were asked to state which factors motivated them to succeed.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information shown below.


The bar chart depicts the results of a survey of young professionals (between 20 and 30 years old), who were asked to state which points they thought gave them an incentive to achieve success. It is clear that success among the survey takers depends mainly on self-motivating factors.
The aspects are divided into three main groups, namely personal (both positive and negative) and external ones, with the former being the larger of the two. In the first group, ‘Personal satisfaction’ and ‘Ambition’ are mentioned by 80% of respondents with  ‘Desire for material things’ and ‘Money’ being given by 50% and 45%, respectively. Of the more negative personal factors, ‘Rivalry’ is cited by 50% of surveyees as being a factor motivating them to succeed. Other factors that make up this latter sub-group are ‘Feeling inadequate’, ‘Envy/Jealousy’ and ‘Fear of failure’ at 34%, 30% and 25% respectively.
Among the external factors, the highest rating goes to ‘Family pressure’, which is quoted by 70% of the poll sample, followed by ‘Pressure from society’ at 60% and ‘Peer pressure’ at 45%.

2. The graph below shows the value in thousands of dollars of three companies selling farming equipment every five years from 1960 and their projected value from 2007 to 2012. Farm Implements Ltd did not start trading until 1980.
Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information shown below.

 
The chart shows the value in dollars of three companies selling farming equipment every five years from 1960 until 2000 and their estimated values up to 2012.
Whilst Greenacres Ltd more than doubled in value between 1960 and the year 1990, rising from 2 million dollars to just over 4 million, the value dropped by approximately 25% by 1995 and then by another third by the year 2000, when it was valued at 2 million dollars. In contrast, the trend for Carsons Limited was steadily upwards with some fluctuations and a doubling in value from 500,000 dollars to one million by the year 2000. The third company, Farm Implements Ltd, was not set up until 1980. However, by the year 2000, its value stood at approximately 2 million dollars, doubling from its 1980 value of 1 million. Farm Implements Ltd, is expected to increase in value gradually until 2012.
Until 2012, Greenacres Ltd and Carsons Ltd are both expected to increase in value with the former recovering to match the peak of just above 4 million dollars last seen in 1990. Similarly, Carsons Ltd is set to continue its steady increase reaching a value of 1.5 million dollars by 2012.

3. The chart shows components of GDP in the UK from 1992 to 2000.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.


The bar chart depicts the gross domestic product generated from the IT and Service Industry in the UK from 1992 to 2000. It is measured in percentages. Overall, it can be seen that both increased as a percentage of GDP, but IT remained at a higher rate throughout this entire time.
At the beginning of the period, in 1992, the Service Industry accounted for 4 per cent of GDP, whereas IT exceeded this, at just over 6 per cent. Over the next four years, the levels became more similar, with both components standing between 6 and just over 8 per cent. IT was still higher overall, though it dropped slightly from 1994 to 1996.
However, over the following four years, the patterns of the two components were noticeable different. The percentage of GDP from IT increased quite sharply to 12 in 1998 and then nearly 15 in 2000, while the Service Industry stayed nearly the same, increasing to only 8 per cent. At the end of the period, the percentage of GDP from IT was almost twice that of the Service Industry.