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Task 1: Bar Charts

The question

The chart below shows the percentage of commuters who travelled to work by bicycle in four European cities in 2010 and 2024. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

0%10%20%30%40%50%3842Amsterdam3549Copenhagen1320Berlin49London20102024
Commuters cycling to work (%), 2010 and 2024

How a bar chart differs from a line graph

The vocabulary overlaps, but the thinking does not.

A line graph is about trend: what happened over time. A bar chart is usually about comparison: how categories differ from each other. When a bar chart has two time points, as this one does, it asks for both - but comparison comes first.

The practical consequence is that your overview should describe how the categories relate, not just that everything went up. All four cities saw an increase is a line-graph overview applied to a bar chart. It misses the point of the form.

The other difference is precision. Bars can be read exactly, so vague figures are less forgivable here than on a line graph where you are estimating between gridlines.

The method for a two-period bar chart

  1. Rank the categories at each date. Who is first, who is last, and does the order change? A change in ranking is the most valuable feature on any bar chart.
  2. Look for natural pairs. Bar charts almost always split into groups - high and low, rising and falling. Here the split is obvious: two cycling cities and two car cities.
  3. Find the biggest and the smallest movement. Not the biggest bar - the biggest change. These are rarely the same category.
  4. Check absolute against proportional change. London gained only five percentage points but more than doubled. Copenhagen gained fourteen points but grew by less than half. Both facts are worth stating.

The same question at band 6, 7 and 8

One chart, three answers. These are our own models, written to illustrate each band - they are not real candidate scripts, and the bands are our assessment rather than an official score.

Band 6Correct figures, but it reads the chart out city by city

The bar chart shows the percentage of people who cycle to work in four cities in 2010 and 2024.

In Amsterdam 38% of people cycled to work in 2010 and this increased to 42% in 2024. In Copenhagen the figure was 35% in 2010 and it increased to 49% in 2024. In Berlin 13% of people cycled in 2010 and this increased to 20% in 2024. In London the figure was 4% in 2010 and it increased to 9% in 2024.

All four cities increased over the period. Copenhagen had the highest percentage in 2024 and London had the lowest.

Task AchievementAll eight figures are accurate, but the summary sentence arrives at the end rather than functioning as an overview, and nothing has been selected.
Coherence and CohesionOne city per sentence, in chart order. No grouping, and no link between the cities.
Lexical ResourceIncreased is used four times and the figure was twice. There is no language for the size of the changes.
GrammarAccurate, but a single repeated sentence pattern throughout.

What would lift this: Move the last paragraph to the top and expand it into a real overview, then pair the cities - Amsterdam with Copenhagen, Berlin with London - instead of taking them one at a time.

Band 7Real overview, cities paired, and the change in ranking is named

The bar chart compares the proportion of commuters cycling to work in four European cities in 2010 and 2024.

Overall, cycling became more common in every city over the period, but the two Northern European cities remained far ahead of the other two. The most notable change was Copenhagen overtaking Amsterdam to become the leading cycling city.

In 2010 Amsterdam led, with 38% of commuters cycling, slightly ahead of Copenhagen at 35%. By 2024 this had reversed: Copenhagen rose sharply to 49%, while Amsterdam increased more modestly to 42%.

Berlin and London remained well behind. Berlin climbed from 13% to 20%, and London, the lowest at both dates, more than doubled its figure from 4% to 9% - though this still left it far below the leading cities.

Task AchievementThe overview is in the right place and identifies the reversal. The body selects rather than lists.
Coherence and CohesionCities are paired sensibly and the paragraphs are linked - remained well behind carries the contrast across.
Lexical ResourceGood range: overtaking, sharply, modestly, more than doubled. Only mild repetition of rose and climbed.
GrammarConfident mix of structures, including a colon and a dash used correctly.

What would lift this: Quantify the contrast rather than only naming it - Copenhagen gained fourteen percentage points against Amsterdam four. And note that London, though lowest, achieved the largest proportional growth of any city; the answer half-sees this but does not commit to it.

Band 8The overview names a structure, and absolute and proportional change are separated

The bar chart compares the proportion of commuters travelling to work by bicycle in four European cities in 2010 and 2024.

Overall, cycling grew in all four cities, but the chart divides sharply into two pairs: Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where cycling was already mainstream, and Berlin and London, where it remained a minority choice throughout. The single most notable development was Copenhagen displacing Amsterdam at the top.

Among the leading pair, Copenhagen showed by far the greater change, climbing fourteen percentage points to 49% and overtaking Amsterdam, which advanced only four points to 42%. By 2024 close to half of all Copenhagen commuters cycled to work.

The trailing pair moved in the same direction but from a much lower base. Berlin rose from 13% to 20%, while London, lowest at both dates, recorded the largest proportional gain of any city, rising from 4% to 9% - more than doubling, yet still under one commuter in ten.

Task AchievementThe overview identifies a structure - two pairs - rather than a direction, and every body sentence supports it. Absolute and proportional change are distinguished explicitly.
Coherence and CohesionParagraphing follows the pairs named in the overview, so the reader always knows where they are. The trailing pair links back cleanly.
Lexical ResourcePrecise and economical: mainstream, displacing, advanced, from a much lower base. Percentage points used correctly.
GrammarSustained control, including a colon-led list, a non-defining relative clause and a dash-embedded qualification.

What would lift this: Very little. If anything, mainstream and minority choice edge towards interpretation - the chart shows proportions, not attitudes. Task 1 is safest when it stays literal.

Bar chart mistakes specifically

  • Treating it as a line graph. Writing only about change over time and never comparing the categories misses what the form is for.
  • Describing every bar. Eight bars does not mean eight sentences. Group them.
  • Missing a change in ranking. If the order of the categories changes between the two dates, that is almost always the main feature.
  • Confusing biggest with fastest. The tallest bar and the biggest change are usually different categories, and both deserve a mention.
  • Estimating when you can read exactly. Bars have flat tops. If a bar sits on a gridline, give the exact figure.

Now you try

The chart below shows the percentage of university graduates employed in four sectors in one country in 2015 and 2023. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words in 20 minutes.

0%10%20%30%40%2228Healthcare1531Technology3424Retail2917Manufacturing20152023
Graduates employed by sector (%), 2015 and 2023

Before you check your answer

  • Does your overview name the split rather than saying some rose and some fell? Two sectors grew and two shrank - that is the structure.
  • Did you notice the change in ranking? Retail led in 2015; technology leads in 2023.
  • Have you grouped the rising sectors together and the falling ones together, rather than going left to right?
  • Did you separate the largest absolute change from the largest proportional one?
  • Are you over 150 words, not counting anything copied from the question?

Where to go next

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