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Task 1: Two Charts Together

The question, part one

The graph below shows the total number of visitors to a national park between 2010 and 2024. The table shows the activities those visitors took part in. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

0k200k400k600k800k2010201420182024
Total visitors, thousands, 2010 to 2024

The question, part two

The same visitors, broken down by main activity. Note that these are percentages of visitors, not numbers of people.

Activity20102024
Hiking45%38%
Camping22%18%
Cycling12%24%
Wildlife watching21%20%
Main activity as a share of all visitors (%)

Why this is the hardest Task 1 question

Two charts do not mean twice the description. They mean one relationship.

The instinctive approach is a paragraph on the graph, then a paragraph on the table. It feels organised, it covers everything, and it caps you at band 6 - because the examiner is looking for whether you saw how the two relate.

The charts are given together for a reason. One is a total; the other is a breakdown of that total. Every figure in the table means something different depending on what the graph is doing at the time - which is exactly the insight being tested.

Here is the link in this question. Total visitors rose by roughly 48% between 2010 and 2024, and cycling doubled its share from 12% to 24%. Combine the two and cycling grew from about 50,000 people to around 149,000 - close to a threefold increase. Neither chart shows that on its own. Only the combination does.

The structure that works

  1. Introduction - one sentence covering both. The graph and table give information about visitor numbers at a national park and the activities they came for. One sentence, both sources.
  2. Overview - one statement about each, plus the link. Visitors rose then dipped; hiking remained dominant but cycling gained sharply. That third clause is where the marks are.
  3. Body one - the totals. Describe the graph properly: the rise, the peak, the decline.
  4. Body two - the breakdown, read against the totals. Not the table in isolation. Each share interpreted in the light of a growing then shrinking total.

The same question at band 6, 7 and 8

These are our own model answers, written to illustrate each band. They are not real candidate scripts, and the bands are our assessment rather than an official score.

Band 6Two separate descriptions bolted together

The graph shows the number of visitors to a national park from 2010 to 2024 and the table shows what activities they did.

In 2010 there were 420,000 visitors. This rose to 510,000 in 2014 and 680,000 in 2018. Then it fell to 620,000 in 2024.

In 2010 hiking was 45% and in 2024 it was 38%. Camping was 22% and then 18%. Cycling was 12% and then 24%. Wildlife watching was 21% and then 20%.

So visitor numbers went up and then down, and hiking was the most popular activity in both years.

Task AchievementBoth sources are covered accurately, but they are never connected. The two charts are treated as two questions, which is the central failure of this task type.
Coherence and CohesionOne paragraph per chart, with no link between them. The closing sentence summarises rather than overviews, and arrives too late.
Lexical ResourceWas is used five times. No proportion language at all - share, proportion and accounted for are all absent.
GrammarAccurate but uniformly simple.

What would lift this: Combine the two sources in at least one sentence. Even a single observation - cycling doubled its share while total visitors were also rising - would move this answer up a band, because it demonstrates the thing being tested.

Band 7The two sources are connected, though the arithmetic stays implicit

The line graph shows how many people visited a national park between 2010 and 2024, while the table sets out the share of those visitors taking part in four activities.

Overall, visitor numbers grew substantially before falling back slightly at the end of the period. Hiking remained the most common activity throughout, but cycling gained ground sharply while every other activity lost share.

Visitor numbers climbed from 420,000 in 2010 to a peak of 680,000 in 2018, an increase of over 60%. Numbers then declined to 620,000 by 2024, though this was still well above the 2010 figure.

Against this rising total, cycling was the clear winner: its share doubled from 12% to 24%, meaning the number of cyclists grew considerably faster than the park's overall growth. Hiking, despite falling from 45% to 38% of visitors, remained comfortably the most popular activity. Camping slipped from 22% to 18%, while wildlife watching was almost unchanged at around a fifth.

Task AchievementBoth sources are covered and connected - against this rising total does the essential work. The overview addresses both charts.
Coherence and CohesionThe body moves from totals to breakdown, and the transition signals the relationship rather than just changing subject.
Lexical ResourceGood range: gained ground, lost share, slipped, almost unchanged, the clear winner.
GrammarConfident mix, including a concessive despite clause and a colon.

What would lift this: Do the multiplication and state it. Grew considerably faster is an inference the reader must trust; roughly 50,000 cyclists in 2010 against about 149,000 in 2024 is a fact, and it is the single most impressive sentence available in this question.

Band 8The link is quantified - the answer says something neither chart shows alone

The line graph records total visitor numbers at a national park between 2010 and 2024, while the table breaks those visitors down by their main activity.

Overall, the park grew busier across the period, peaking in 2018 before easing back, and the mix of activities shifted markedly in favour of cycling. Read together, the two sources show that cycling grew far faster than the park itself, while hiking held its position as the dominant activity despite losing share.

Visitors increased from 420,000 in 2010 to 680,000 in 2018, a rise of more than three fifths, before declining to 620,000 by 2024 - still some 48% above the opening figure.

Because the total was expanding, a falling share did not necessarily mean fewer people. Hiking dropped from 45% to 38%, yet in absolute terms it still drew roughly 236,000 visitors in 2024 against 189,000 in 2010. Cycling, however, was transformed: doubling its share against a substantially larger total lifted it from around 50,000 participants to some 149,000, close to a threefold rise. Camping and wildlife watching also lost share, yet because the total had expanded, both still drew more visitors in 2024 than in 2010.

Task AchievementThe overview states the relationship between the sources explicitly, and the body proves it with figures the charts do not display individually. Nothing is invented; everything is derived.
Coherence and CohesionThe final paragraph opens by naming the principle - a falling share need not mean fewer people - and then applies it twice. The reader is never guessing.
Lexical ResourcePrecise: easing back, held its position, in absolute terms, compensating growth, was transformed.
GrammarSustained control of complex forms - a because clause, a yet contrast, a participle subject and an embedded dash qualification.

What would lift this: Almost nothing. Transformed is a shade dramatic for a Task 1 description, and the hiking calculation, while correct, edges the answer past 170 words - fine here, but under exam pressure that arithmetic is the first thing to drop.

The one calculation worth doing

It takes fifteen seconds and it is the difference between band 7 and band 8 on this question type.

When one chart gives a total and the other gives shares, multiply. A share of a growing total behaves very differently from the same share of a shrinking one.

12% of 420,000 is about 50,000. 24% of 620,000 is about 149,000. You do not need precision - around 50,000 and roughly 150,000 are perfectly acceptable, and close to a threefold rise is the sentence that earns the mark.

The reverse trap matters just as much: a share can fall while the number of people rises, as hiking does here. An answer that says hiking became less popular has made a claim the data contradicts.

Mistakes specific to two-chart questions

  • One paragraph per chart. The commonest structure and the one that caps the score.
  • An overview covering only one source. Both charts need a sentence, and ideally the relationship needs a third.
  • Treating shares as numbers. With a changing total this is not a slip - it produces statements that are simply false.
  • Running out of words. Two sources in 170 words means ruthless selection. Four or five figures per chart is plenty.
  • Ignoring one chart almost entirely. An answer weighted 80/20 towards the graph reads as though the table was too difficult.

Where to go next

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