Academic task 1 pie charts One task that seems to concern IELTS candidates is the pie chart. I think I understand why and I hope I have a solution. In this post I talk you through a major difficulty and give you some language to deal with it. Theres also an exercise at the end to test you out.The difficulty I have nothing to sayTypically, the problem is that candidates find they have very little to say about a pie chart in comparison with a bar chart. Really this is just a problem of language. Very often, candidates spend a long time learning about the language of trends when they prepare for task 1 and that language very rarely applies to a pie chart. You need some different language.The necessary languageThe key point is that whatever the chart looks like the language you need is the same. Take a look at these 3 pie charts and ask yourself what language you need.A chart with percentages

A chart without any numbers

A chart with numbers

The answer should be obvious. When you look at all three pie charts, you should see that you need exactly the same language: its the language of percentages. By definition the whole pie is 100% and each share of that pie is also a percentage. It should make little or no difference how the pie chart is labelled.Tip: if you see a pie chart without % figures written in, dont panic. Consider what the % must be.Some language variations on percentageAnother possible problem is that you find yourself repeating the word percentage. Here are some helpful variations for you. There are variations possible in almost every case: using a fraction or a synonym such as proportion.

Notes1. percentage is more correct than percent (per cent is the correct spelling, though no one I know uses it!2. amount is correctly used only with uncountable nouns: the variation for countables in numberSome practiceThis is an area that needs some practice to get right. So I suggest you make a start by having a go at these twoquizzes:using percentages: a quick quiz checking you can know this language of percentages. It should be quite easy, so Ive made it more challenging by making it timed!write a task 1: can you use the language for yourself by doing a practice task 1 from the pie chart above. Try and write a good paragraph of between 60 75 words.

Lesson 2: Describing an IELTS Pie ChartThis lesson will provide you with tips and advice on how to write an IELTS pie chart for task 1.To begin, take a look at the pie chart below, and then answer the quiz questions.You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.The pie charts show the main reasons for migration to and from the UK in 2007. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.Write at least 150 words.

IELTS Pie Chart Quiz

Top of Form1. What is the best way to organize your answer?Write one paragraph about immigration and one about emigrationWrite about the pie charts together, comparing each of the reasons

2. What tense should you use to write about the IELTS pie chart? PastPresent

3. Can you talk about increases and decreases when describing the information?YesNo

Now take a look at a model answer:

The pie charts illustrate the primary reasons that people came to and left the UK in 2007. At first glance it is clear that the main factor influencing this decision was employment. Having a definite job accounted for 30 per cent of immigration to the UK, and this figure was very similar for emigration, at 29%. A large number of people, 22%, also emigrated because they were looking for a job, though the proportion of people entering the UK for this purpose was noticeably lower at less than a fifth. Another major factor influencing a move to the UK was for formal study, with over a quarter of people immigrating for this reason. However, interestingly, only a small minority, 4%, left for this.The proportions of those moving to join a family member were quite similar for immigration and emigration, at 15% and 13% respectively. Although a significant number of people (32%) gave other reasons or did not give a reason why they emigrated, this accounted for only 17% with regards to immigration.173 words_________________________________________ As you can see, the pie chart description is easy to follow. Here are some key points in organizing your answer. Choose the most important points to write about firstThese will be the largest ones. As you can see in the model answer, definite job, looking for work, and formal study were all written about first, in order of importance, as these are the main reasons that were chosen for moving.Items such as other are usually less important and account for small amounts, so can be left till the end.Make it easy to readWhen you write a task 1, you should always group information in a logical way to make it easy to follow and read. With an IELTS pie chart, the most logical thing to do is usually to compare categories together across the charts, focusing on similarities and differences, rather than writing about each chart separately. If you write about each one separately, the person reading it will have to keep looking between the paragraphs in order to see how each category differs.Vary your languageAs with any task 1, this is important. You should not keep repeating the same structures. The key language when you write about pie charts is proportions and percentages.Common phrases to see are "the proportion of" or "the percentage of"However, you can also use other words and fractions. These are some examples from the model answer:A large number of peopleover a quarter of peoplea small minorityA significant number of peopleless than a fifthThis table presents some examples of how you can change percentages to fractions or ratios:Percentage Fraction

80% four-fifths

75% three-quarters

70%seven in ten

65%two-thirds

60%three-fifths

55%more than half

50%half

45%more than two fifths

40%two-fifths

35%more than a third

30%less than a third

25%a quarter

20%a fifth

15%less than a fifth

10%one in ten

5%one in twenty

Practice these phrases in a quiz If the percentages are not exact as above, then you can use qualifiers to make sure your description remains accurate. Here are some examples:PercentageQualifier

77%just over three quarters

77%approximately three quarters

49%just under a half

49%nearly a half

32%almost a third

This table presents some examples of how you can change percentages to other phrases:Percentageproportion / number / amount / majority / minority

75% - 85%a very large majority

65% - 75%a significant proportion

10% - 15%a minority

5%a very small number

Practice these phrases in a quizThe words above are interchageable, though number is for countable nouns and amount is for uncountable nouns.Follow this link to the writing pages to see another IELTS pie chart:Sample IELTS Pie Chart Sample Pie Chart - IELTS Task 1This is a sample pie chart for IELTS task 1. In this example, there are four pie charts that you have to compare. Model Graph 8You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.The pie charts show the electricity generated in Germany and France from all sources and renewables in the year 2009. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.Write at least 150 words.

Sample Pie Chart - Model AnswerThe four pie charts compare the electricity generated between Germany and France during 2009, and it is measured in billions kWh. Overall, it can be seen that conventional thermal was the main source of electricity in Germany, whereas nuclear was the main source in France.The bulk of electricity in Germany, whose total output was 560 billion kWh, came from conventional thermal, at 59.6%. In France, the total output was lower, at 510 billion kWh, and in contrast to Germany, conventional thermal accounted for just 10.3%, with most electricity coming from nuclear power (76%). In Germany, the proportion of nuclear power generated electricity was only one fifth of the total.Moving on to renewables, this accounted for quite similar proportions for both countries, at approximately 15% of the total electricity generated. In detail, in Germany, most of the renewables consisted of wind and biomass, totaling around 75%, which was far higher than for hydroelectric (17.7%) and solar (6.1%). The situation was very different in France, where hydroelectric made up 80.5% of renewable electricity, with biomass, wind and solar making up the remaining 20%.IELTS Writing Task 1 Sample 2You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The pie chart shows the amount of money that a children's charity located in the USA spent and received in one year. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.Write at least 150 words.

Revenue Sources and Expenditures of a USA Charity in one year.

Model AnswerThe pie charts show the amount of revenue and expenditures over a year of a childrens charity in the USA. Overall, it can be seen that donated food accounted for the majority of the income, while program services accounted for the most expenditure. Total revenue sources just exceeded outgoings. In detail, donated food provided most of the revenue for the charity, at 86%. With regard to expenditures, one category, program services, accounted for nearly all of the outgoings, at 95.8%. The other categories were much smaller. Community contributions, which were the second largest revenue source, brought in 10.4% of overall income, and this was followed by program revenue, at 2.2%. Investment income, government grants, and other income were very small sources of revenue, accounting for only 0.8% combined. There were only two other expenditure items, fundraising and management and general, accounting for 2.6% and 1.6% respectively. The total amount of income was $53,561,580, which was just enough to cover the expenditures of $53,224,896. Model Graph 12You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The pie chart shows the percentage of persons arrested in the five years ending 1994 and the bar chart shows the most recent reasons for arrest.Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.Write at least 150 words.

IELTS Pie and Bar Chart - Model AnswerThe pie chart illustrates the percentage of males and females who were arrested from 1989 to 1994, while the bar chart compares the main reasons that the different genders were arrested most recently. It is evident from the charts that males were arrested more than females and that public drinking was the most common reason for arrest for both.To begin, the proportion of males arrested was much greater than for females. 32% were arrested compared to only 9% for women. Turning to the reasons for the most recent arrests, there were some clear differences between men and women. Men were twice as likely to be arrested for drink driving than women, at 26% and 14% respectively. Breach of order, assault, and other reasons were also slightly higher for men, all standing at around 12-18%. Interestingly though, women experienced a higher percentage of arrest rates for assault and public drinking. The figures for assault were fairly similar at approximately 18%, whereas public drinking represented the main reason for arrest, with women at a massive 38%, compared to 31% for men. A model pie chart report step by stepThis lesson gives you a step-by-step approach to dealing with pie charts in task 1. I talk you through how to identify the main points, select the supporting details and then structure your report. I then show you two model answers: one with standard vocabulary and then a much more advanced version with more vocabulary and grammar you can borrow.The taskThe following pie charts show the results of a survey into the most popular leisure activities in the United States of America in 1999 and 2009.Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Step 1: seeing the big pictureThe first step is to identify the main points of the two charts. This is not just an important part of the task and your band score, it will also help you write your description. The main points are normally obvious. Sometimes they are so obvious that candidates ignore them. Look at these questions:1. How many activities are there in each chart? Just count2. Are the activities the same in each chart? Read the key3. Are there any changes in popularity between the two years? Look at the coloursYou should get these answers:1. There are 8 activities for each year2. 7 of 8 activities are the same3. There are a number of differences in popularity between the two years.All you need to do now is put that into English and you have the main points of the report. Adding in a short description of the task we have:These two pie charts show the changes in popularity of different leisure activities in the United States of America between 1999 and 2009. We can see that the most popular leisure activities were almost the same in both periods, but there were a number of differences in popularity between the various activities.Step 2: choose the details to includeThere are 16 different figures you can include. This is too many. The task is to select and report the most important details. This will include naming all the activities, but not all the numbers. To do this, try looking for:1. the biggest number2. the smallest numberThese are generally important details to include. You should also consider what changes beween the two charts, not least because the task asks you to make comparisons. So, ask yourself:1. whats gone up2. whats gone down3. what hasnt changed4. whats newPutting this together, we need these details:1. walking is most popular in both periods2. yoga disappears andweightlifting is new3. swimming doubles4. aerobics, jogging and cycling all fall5. soccer and camping dont change muchStep 3: organise your reportThis will vary from task to task, but typically you will be looking at two content paragraphs. As you write your paragraphs, you want to think of three key ideas: highlight the main points they come first group similar ideas together find a logical structure to present the pointsIn this case, I would go with this structure:Paragraph 1walking is much the biggest slice of the pie in both yearsweightlifting is new and yoga has goneIt is clear that walking was the most popular activity in both 1999 and 2009 with around 30% of Americans saying that they preferred it. Also, yoga was no longer among the preferred activities in 2009, but weightlifting was chosen by 10% of people.Paragraph 2refer to the other activities in order of popularity in 2009 soccer and swimming first, jogging and aerobics lastnote the biggest changes cycling, jogging and aerobics all big fallers, swimming the big riser.The second most popular activity was soccer at just under 20% in both years, a figure that was matched by swimming in 2009, having almost doubled in popularity over the previous decade. Most of the other activities became less popular over the same period of time, with cycling, jogging and aerobics all falling by at least a half to under 10%. The one exception to this trend was camping which stayed almost unchanged at around 9%.Step 4: get the vocabulary rightThis is the big one and will take time to learn. To help you on your way, I show you two model answers with extensive vocabulary notes. My suggestion is start with the first one. Dont be worries that it looks too simple. it isnt. It is in fact extremely good band score 9. The when you have that right, take a look at the second version which has some more advanced vocabulary.A good versionThis is the final reportThese two pie charts showthe changesin popularityof different leisure activities in the United States of Americabetween 1999 and 2009.We can see thatthemost popularleisure activities were almost the samein both periods,butthere werea number ofdifferences in popularity betweenthe variousactivities.It is clear thatwalking was the most popular activity in both 1999 and 2009, witharound 30%of Americans saying thatthey preferred it.Also, yoga was no longer amongthe preferred activitiesin 2009,but weightliftingwaschosenby 10% of people.The second most popular activity was soccerat just under 20%inboth years,a figurethat was matched by swimming in 2009,having almost doubledin popularityoverthe previous decade. Most of the other activities became less popularover the same period of time, with cycling, jogging and aerobicsall falling by at least a half to under 10%.The one exceptiontothis trendwas campingwhich stayedalmost unchanged at around 9%.Read about the vocabularyMy band score 10 answerThe above report is exceptionally good. It covers all the right details (Task response), has a good range of grammar with relative clauses (Range and accuracy of grammar), is very coherent (well organised and linked) and has some range of vocabulary, even if some words are repeated (Lexical resource). This answer can help you by extending the range of vocabulary you use for: general words dealing with numbers linkingThese two chartsillustratehow the preferred leisure activities of Americans changed between 1999 and 2009.Generally speaking, while the list of activitiesremained almost identicalover the decade, there were a number of changes in their relative popularity.It is immediately evidentthat walking wasby some distancethe mostpopular pastime in both years,accounting for just under a thirdof the preferences expressed.Of equal noteis that by 2009, yogahad disappearedfrom the list of preferred activities and had been replaced by weightlifting,which was chosen by one in tenAmericans.Among the less popular activities, themost notable developmentwas thatthe proportionof people who went swimming doubled, making it equal second in popularity with soccer at 18%.In stark contrast, around as half as many Americans went cycling in 2009 as compared to ten years earlier,with the result thatit became less popular than camping, at 7% and 9%respectively.Likewise, the number of people who went jogging and did aerobics alsodropped significantly, with less than 5% ofrespondents to the surveychoosing them.Bottom of Form