Writing Section

Line graphs and bar charts

Session 1
About the academic writing test
Academic Suggested Minimum
Description Marks
writing time length

Describing
Task 1 visual 20 minutes 150 words 1/2 of total
information

Expressing and
Task 2 justifying an 40 minutes 250 words 2/3 of total
opinion
Line graphs
Introductory verbs
Indicate The graph indicates the growth in the service sector and the decline in the
manufacturing sector.

Show This graph shows how two programs performed over a ten-year period.

Compare The graph compares changes in the annual rainfall in four cities.

Provide data This graph provides data about three trends: …, ..., and … .
Introductory verbs
Describing trends
UP

rise (v) Production costs rose to their highest level of the year in July.

rise (n)

go up (v) Between 1900 and 2000, the population went up by over a million people.

grow (v) The number of first-time users grew rapidly in 2015.

growth (n)

increase (v) The number of cyclists increased between 2005 and 2010.

increase (n)
Describing trends
UP

rise (v) Production costs rose to their highest level of the year in July.

rise (n) There was a rise in production costs to the highest level of the year in July.

go up (v) Between 1900 and 2000, the population went up by over a million people.

grow (v) The number of first-time users grew rapidly in 2015.

growth (n) There was a rapid growth in the number of first-time users in 2015.

increase (v) The number of cyclists increased between 2005 and 2010.

increase (n) There was an increase in the number of cyclists between 2005 and 2010.
Describing trends
DOWN

decline (v)

decline (n) There was a decline in the number of new homes for ten years in succession.

go down (v) After a brief rise, imports went down again.

decrease (v)

decrease (n) There was a decrease in test scores at three of the schools.

drop (v)

drop (n) In 2008, there was a drop in foreign investment of over 20%.

fall (v)

fall (n) There was a fall in the number of international students in 2013.
Describing trends
DOWN

decline (v) The construction of new homes declined for ten years in succession.

decline (n) There was a decline in the number of new homes for ten years in succession.

go down (v) After a brief rise, imports went down again.

decrease (v) Average test scores decreased at three of the schools

decrease (n) There was a decrease in test scores at three of the schools.

drop (v) In 2008, foreign investment dropped by over 20%.

drop (n) In 2008, there was a drop in foreign investment of over 20%.

fall (v) The number of overseas students fell in 2013.

fall (n) There was a fall in the number of international students in 2013.
Describing trends
SAME

stay the same (v) The company’s market share stayed the same.

remain constant (v) For three months, the percentage remained constant.

UP AND DOWN

fluctuate (v) The number of seasonal workers employed by the company fluctuates each year.

fluctuation (n) There have been fluctuations in the number of season workers employed by the
company.

go up and down (v) Fares have gone up and down over the last few months.
Describing trends
1. (rise / from ... to)

2. (climb to / by)

3. (fall to / in)

4. (a decline in / during)

5. (fluctuate / between ... and)

6. (level off / round)

7. (reach a peak / around)

8. (drop / after)

9. (stay the same / from ... to)

Adverbs and adjectives
UP OR DOWN QUICKLY

rapidly (adv) The number of smartphones in use has risen rapidly over the last years.

rapid (adj) In this decade, there was a rapid increase in smartphone use.

suddenly (adv) Employment figures dropped suddenly during the following years

sudden (adj) The next decade saw a sudden decrease in employment figures.

sharply (adv) The price textbooks rose sharply.

sharp (adj) There was a sharp rise in the price of textbooks.

dramatically (adv) Exports fell dramatically last year.

dramatic (adj) There was a dramatic fall in exports last year.

Adverbs and adjectives
UP OR DOWN QUICKLY

significantly (adv) Property taxes rose significantly in 2014.

significant (adj) There was a significant rise in property taxes in 2014.

steeply (adv) The number of people attending the event increased steeply in 2013.

steep (adj) The year 2013 saw a steep increase in the number of people attending the event.

major (adj) A major expansion of the company’s marketing department is expected in the next few
years.
Adverbs and adjectives
Bar graphs
Approximation

around The population grew by around a million people in that decade.

about According to the chart, about 45% of all people surveyed believe in UFOs.

roughly Roughly 300,000 units were manufactured in factory A in 2005.

approximately Approximately 4,000 more people attended this year’s parade.

almost The vacancy rate for hotel rooms is almost zero in August.

nearly Nearly 90% of people in the country agreed with this decision.

just over Just over 2.5 billion people worldwide own digital cameras.

just under This state has just under 300 days of sunshine a year.
Numbers and amounts

the number of The number of serious storms to affect New England rose to 21 this year,

the amount of The amount of natural gas produced this year increased sharply.

more than There was more rainfall in April than in May.

fewer than The chart indicates that fewer people visited this website in 2012 than in 2011.

less than The factory produced less pollution during 2010 than in the precious years.

(about) the same The amount of time it takes to complete task A is (about) the same as the amount of time it
as takes to complete task B.

twice as many as There were nearly twice as many accidents at the factory this year as last year.

twice as much as According to the chart, there was about twice as much coal mined in this country in the
1940s as in the 1990s.
Numbers and amounts

(nearly/almost) The amount of milk produced at this dairy farm nearly doubled over the five year period.
doubled The number of runners in the race almost doubled between 2000 and 2015.

half as many as There were only about half as many applications for jobs received in January as there had
been in July.

half as much as A dollar in 1980 was worth around half as much as it had been in 1967.

amount + times + There were, on average, about three times as many pages in newspapers in country A as
as many as in country B.

amount + times + There was around four times as much traffic in city X as in city Y.
as much as