COURSE: IELTS 6.

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Writing: IE CHART
LECTURE
I. Definition
A pie chart is a circular chart divided into sectors, illustrating numerical proportion.
In a pie chart, the curved length of each sector (and consequently its central angle and area), is proportional to the
quantity it represents. While it is named for its resemblance to a pie which has been sliced, there are variations on
the way it can be presented.
There are examples of pie charts. There is single chart, group chart and sometimes, you have to compare two
single charts.

II. Reading pie chart

Color and length of the columns
➢ The highest/ the longest
➢ The lowest / the shortest
➢ The similarities
➢ The differences

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III. Practice

Questions:
1. How many activities are there in each chart?
2. Are the activities the same in each chart?
3. Are there any changes in popularity between the two years?
Answers:
1. There are 8 activities for each year
2. 7 of 8 activities are the same
3. There are a number of differences in popularity between the two years.

Introduction and overview :

“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.”

Data needed:

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 ➢ Select and report the most important details.
- the biggest number
- the smallest number
➢ Consider what changes
- what’s gone up
- what’s gone down
- what hasn’t changed
- what’s new
➢ decide details concluded
- walking is most popular in both periods
- yoga disappears and weightlifting is new
- swimming doubles
- aerobics, jogging and cycling all fall
- soccer and camping don’t change much

Organizing our report:

- highlight the main points – they come first
- group similar ideas together
- and find a logical structure to present the points

Body paragraph 1:
- walking is much the biggest slice of the pie in both years
- weightlifting is new and yoga has gone
Sample:
“It 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.”

Body paragraph 2:
- other activities in order of popularity in 2009 – soccer and swimming first, jogging and aerobics last
- the biggest changes – cycling, jogging and aerobics all big fallers, swimming the big riser
Sample:
“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

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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%.:

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 HOMEWORK

Practice 1:
Look at the following pie charts and decide if the sentences are true or false.

1) The pie charts show how many people listened to music in 2000 and 2010. ......
2) The pie charts show the proportion of songs played on different formats in 2000 and 2010. ......
3) More people listened to music on radio in 2010 than in 2000. ......
4) In 2000 nearly a third of songs were played on cassette tape but this amount decreased to about two per cent in
2010. ......
5) The proportion of people listened to music on CD was about the same in 2000 and 2010. ......
6) There was a slight increase in the number of people listening to music on MP3 player from 2000 to 2010. ......
7) In 2000 no one used the Internet to listen to music but in 2010 people used the Internet to listen to a quarter of
the total songs. ......
8) In 2010 approximately half of the songs were played using two formats: MP3 player and CD. ......
9) From 2000 to 2010 the number of people listening to music on radio decreased by just over 25 percent. ......
10) From 2000 to 2010 the number of people listening to music on radio decreased to approximately half. ......

Practice 2:
The two pie charts below show the online shopping sales for retail sectors in Canada in 2005 and 2010.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where
relevant.

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ANSWER KEYS
Practice 1
1. F
2. T
3. T
4. F
5. T
6. F
7. T
8. T
9. T
10. T

Practice 2
Model answer

The two pie charts compare the percentages of online sales across different retail sectors in Canada in the years
2005 and 2010. For three of the sectors, it is evident that over this time frame there was significant change in their
proportion of online transactions.

At 35% we can see that electronics and appliance sector accounted for the majority of online sales in 2005, but this
percentage had dropped to 30% by 2010. During the same five-year period, as an increasing number of people
chose to purchase food and beverage online, we can see that transactions went from just 22% to 32%, making it
the retail sector with the largest overall proportion of the online market.

In 2005, the home furnishing industry boasted an impressive 25% of the total online sales in Canada. However, by
2010, the figure had fallen considerably to 15%. Interestingly, online sales of video games eventually overtook
sales of home furnishings, although video games still represented only 23% of the market