Exam question The bar chart shows the amount of money spent on two types of electronic items in country X. Summarise the information in the chart by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant. 60 Computers @& Smartphones 50 40 Sales (million 30 dollars) 20 10 0 1 2011 2012 2013 2014 Year The chart gives information about |how much money was. According to the chart, there were upward trends in spending on both items. ($45 million dollars in 2015. Although they are still less than the value of computer sales, they are only $5 million behind. People’s total expenditure on these electronic devices rose dramatically in this period. Overall, the sales of both of these items grew, but smartphone 'sales grew more quickly.|If these trends continue, we can. expect smartphone sales to overtake computer sales in 2016 | or soon after. Top Tips for writing 4. To sum up, REE the most important things the information shows. You can also say what is likely to happen in the future. S. Don’t try to explain the chart. In this type of exam question you just have to describe what happened, not say why it happened.Exam question The graph shows information about technology usage in the UK over time. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant. 100 -s-use the internet -euse social media “own a smartphone “have broadband at home —*-own a tablet Percentage of population own a smartwatch 2000 2005 2010 2015 Year ‘The graph shows the rate at which British people adopted new technology over a 15-year period from 2000 to 2015. The figures are given as percentages of the population. in the UK were online by 2015. The figures for having broadband in the home, ownership of a smartphone and use of social media platforms were all high that year feo, st around 7D ta 80 (per cent) and|nearly half the popullation owned a tablet |The only exception {to this is smartwatch ownership, which remained comparatively low at 5 per cent. If we look at the trends over time, we can see that the uptake of new technology in this period. For example, internet usage and social media usage(grew strikingly by 78 percentage points. Smartphones and tablets appeared in 2010 and,|Similarly) these followed a However, for some products, the graph shows that growth after an initial Social media usage, for instance, was in 2005 and to 52 per cent in 2010, before to 80 percent in 2015. Also, broadband subscriptions by 30 percentage points every five years to 2010, but by after then.|In contrast, (the newer technologies such as tablets showed no sign of| (Ownership of all the technologies was increasing; it will be interesting to see when it Top Tips for writing 5.| Make comparisons between different features of the graph.|Exam question The charts show information about the reading habits of UK teenagers. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant. Figure 1: Teenagers’ favourite fiction genres Figure 2: Number of books by gender (United Kingdom, 2016) read monthly by young 20 people aged 13 to 19 in the 59 United Kingdom (2016) Fantasy Adventure Zz é s ® a Romange £1 a 32 Science fiction sas 2 2 22 War/spy stories Ron 30 3 3 m4 Myst Bat Bo4 ma YSIETY RRNMAMAAMMAMNVY 35 =Girls £ 4 1 10 ‘Boys £5 "2 Sports stories RRs... 30 " a) Hi a 611 UMOUT ASSAY 25 1 oe 6+ ml 10 Classic literature RSD Stl o wm 2» » 0 © © 7 Percentage of Percentage of respondents who like it respondents A ooeoeoyésd as irst gives a breakdown of and boys’ preferred n genres and the second tells us the number of books read per month. Overall) it is clear that) British boys and girls (BOthlliked reading many different genres. Several genres appealed equally to both sexes, but boys and oir's PEOTSIRERSR REESE in some types of story. With regard to]how much they read, the vast majority of young people read at least one book a month, but the actual number SSSA en oeSGaISREEOS Looking at Figure 1 more closely, we can see that fantasy and adventure were ihe RECESSES They were enjoyed by more than half of all male and female respondents (56 to 60%). Science fiction was also liked by a fairly equal number of both sexes. clear differences in readership. romance, five per cent saying they liked it. Classic literature also had a mainly female readership. with war/spy stories and sports stories, which were! (Encouragingly) Figure 2 Shows that about 85% of young people in the UK read regularly. (Mostof them (32%) read only one book a month, but a fairly large number read two or three books. After that, the number of readers became progressively smaller, falling to only one per cent who read six books per month. However, what stands out here is how many young people read more than six books: a(surprisingly large ten per cent. Top Tips for writing 1. Check the wording of the question. If it asks you to summarise or describe the data, you just need to select the most significant points and report them. You don’t need to interpret them or give reasons for them unless the question asks you to explain or comment on the data. 3. Use words and phrases to connect one idea to another and to change the topic smoothly when you introduce a new point. * Peta ire groupe wn UD ok Selereg ond renee 5. You can use adverbs to express an opinion about what you are describing.Exam question The bar chart below shows the number of men and women studying engineering at Australian universities. Summarise the information in the chart by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant. 16000 14000 12000 10000 annt = Men 6000 = Women 4000 2000 0 1992 2002 2012 Number of students studying engineering Year ‘The bar chart illustrates the number of men and women studying engineering at Australian universities between the years 1992 and 2012 at 10-year intervals. It can be seen that the number of male students fell slightly from. 14,000 in 1992 to 12,000 in 2002, and then remained level through the following decade. The number of female students is starting at 2,000 in 1992. Female students grew steadily by 2,000 each decade. This led to arise in the total number of engineering students from 16,000 to 18,000 in this period. Men continue to make up the majority of students. However, the proportion of female students increased sharply in this period. In 1992 there was one woman to every seven men, but by 2012 this had narrowed to one woman to every two men. Overall, we can see a clear upward trend|in the number of female engineering students in Australian universities, while the number of male students seems to have levelled off. dq Top Tips for writing 1, 2. 3 4. | Conclude by saying what the main trends or changes are.Exam question The pie chart below illustrates how internet users aged 16+ prefer to access the internet at home and in other places. Summarise the information in the pie chart by selecting and reporting the main features other 4% _] ona desktop i ts \ Shia er i on a smartphone — 33% [| ona tablet foc 19% ’ [] on a laptop one 20% the results of a survey in which|people | The question referred to going online at home and in other places. Participants mentioned four main devices in their answers: ‘just three per cent difference between the two. Nez arly a (third of participants prefer to go online with a smartphone. Thirty per cent like to use a laptop. Adesktop computer accounts for fourteen per cent of users’ preferred devices. Only a small minority prefer a device other than these main four. In conclusion, since mobile and portable devices are the most popular choices, it is clear that many participants are accessing the internet outside their homes. The desktop computer is the least popular of the four main devices. In future, we can probably expect to see more and more people accessing the internet with smartphones as their preferred choice. Top Tips for writing i. 2. a 4. Describe the key findings shown in the chart.|ded) aed ae DESCRIBING TRENDS babedascaheelneien OAs aaa (1 Verbs to describe \ Adverbs to describe... HOW? rise sharply quickly jump rapidly steeply grow climb go up increase rocker steadily CUD gradually i. { Verbs todescribe | mag ately fall ep *antly drop L slowly ) eciine f ~ decrease How to describe =», go down stay constant plunge remain + steady plummet maintain stable \ \ considerably significantly substantially © Woodward EnglishDescribing Trends WORD ORDER SUBJECT VERB ADVERB What happened? _Howdid it change? Sales fell slightly Prices dropped sharply Production rose steadily The percentage of x decreased significantly The number of x increased dramatically Remember: the verb is often in the past tense but always check this. THERE+BE+A ADJECTIVE NOUN There isa ‘slight rise in sales ... There was a | gradual fall in the price of x There has beena | dramatic drop in the rate ... There will bea steady decline inthe number...ADDING SEQUENCING | ILLUSTRATING and first, second, | forexample also third... such as as well as finally for instance moreover next in the case of too meanwhile | as revealed furthermore after by... additionally then illustrated by subsequently COMPARING | QUALIFYING | CONTRASTING similarly but whereas likewise however instead of as with although alternatively like unless otherwise equally except unlike inthe same apart from on the other way... as long as hand... if conversely CAUSE and EFFECT because so therefore thus consequently hence EMPHASISING above all in particular especially significantly indeed notablySEQUENCING ILLUSTRATING first, firstly, first of all for example second, secondly.. such as third for instance next in the case of meanwhile as shown by now illustrated by subsequently take... one example is.. COMPARING QUALIFYING CONTRASTING similarly but whereas likewise however alternatively as with although unlike like unless on the other hand equally except conversely in the same way apart from having said that as long as nevertheless if however CAUSE AND EFFECT SUMMARY because in short because of on the whole as a result of in other words consequently on the whole therefore overall thus generally owing to in general due to in briefNumberof times eaten per yer Consumption of Fast Food by Australian Teenagers —Piza ——Fishand Chips e= Hamburgers 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 200035% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Favourite leisure activities of teenagers in Canada Sports Computer Games Music Shopping m Boys ®@ GirlsThe chart below shows the percentage of people who ate five portions of fruit and vegetables per day in the UK from 2001 to 2008. 30 25 % 20 People 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Hz Men i Women i ChildrenTime spent on smartphones and tablets, by category Smartphones Tablets other, 5% lige ° news, 3% other, 8% utilities, 3% games, 35% music and news, 4% videos, 8% music and videos, utilities, 13% 20% social social networking, networking, 29% ()Consumer spending on home video entertainment (selected categories: USA, 2017) Total (all home video entertainment) LY ® 10% Subscriptions to video |] streaming sites/apps W® 32% DVD and Blu-ray sales Vv 14% DVD and Blu-ray rent- by-post services DVD and Blu-ray rentals from shops Vv 20% Vv 21% 0 5 10 15 20° Change Billions of dollars from 2016Average Attendance ‘000s 50,000 37,500 25,000 12,500 Average Attendance In Europe's Top 5 Football Leagues EC ——— 2011 2012 2013 Year 2014 2015 —— England — France —— Germany — ltaly — SpainConsumption of Fast Food by Australian Teenagers 120 + 100 @ a 5 80 a o g 60 —Pizza = : ca ——Fishand Chips = 40 - Hambur; i — gers E = Zz md o 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000Overseas visitors to three different areas in a European Thousands 80 - 70 - 60 - 50 - 40 - 20 4 10 — 0 | country between 1987 and 2007 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 ——the coast =——=the mountains ====the lakesReasons for cycling to work = Health and fitness = Less pollution = No parking problems = No costs = Faster than driving Reasons for driving to work = Comfort = Distance to work = Faster than cycling = Need to carry things to work = Safer than cycling