WRITING TASK 1 ACADEMIC

BAR GRAPH
PREPARED BY HAM VILORIA
• TASK : Writing a report describing the
information in a bar graph. (Statistical Writing)

• Minimum number of words: 150

• Maximum number of words: preferably 200

• Time alloted : 20 minutes of the entire

60 minutes for the writing test

• Value: 33.3% of your grade in writing

 GENERAL RULE

• No opinion
• No analysis
• No interpretation
• Limited to descriptions

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU WRITE,

NOTHING MORE.
 CRITERIA
TASK ACHIEVEMENT & RESPONSE
 Were you able to write a complete description within 40 minutes or less, with
the introduction, body, and conclusion present? Did it reach 250 words and
not exceed 300?
 Did you write a content adequately answering the questions in the given
task?
COHERENCE & COHESION
 Is your description understandable?
 Are the ideas presented properly justified and support each other that they do
not beat around the bush?

VOCABULARY & LEXICAL RANGE

 Did you commit overuse of specific terms that they appear numerously
noticeable throughout the essay?

GRAMMAR ACCURACY
 Were the sentences grammatically written that the meaning are still clear?
 Considerations: Subject-Verb Agreement, Verb Consistency, Preposition Use,
Pronoun Use. Punctuations!
 CRITERIA
Task Achievement and Task Response
Coherence and Cohesion
Vocabulary and Lexical Resource
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Finish the task
• Reach the minimum number of words
• Fully and appropriately answer the
questions
Organization of Essay
Correct usage of words (big vs. small)
• Words should not be repetitive,
redundant
• Sentence structure should be varied
4 common areas of Difficulty:
• S-V agreement
• Pronoun use
• Consistency of Verb Tenses
• Prepositions
• Syntax (sentence level)
FORMAT AND LAYOUT

• Do not write a title anymore

• Do not rewrite the Task Description on the
answer sheet
• Count the words per line multiply by how
many lines were used
• No contractions, no abbreviations
o Don’t – do not
o Shouldn’t – should not
o w/ - with
o e.g. – example
Observe right and left margins of the answer
sheet.

Do not split words into two to avoid getting deduc-

tions.

Leave one space after each paragraph. Word

insertionsareaccepted. When you commit a mistake,
simply cross out with one line or use the eraser.
Use either cursive or print but never ALL CAPS.
 PARTS OF THE REPORT
I. Introduction
• Paraphrase the Task Description (expressing
the same idea using your own words) which is
located either at the top or bottom of the page
and is usually 2-3 sentences.
• If without time element – present tense; if
with time element – past tense (except in the
introduction)
• No numbers yet, present them in the body
• Include the time element (when),
place (where), and the participants (who)
 NEVER WRITE A GENERAL INTRODUCTION
(IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO FAIL)

 The figures on the graph reveal significant

Information on/about…
 The figures on the graphs are numbers/
Percentage rates describing the…
 PARTS OF THE REPORT

II. SPECIFIC DETAILS / BODY

• 1 chart = 1 paragraph
• Never start a sentence with a number or a percent
 49% of the male population were internet users.
 The number of male internet users was at 49% last 2014
• Use symbols (%) for digits, use words (percent) for words
 10 percent, ten %
 10%, ten percent
• Always label (120,000 males, 55% of the market shares
• Write big numbers and years in digits and not in words
(50,000 vs. fifty thousand; 1986 vs. nineteen eighty six)
 TECHNIQUES FOR BAR GRAPH

• Notice the differences in the bars

• Trends first before numbers/figures
• Use numbers to support trends
• Maximum of 15 figures
• Compare data whenever possible
• Do not express all data in numbers
 Approximately, about, around, almost,
nearly, more than, less than
 PARTS OF THE REPORT

III. GENERAL / OVERALL TREND / CONCLUSION

• General trend of the graphs

• 2-3 sentences
• No numbers
 NEVER WRITE A PREPARED TEMPLATE
(IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO FAIL)

• To sum up, a quick glance at the graphs

would lead one to conclude that…
• In summary, a bird’s eye view of the graph
reveals…
• As can be seen in the graphs presented, the
overall trend shows that…
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The chart below shows the results of a survey of adult education. It shows the reasons
why adults decide to study.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information below.

Write at least 150 words.

The bar graph depicts a research on adult education. From the graph, it can be seen
that there are numerous reasons why people go back to school.

Most of the correspondents choose to go back to school because of interest in subject

with 40%. A large portion of 38% say that they are back in school to amass more
merits for employment, while only 22% are studying again to get a leverage in their
current job. It is interesting to note that the same number of people (20%) claim that
they study because they enjoy learning or they would want to get promoted someday.
Only 12% pursue more units to change their job, and 9% are only doing this for social
reasons.

One may conclude that the subjects have differing reasons in going back to school.
Most people go back to school because they show great interest in the subject. Only
a minute portion of the sample claim that they return to school to meet new people.