Are you worried about your IELTS score? Well, with proper preparation and strategy you will definitely score your desired band scale. Simply pay attention to each section of IELTS.

Let’s discuss writing task 1 of IELTS here.

IELTS Writing task 1 includes tables, graphs, pie charts, and diagrams. Candidates have to write a short note of 150 words using that data. Do you think solving pie charts is hard? Well, it is not. With proper understanding and practice, you will be able to solve it easily.

In this article, you will find how to solve pie chart question-type and accurate pie chart vocabulary to score a perfect band scale. You will also find solved questions to boost your IELTS preparation.

IELTS: A Brief Overview

IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System. A standardized English test aims to test the English proficiency of non-native speakers. Candidates often take IELTS to move abroad for higher studies, jobs, or work purposes. A reliable and accurate test is accepted by 11,000+ organizations.

The British Council, IDP, jointly manages this test: IELTS Australia and Cambridge Assessment English. Today it is one of the popular and widely accepted English language tests. It is accepted by different English speaking nations like Australia, British, Canada, Europe, Ireland, etc. Moreover, it is also accepted by most of the countries for immigration, visa and permanent resident ship purposes.

Types of IELTS

There are two types of IELTS based on the purpose:

# General Training Test: Candidates often take the General Training Test when they want to move to a foreign country for work or business purposes.

#Academics Test: candidates who want to move to foreign countries for higher studies or professional certificates take this test.

Sections of IELTS: Academics and General Training Test

There are four sections in both types:

# Listening: This section tests the listening ability of the candidates. This includes four sections with 10 questions each.

# Reading: The Reading section tests the English reading skills of the candidate. Both the Academic and General Reading section consists of three long texts.

# Writing: The writing task consists of two parts. In academics, candidates have to describe a graph, table, chart, pie chart or diagram in their words. In addition, write a discussion about their view, argument, problem, etc.

In the general training test, they have to write a letter and an essay on general interest.

# Speaking: The speaking section is common for both types. It includes three parts:  Introduction, Cue card and debate or discussion.

IELTS Academics Writing Task 1

IELTS Academics writing task 1 includes a graph, chart, pie chart, or diagram for which candidates have to give a 150-word description. Here we will discuss Pie chart types of questions.

Also Read: How to Get Band 9 in IELTS in Writing Task 1? An Ultimate Guide for Preparation

IELTS Pie Chart: Introduction

Pie Chart is a type of circular graph that is divided into different sectors according to a fraction of each section. A full circle represents 100% and each data is converted into percent and then represented as the pie slices.

IELTS Pie Chart is a part of IELTS Academic Writing task 1. Here you are expected to write a summary based on the data given in the pie chart.

How to Describe Pie Chart in IELTS Writing Task 1?

Follow these steps to answer a Pie chart type of question.

#1. Analyze the Question

First, analyze the question and give data carefully.

Each question has three parts:

Part 1: It carries a brief description of the graph.

Part 2: This part carries full instructions.

Part 3:  This part is the graph itself.

You have to understand the themes of the graph and then write about it. Moreover, you can write comparisons of different data wherever possible.

#2. Understand the Themes

The pie chart graphs are easy to interpret. This aims to test your English language skills. It shows percentages or proportions. You need to understand the graph by looking for its main features.

You can look for these aspects:

# What is the graph representing?

# What are the units of measurement used?

# What do the different sections of the pie chart represent?

Here you can see the pie chart is talking about

#3. Answer Structure

The whole essay must include these four paragraphs:

# Introduction

# Overview

# 1st detailed paragraph

# 2nd detailed paragraph

Answer Structure: IELTS Pie Charts

To understand how to solve this type of question let us take the help of an example:

The pie charts below show the most common advantages and disadvantages of Bowen Island, according to a survey of visitors.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

pie chart vocabulary

Introduction

The introduction includes basic information about the whole data. You can also include a brief overview of the data. Do not include your opinion, just state the given data.

The two pie charts above illustrate the aspects of tourism of Bowen Island. It lists the major advantages and disadvantages of the island.

Overview

The second paragraph includes a brief overview of the chart. It should include the main features of the data. For example, here we can write about what are the biggest advantages and disadvantages.

Bowen Island has different aspects that tourists enjoy but approximately three-quarters of them enjoy scenery and people. Other aspects of the Island that tourists enjoy is its accommodation which accounts for more than 11% and its rich culture accounting for 12%.

First Detailed Paragraph

This paragraph includes other relevant information about the graph. Either includes other aspects of the graph or give evidence to support the information.

However, Bowen Island has many disadvantages too, which makes it far from being a perfect tourist destination. Approximately three-quarters of the tourists dislike the high cost of living here. The other important disadvantages are the entertainment, food quality and weather.

Second Detailed Paragraph

The fourth and last paragraph concludes the essay well.

To conclude, it can be said that scenery and people attract the majority of the tourism in Bowen Island. However, this island has many negative aspects that tourists dislike such as high cost of living, lack of entertainment, poor food quality, etc.

Also Read: IELTS Pie Chart: Tips for writing a band 7, 8, or 9 chart descriptions

IELTS Writing Task 1 Pie Chart Vocabulary

IELTS writing test is marked on these basics:

# Grammatical Range and Accuracy

# Task Achievement

# Lexical Resource

# Coherence and Cohesion

Lexical Resource determines 25% of your score in Task 1. Therefore, it is very important to include a range of vocabulary in your essay. You should:

# Use synonyms

# Wide range of vocabulary

# don’t repeat any sentence from the question

# Use difficult and uncommon vocabulary

# Don’t overuse any word.

Introduction

Generally, the introduction rephrases the given question. You can use these words:

Start Type Verb Describe
The/ the given / the presented / the shown / the provided Pie chart Shows/represents/depicts/enumerate/illustrates/presents/ives/provides/describes/outlines/expresses/denote/compares/presents information about/shows data about/sketch out/summaries The comparison of…

the differences…

the changes…

the number of…

information on…

data on…

the proportion of…

the amount of…

information on…

data about…

comparative data…

the trend of…

the percentages of…

the ratio of…

how the…

Words Used to Express Percentages

Percentage Alternative Word
10% One In Ten
20% A Fifth
25% A Quarter
50% Half
75% Three –Quarter
80% Four-Fifth
32% Almost A Third
49% Just Under A Half
77% Approximately Three Quarter
77% Just Over Three Quarter
15% A Small Minority
70% A Significant Majority
71% A Large Proportion
96% A Significant Majority
85% Well Over Three Quarters
72% Slightly Less Than Three Quarters
53% More Than Half
48% Almost A Half
23% Just Under A Quarter
6% A Small Proportion

Words to Use

For Adding For Showing Cause And Effect For Comparing For Giving Example
Also Therefore Similarly For Example
Moreover Thus Likewise For Instance
Furthermore Consequently In The Same Way Such As
Additionally Hence Namely
Besides As A Result In Other Words
In Addition However

 

For Generalizing For Indicating Time For Emphasizing For Concluding
On The Whole In The Past Above All In Conclusion
In General Not So Long Ago Specially Finally
Broadly Speaking Recently In Particular To Sum It Up
As A Rule Specifically In The End
In Most Cases As A Matter Of Fact To Conclude
In Addition More Importantly In Short

 

For Contrasting For Sequencing
However Firstly
Although Afterwards
Whereas First Of All
Despite This Fact Later
On One Hand To Being With
On The Other Hand In The Beginning
On The Contrary Once Upon A Time
Still Secondly
In Contrast Thirdly
Nonetheless Subsequently
Instead Earlier
Alternatively Meanwhile

Other Important Words for IELTS Pie Charts

Rise(Verb) Rise(Noun) Fall(Verb) Fall(Noun) Fluctuate
Climb

Increase

Improve

Jump

Leap

Move Upward

Rocket

Skyrocket

Soar

Shoot Up

Pick Up

Sure

Recover

Increase

Climb

Jump

Leap

Pick Up

Sure

Growth

Collapse

Decline

Decrease

Deteriorate

Dip

Dive

Drop

O Down

Plummet

Plunge

Slide

Slip

Slump

Take A Nosedive

Decline

Decrease

Deterioration

Dip

Drop

Plunge

Free Fall

Slide

Slip

Dive

Reductive

Slump

Be Erratic

Be Fitful

Vary

Rise And Fall

Erratically

Also Read: How to Describe a Pie Chart in IELTS Writing Task 1?

Sample IELTS Pie Chart with Answers

Sample Question 1

The pie graphs below show the result of a survey of children’s activities. The first graph shows the cultural and leisure activities that boys participate in, whereas the second graph shows the activities in which the girls participate.

Write a report describing the information shown in the two pie graphs.

Write at least 150 words.

IELTS Pie Chart with Answers

 Sample Answer

The above pie charts illustrate a survey of boys and girls’ cultural and leisure activities.

Both sexes enjoy Listening to music and reading. Both enjoy listening to music in equal quantities. Almost a quarter of girls enjoy reading but only a minority of boys enjoy it.

The majority of boys enjoy playing Computer games. Then more than a quarter of boys love basketball. Other activities that boys enjoy are soccer by 17%, skateboarding by 11% and listening to music by 10%. An almost insignificant population of boys enjoys reading.

If we analyze the second pie chart we can conclude that the majority of girls enjoy dancing. Then around more than a fifth of all girls enjoy reading. The other popular activities enjoyed by girls are computer games and netball by 16% and 15% respectively. Some other unpopular activities are gymnastics, listening to music by 11% and 10% respectively.

Sample Question 2

The pie charts below show the devices people in the 18 to 25 age group use to watch television in Canada in two different years.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

IELTS writing task 1

Sample Answer

The above pie charts illustrate the devices used by young people in Canada to watch Television shows and their transition from 2009 to 2019.

One of the major changes in the given period is the usage of conventional TV declining from 34% to 4% in 2009 and 2019 respectively. In addition, the use of flat-screen TV jumped to 27% from 8% in 2019 and 2009 respectively.

Another major trend shift is the use of desktop computers that declined from 18% to 12%. In addition, laptop usage drops from 20% to 12%. Moreover, the use of mobile phones to watch television programs peaked from 15% to more than a quarter. In addition, tablet use jumped from 5% to 19% from 2009 to 2019.

To conclude, we can say that young adults in Canada changed their preference from older devices to modern devices.

Do It Yourself

#1. You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The charts below show the reasons why people travel to work by bicycle or by car.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant

Write at least 150 words.

Pie chart

Also Read: IELTS Writing Task 1 Academic Sample Questions: Here’s Your Way to Boost-up Your IELTS Preparation

Conclusion

The IELTS Pie chart is an interesting type of question. You can easily ace it by practising solving similar questions. Don’t mention unnecessary details or your personal opinion in the essay, just state the facts. Moreover, ensure using rich vocabulary to score a perfect band scale.

In addition, for more such IELTS preparation and other materials visit IELTS Ninja. This website has the best IELTS online courses at a reasonable price, one-on-one interaction with the professional, and other relevant information.

Also Read: IELTS  Writing Task 1 Academic Topics 2021: A Complete Guide to Writing Preparation

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