Today I’m going to show you some strategies to write a column graph which is a common figure in IELTS Writing Task 1. Following this post, you will be able to deal with writing a column graph effectively. As you know, you need to practice a lot to develop your writing skills, you can follow the strategies/techniques in this post for your better preparation. There are two model answers for this column graph in this post.

Let’s look at the title first.

The graph shows the change in attitudes to different pastimes among young people in Merryland.

Now, please take a close look at this dissected picture again. I’m going to show you some crucial points here.

Important trends and points on the picture:

Before you start writing answers for this graph, you need to scan the picture for 2/3 minutes and consider the following points to include in your writing.

• • The red line indicates that watching TV shows an upward trend.
  • The same happens for playing card games as the green line also indicates an upward trend.
  • The blue line indicates that chats with friends lost popularity.
  • The sky-blue line indicates that other activities also show a downward trend.
  • The two black dots with orange lines indicate that chats with friends lost their popularity by 50% or half.
  • The bold pink arrow indicates that 49% is the highest figure in this graph.
  • The timeline shows that two years are past years (1980, 2000). So, we need to write details for these times in the past tense. The final year (2020) is a future time. So, we need to write details for this time in the future tense.
  • You have more than enough information here to cover more than 150 words. So, if you want to include a general/overall trend for the graph, you need not include any conclusion. Just like the same way, if you include a conclusion, you need not include any general/overall trend. For this reason, I’ll provide two model answers below; one with a general/overall trend and the other with a conclusion.

Model Answer 1: (with a general/overall trend)

The illustrated line graph depicts some numeric data on the change in attitudes to four types of a pastime among young people over a 40-year timeline in Merryland. Overall, pastimes like watching TV and playing bar games gain popularity while chats with friends and other activities show a collapse during this timeline.

As is seen in the graph, the most popular pastime for young people was playing bar games in 1980 and 34% of people pursued it. Watching TV was in the second position with 2% less than bar games. Chats with friends and other activities were not as popular as the two other activities. Only 19% enjoyed the former and 17% enjoyed the latter. After 20 years of watching TV and playing bar games gained more popularity with 41% and 36% respectively. An opposite trend was observed for chats with friends and other activities with 12% and 11% correspondingly.

It is expected that the same trend will continue in 2020. Watching TV will gain further popularity with 49% while playing bar games will achieve 39%. Chats with friends will plummet by half whereas other activities will drop to 7% only.

(192 words)

Model Answer 2: (with a conclusion)

The illustrated line graph depicts some numeric data on the change in attitudes to four types of a pastime among young people over a 40-year timeline in Merryland.

As it is seen in the graph, the most popular pastime for young people was playing bar games in 1980 and 34% of people pursued it. Watching TV was in the second position with 2% less than bar games. Chats with friends and other activities were not as popular as the two other activities. Only 19% enjoyed the former and 17% enjoyed the latter. After 20 years of watching TV and playing bar games gained more popularity with 41% and 36% respectively. An opposite trend was observed for chats with friends and other activities with 12% and 11% correspondingly.

It is expected that the same trend will continue in 2020. Watching TV will gain further popularity with 49% while playing bar games will achieve 39%. Chats with friends will plummet by half whereas other activities will drop to 7% only.

In summary, pastimes like watching TV and playing bar games gain popularity while chats with friends and other activities show a collapse during this timeline.

(193 words)

Bonus tips:

Always try to find out some key points like the highest or lowest figures in the chart/graph/table. It will help you if you are short of words when writing.

Click here for Cambridge 12 Test 5 Writing Task 1 answers with solutions

Cambridge 12 Test 5 Speaking answers with solutions

Click here for Cambridge 12 Test 5 Reading Passage 1 answers with solutions

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Click here for Cambridge 12 Test 5 Reading Passage 3 answers with solutions

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