By English Test Coach · Updated
Lesson 3 of 8 · Academic Task 1
Select and compare visual information
Build an overview, group useful comparisons and handle numbers accurately.
Read the frame before the figures
Identify the subject, units, categories and time span before writing. Percentages describe shares, not necessarily the number of people. A table comparing three towns at one point in time does not show a trend over time. Keep these distinctions in your planning notes so that you do not turn a snapshot into an increase or infer population totals from percentages alone.
Select an overview, then supporting detail
An overview describes the most important pattern: a dominant category, a major contrast or a clear change. Supporting paragraphs supply selected values and comparisons. Avoid describing every cell in the order it appears. Group towns with similar patterns or contrast the largest and smallest categories. An overview is not an opinion about whether the pattern is good, and explanations for causes should not be invented from a visual that does not show them.
Check the arithmetic and wording
If a share goes from 20% to 30%, the difference is 10 percentage points. Relative to the original 20%, it is a 50% increase. These are different statements, so name the measure you mean. When a chart can only be read approximately, use about or approximately rather than presenting false precision. Recheck every copied number and its category before submitting.
Worked example
Before
The share rose from 20% to 30%, an increase of 10%.
After
The share rose by 10 percentage points, from 20% to 30%.
The revision names the absolute difference between the two percentages. It avoids confusing that difference with the relative increase.
For a single-year example, use the bar-chart guide and original enrolment report. It shows why a difference between categories is not a change over time. For several series across years, use the line-graph guide and museum report to practise trends, ranking changes and careful numerical comparisons.
The pie-chart guide with household-spending data shows how to combine shares from the same year and group categories without inventing total expenditure.
For two sources with different units, the mixed-chart guide and regional-transport report connects journeys with fares while distinguishing comparison from an unsupported claim about cause.
Use this checklist
- Check units, categories and whether time actually changes.
- Write the main pattern without inventing causes.
- Support comparisons with accurate values and labels.
Practise the lesson
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Try it in your own writing
An original practice table shows travel shares in two fictional towns: Alder — car 55%, bus 25%, cycle 20%; Birch — car 35%, bus 45%, cycle 20%. Write a two-sentence overview. Do not infer population sizes or changes over time.
0/4,000 characters. This writing is not automatically marked.
- Did you identify the different leading modes?
- Did you include the unchanged comparison for cycling?
- Did you avoid claiming that any share increased over time?
Transfer the skill to a full response
Open a related original question and use the checklist. Your exercise text is not transferred or saved automatically; download your review before leaving.
Practise a related questionStudy the complete example: How people travel to work
Compare the technique from this lesson with a full response, then use the format guide to plan your own answer.