By English Test Coach · Updated
Academic Task 1 · Charts and data
Evening class enrolments
An original IELTS practice question with a planning route and a sample answer to learn from.
Aim for at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. Suggested practice level: foundation, not a predicted band.
Your writing task
The bar chart shows enrolments in six types of evening class at a community centre in 2025. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Open full-size diagram (new tab)Read the chart data as a table
These figures belong to the original English Test Coach practice visual. They are fictional teaching data, not measured statistics about real places.
| Class type | Enrolments |
|---|---|
| Fitness | 120 |
| Languages | 90 |
| Cookery | 75 |
| Arts | 60 |
| Music | 45 |
| Computing | 30 |
| Total enrolments | 420 |
These are registrations, not distinct people: one person may enrol in several classes. The chart gives one year only, so it shows differences between categories, not changes over time.
How to approach this question
Give an overview of the main patterns and support selected comparisons with accurate figures and units.
Bar charts: compare categories and distinguish changes over time →
Worked example: Match the verb to a combined total or separate figures →
Overview: fitness and languages have the largest enrolment totals, while computing has the fewest. This chart compares categories in one year, so a shorter bar is not a fall over time.
Detail grouping: compare fitness (120) and languages (90), then the middle and smaller categories. The six totals add to 420 enrolments; the largest two account for half. Registrations do not establish the number of distinct people or explain why a course has more enrolments.
These are possible directions, not required opinions or facts to memorise. Develop your own response and check every claim against the task.
A possible plan
- Introduction: identify what is shown, including the time period or stages where relevant.
- Overview: select the largest changes, main contrasts or overall process without inventing causes.
- Details 1: group related features and support them with accurate data, locations or stages.
- Details 2: cover the remaining main features and make relevant comparisons. Check units, dates and direction of change.
Vocabulary you can use precisely
Choose language that fits your meaning. You do not need to include every phrase.
- accounted for half
- Made up one half of a stated total.
Fitness and languages together accounted for half of the 420 enrolments.
- twice as many
- Double the number in a comparison.
Arts had twice as many enrolments as computing, at 60 and 30 respectively.
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