By English Test Coach · Updated
All sample answersAcademic Task 1 · 164 words
Evening classes: compare categories, not time
Group six enrolment totals into useful comparisons without inventing a trend or treating registrations as distinct people.
Study the method: Bar charts: compare categories and distinguish changes over time →
Worked example: Match the verb to a combined total or separate figures →
Band 7 goal: Data comparisons
Develop and connect relevant ideas or select and compare the most useful details. This is a study route, not an examiner score assigned to the answer. How IELTS Writing is assessed.
The question
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.
The sample answer
The bar chart compares the number of enrolments in six types of evening class at a community centre in 2025. The figures count registrations, and an individual may enrol in more than one class.
Overall, fitness and languages recorded the highest totals and together accounted for half of all enrolments. Computing had the smallest number, while the remaining categories occupied the middle of the range.
Fitness attracted 120 enrolments, which was 30 more than languages and four times the computing figure. Languages had 90 registrations, followed by cookery at 75 and arts at 60. The gap between cookery and arts was therefore 15 enrolments, half the difference between the two largest categories.
Music and computing recorded 45 and 30 enrolments respectively. Their combined total of 75 equalled cookery alone, while arts had twice as many registrations as computing. Across all six categories, there were 420 enrolments; fitness and languages contributed 210 of these, matching the combined total for the other four types of class.
Vocabulary in context
Each phrase appears in the answer above. Learn how it works, not just a replacement word.
- accounted for half
- Made up 50 percent of a specified total.
Name the total being compared; here 210 of 420 enrolments, not half of unique residents.
- four times
- A value four times as large as another.
Fitness has 120 enrolments and computing 30. Avoid the ambiguous expression four times higher.
- their combined total
- The sum of two or more named values.
Make the reference clear: music and computing together total 75.
Now make it your own
Write an overview without using rose, fell or increased. Then write one accurate ratio comparison and explain why enrolments cannot be called distinct people.
For a smaller practice step, use the explanation, knowledge check and self-review exercise in Select and compare visual information.
The practice link opens the original question, not a copy of this answer.
Open the writing workspaceMore examples of this question type
Give an overview of the main patterns and support selected comparisons with accurate figures and units.