IELTS. Academic Writing. Завдання 1. Кругова діаграма

Графік, який називається Pie Chart, нескладно описувати. Ці графіки, як правило, дуже наочні та гранично прості. Головне, на що вам потрібно звернути увагу при описі такого графіка, – це те, як правильно англійською говорити про відсотки, процентне співвідношення і дроби. Це ми і розглянемо детальніше. 

Pie Chart
You will be given one or more pie charts. You task is to describe the information given in the graph by writing a 150 word report. You are not asked to give your opinion. You should spend around 20 minutes on the task.

What is being tested is your ability to:

• objectively describe some graphic information
• compare and contrast
• report on an impersonal topic without the use of opinion
• use the language of graph description

Щоб мати уявлення про те, як описати такий графік, ознайомитися з основною лексикою і дізнатися парочку корисних порад, подивіться це відео:
 

Для того, щоб опис вашого графіка відповідав вимогам і стандартам тесту IELTS, дотримуйтеся таких принципів: 

• Спочатку пишіть про найважливіші моменти, вкажіть головні відомості

These will be the largest ones.  As you can see in the model answer, definite job, looking for work, and formal study were all written about first, in order of importance, as these are the main reasons that were chosen for moving.
Items such as ‘other’ are usually less important and account for small amounts, so can be left till the end.

• Зробіть текст легким для сприйняття 

When you write a task 1, you should always group information in a logical way to make it easy to follow and read. 
With an IELTS pie chart, the most logical thing to do is usually to compare categories together across the charts, focusing on similarities and differences, rather than writing about each chart separately. 
If you write about each one separately, the person reading it will have to keep looking between the paragraphs in order to see how each category differs.

• Намагайтеся використовувати різноманітну лексику 

As with any task 1, this is important.  You should not keep repeating the same structures.  The key language when you write about pie charts is proportions and percentages.
Common phrases to see are "the proportion of…" or "the percentage of…"
However, you can also use other words and fractions. These are some examples from the model answer:
A large number of people
over a quarter of people
a small minority
A significant number of people
less than a fifth

This table presents some examples of how you can change percentages to fractions or ratios:
 

If the percentages are not exact as above, then you can use qualifiers to make sure your description remains accurate. Here are some examples:

• 77% -   just over three quarters
• 77% -  approximately three quarters
• 49%  -  just under a half
• 49% -  nearly a half
• 32%  -  almost a third

And here are some examples of how you can change percentages to other phrases:

• 75% - 85%  -  a very large majority 
• 65% - 75% -   a significant proportion 
• 10% - 15%  -  a minority 
• 5%  -  a very small number 

The words above are interchageable, though number is for countable nouns and amount is for uncountable nouns.
Розглянемо приклад такого графіка і опису до нього

Sample task
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information in the graphs below.
Write at least 150 words.

Sample answer 
The pie charts compare the highest level of education achieved by women in Someland across two years, 1945 and 1995. It can be clearly seen that women received a much higher level of education in Someland in 1995 than they did in 1945.

In 1945 only 30% of women completed their secondary education and 1% went on to a first degree. No women had completed post-graduate studies. This situation had changed radically by 1995. In 1995, 90% of women in Someland had completed secondary education and of those, half had graduated from an initial degree and 20% had gone on to postgraduate studies. At the other end of the scale we can see that by 1995 all girls were completing lower secondary, although 10% ended their schooling at this point. This is in stark contrast with 1945 when only 30% of girls completed primary school, 35% had no schooling at all and 35% only completed the third grade.

In conclusion, we can see that in the 50 years from 1945 to 1995 there have been huge positive developments to the education levels of women in Someland.

Teacher's comments on the sample answer

“The report structure is clear and well organised with an introduction, body and conclusion. The candidate uses a variety of grammatical structures and vocabulary so that the writing is not repetitive. In terms of task requirements, the report meets the word limit. Although the candidate has not included every figure presented in the charts, the answer does accurately reflect the content of the graphic material and gives a strong impression of the trend of change in the education of women which is the main point of the comparison of those particular charts. The sample answer above is therefore a very good one.”

А ось тут можна подивитися приклад опису Pie Chart, який можна оцінити в 9 балів – найвищий бал. 

Отже, подивившись на приклад, можемо зазначити, що для опису такого графіка вам слід також згадати порівняльні форми прикметників і парочку граматичних конструкцій, які дозволяють порівнювати одне явище з іншим.

Comparing and contrasting

One syllable
Adjectives with one syllable form their comparatives and superlatives like this:
Positive    Comparative    Superlative
cheap       cheaper           cheapest
large         larger               largest
bright        brighter            brightest
 

Exceptions:
good    better    best
bad    worse    worst

Two syllables
Some adjectives with two syllables form their comparatives and superlatives like this:
Positive    Comparative    Superlative
pretty        prettier            prettiest
happy        happier           happiest

But many form their comparatives and superlatives like this:
striking    more striking    most striking
Although some can form their comparatives and superlatives like this:
common    more common                most common
clever        more clever / cleverest    most clever / cleverest

Three or more syllables
All adjectives with three or more syllables form their comparatives and superlatives like this:
Positive       Comparative         Superlative
attractive      more attractive     most attractive
profitable      more profitable      most profitable
expensive    more expensive     most expensive

А ось деякі корисні конструкції: 

Describing one part of the chart

Starting with the adjective:

Starting with the subject:

Describing two parts of the chart

Starting with the adjective:
 

Starting with the subject:

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Корисну лексику можна почерпнути з цього відео: 

Детально розібраний приклад такого завдання в цьому відео: 

Велику кількість прикладів можна знайти тут. Я закликаю вас до того, щоб переглянути якомога більше прикладів. Тоді у вас в запасі буде багато варіантів, як порівняти, зазначити основні тенденції, виділити деякі аспекти в описі графіка.