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IELTS Pie Chart for Academic Writing Task 1

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Task 1 Guide | Bar Chart | Line Graph | Pie Chart | Table | Diagram | Map | Table & Bar | Bar & Pie | Table & Pie | Compare Contrast | Identifying Trends

This Academic IELTS guide covers everything you need to know about IELTS pie charts with
sample questions designed to understand how to achieve full marks in the IELTS Academic
writing task 1.
1.

Table of Contents
1. IELTS Pie Chart Overview
1.1 Objective
1.2 Skills Used

2. IELTS Task 1 Pie Chart Questions

2.1 Pie Charts in the Same Year
2.2 Pie Charts in Different Years IELTS
IELTS WRITING
3. Structure for IELTS Pie Chart Questions
IELTS LISTENING
3.1 Introduction
IELTS SPEAKING
3.2 Overview
IELTS READING

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 IELTS PRACTICE TEST
3.3 Main Body Paragraphs
IELTS SAMPLE REPORTS
4. IELTS Writing Task 1 Band Descriptors Explained
IELTS SAMPLE ESSAYS
5. Vocabulary for IELTS Pie Charts
IELTS SAMPLE LETTERS
5.1 Vocabulary for Ratios
IELTS VOCABULARY
5.2 Percentages
IELTS GRAMMAR
5.3 Expressing Percentages with Similar Phrases
IELTS SCORE CALCULATOR
6. Grammar for IELTS Writing Task 1 Pie Chart
IELTS MOCK TEST
6.1 Tenses for IELTS Pie Charts

7. IELTS Writing Task 1 Pie Chart Sample Answer

7.1 Sample Answer Commentary

8. Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

8.1 Problem 1
8.2 Problem 2

9. Quiz- Check Your Understanding

1. IELTS Pie Chart Overview

A pie chart is a circular graph that is divided into sectors. Each sector represents a portion of
the whole, usually using percentages. In IELTS writing task 1,
1, you may be given two pie charts

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 from either the same year or different years.

1.1 Objective
The objective of this writing task question type is to produce a report that summarises and
compares the key features of the given pie charts.

You should only spend 20 minutes on this task and your report should be at least 150 words
(here is our guide on IELTS report length for writing task 1- suggested Academic Writing Task 1
word length

1.2 Skills Used

As with all IELTS writing task 1 questions, including Bar Graph,
Graph, Line Graph,
Graph, Table and Flow
Chart, you are being tested on your ability to select and summarise the main features of the
given charts. With IELTS pie charts, you should always compare the data in both charts where
appropriate.

An IELTS report should always be written using a formal register. This means that you should
not use informal language and you must not include your opinion…
opinion… stick to the facts (you
will be asked to give your opinion in IELTS writing task 2).
2).

2. IELTS Task 1 Pie Chart Questions

Here are some examples of the types of pie chart questions you might be given:

The pie charts show the main reasons for migration to and from the USA in 2018

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 Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make
comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words

2.2 Pie Charts in Different Years

The pie charts provide data about the 10 most popular university subjects at a New
York university in 2000 and 2010.

Summarise the charts by selecting and reporting the main features and make
comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words

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 Also, read the following IELTS Report Writing Guides

IELTS Bar Chart

Line Graph IELTS
Pie Chart for IELTS
IELTS Academic Table
IELTS Academic Process Diagram
Maps for IELTS

Combined - Table and Bar Chart

Combined - Bar Chart and Pie Chart
Combined - Table and Pie Chart

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 IELTS Writing Task 1 Guide

3. Structure for IELTS Pie Chart Questions

As with all other writing task 1 questions (bar charts; line graphs; process diagrams; maps) your
report for IELTS pie charts should always include an introduction
introduction,, an overview and two main
body paragraphs.
paragraphs.

The next three sections of this guide will go into more detail of what you should include in each
paragraph.

3.1 Introduction
All you need to do in your introduction for an IELTS pie chart question is to paraphrase the
IELTS statement and anything else the charts show, such as the units given ( e.g. ‘Units are

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 given in pound sterling).

Paraphrasing means that you put the statement in your own words whilst keeping the meaning
the same. You can do this in many ways, such as by using synonyms or similar expressions,
expressions,
by changing the word class (e.g. a verb to a noun), or by changing the sentence structure
in some way so that the sentence is still grammatically correct (e.g. changing the sentence from
the active to the passive voice). You do not have to change every word to paraphrase
successfully.

These are some possible ways you could start the introduction of a pie chart:

The pie chart shows…

The pie charts give information about…
The pie charts illustrate…

And here is an example of a paraphrased statement:

Original statement:
The pie charts show a breakdown of the top ten industries in which female and male graduates
gained employment in the USA in 2020.

Paraphrased statement:
The pie charts illustrate what percentage of men and women that graduated from an American
university in 2020 and found a job in a related industry.

These are the main changes that have been made:

The pie charts show…

The pie charts illustrate…

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 …which female and male graduates…
…what percentage of men and women…

…gained employment…
…found a job in a related industry…

3.2 Overview
Your overview paragraph of a sample IELTS report is very important as this is where you
summarise the main trends (you are looking for about two or three trends)
trends) shown in the pie
charts. Your overview should be about two or three sentences.

You should not go into detail just yet, you only need to summarise information that shows the
highest/lowest proportions in the charts, or biggest changes in the data.
data. There might also be
some exceptions to the main trends that stand out.

To make it clear to the examiner that this is your overview, start your first sentence with one of
the following:

Overall,…
Overall ,…
Broadly, it can be seen that..
that..

You may also use “In Summary” or “To summarise” but these are not very common.

To identify the main trends in the charts, consider asking yourself the following questions:

Which sector was the largest in the given years?

Which sector was the smallest?
Did each sector change a lot or a little in the given years?

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 Did any sectors increase or decrease over time?

3.3 Main Body Paragraphs

Your two main body paragraphs will go into detail about the key features you highlighted in your
overview. You need to refer to the data accurately – always include the units given in the
charts (e.g. %). You should also include the years for each sector you are describing.

Organise your main body paragraphs logically. For instance, one paragraph could focus on the
first chart, and the second paragraph on the second chart. Make sure to include some
comparisons between the charts.

It is also important that you use the correct tense, for example:
example:

Pie chart in the past:

past: The proportion of energy produced by solar was 20% in 2010.
Pie chart in the future:
future: The proportion of energy produced by solar will increase by 50% by 2050.

4. IELTS Writing Task 1 Band Descriptors

Explained
Our section on IELTS Writing Band descriptors gives you all the information you need for IELTS
Academic writing task 1.

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 5. Vocabulary for IELTS Pie Charts

5.1 Vocabulary for Ratios

You can use a range of languages to rank the largest and smallest percentages. Here are some
examples:

Vocabulary Example

Least popular The least popular sport chosen by men was swimming, at 10%

The sector with the highest percentage of sport chosen by women was hockey,
Highest
at 50%

Third place Yoga was in third place with 12%

Bottom Baseball was ranked bottom

bottom,, at 5%

Ranked
Rugby was ranked second,
second, at 16%
second

Equally Baseball and basketball were equally popular, at 25%

Most The most popular sport overall was football, at 55%

Followed The most popular sport overall was football, at 55%, followed by rugby at 30%

Came top Football came top of the chart for women, with 20%

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 5.2 Percentages
The following phrases are useful when writing about percentages of a certain sector (football is
the example sector here):

Football made up 55% of sports chosen by men in 2010.

Football accounted for 55% of sports chosen.
Football comprised 55% of all chosen sports.

5.3 Expressing Percentages with Similar Phrases

To avoid repetition, you can express percentages from the pie charts using different phrases
whilst maintaining the same meaning.

See the examples below:

below:

Percentage Similar Phrase

10 % A tenth/ one in ten

20% A fifth/ one in five

25% A quarter/ one in four

33% A third/ one in three

50% A half/ half/ one in two

66% Two-thirds

75% Three-quarters

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 6. Grammar for IELTS Writing Task 1 Pie
Chart

6.1 Tenses for IELTS Pie Charts

You need to determine the date(s) of your pie charts so that you use the correct tense. To do
this, follow the tips below:

Identify if the given year is before the present year (2022 at the time of writing)
If the year is before the present (e.g. 2000), you need to use the past tense throughout your
report
If the year is after the present year (e.g. 2050), you need to use the future tense
If there is no year,
year, you should use the present simple tense

Whatever the year, you can still start your body paragraph with the present simple tense and
then switch to the past or future, for example:

The data shows that between 2000 and 2010, there was a significant drop in the number of
graduates.

It is evident that in 2050 there will be a huge rise in the number of graduates.

The pie charts show information about the percentage of people who studied ten selected
university subjects at a university in New York between 2000 and 2010.

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 7. IELTS Writing Task 1 Pie Chart Sample
Answer

The pie charts provide data about the 10 most popular university subjects at a New
York university in 2000 and 2010.

Summarise the charts by selecting and reporting the main features and make
comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words

Sample
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 Overall,, what stands out from the pie charts is that the most popular subject in both 2000
Overall
and 2010 was economics. Another interesting point is that the biggest change was relating to
English, which fell dramatically over the decade.

If we look at 2000,
2000, economics was considerably more popular than science, with figures of 24%
and 20% respectively
respectively.. Engineering and English were equally popular at 15%.
15%. Twice as
many people studied mathematics as accounting, with the former being 10% and the latter 5%.
Finally, a slightly larger percentage of people studied art and design (2%) than Mandarin (1%).

Regarding the changes in 2010, economics went up slightly from 24% to 30%. By contrast,
contrast, the
number of science students dropped slightly from 20% to 16% in 2010. Mathematics stayed the
same percentage in both years at 10%.
10%. Finally
Finally,, in 2000, 15% of students studied English; but
by 2010 the figure fell dramatically to just 2%.

7.1 Sample Answer Commentary

The report above would receive an estimated 9.0 overall in the IELTS writing task 1 Academic
paper.

It has been organised into four logical paragraphs that are clearly divided into an introduction,
overview, and two separate body paragraphs. The minimum 150 word count has been exceeded.
The report is written in a formal style (the writer has not included their opinion and has not used
informal language). All the figures have been referred to accurately.

The overview paragraph has been clearly signposted using ‘overall’ and the introductory phrase
‘what stands out from the pie charts is that…’ The overview describes the main trends of the
line charts and does not include any specific figures. It generally describes the biggest and most
dramatic change.

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 The dates of the pie charts have been referred to accurately and the past tense has been used
correctly throughout the report.

Language to describe ratios and percentages has been used throughout the report e.g.,’
Engineering and English were equally popular at 15%’.

Comparisons between both years have been made in the second main body paragraph
‘Mathematics stayed the same percentage in both years at 10%’.

Linking phrases have been used appropriately, e.g. ‘if we look at’ and ‘finally. Words such as
‘former’ ‘latter’ and ‘respectively’ have been used to refer to the data accurately.

8. Common Errors and How to Avoid Them

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 Problem 1
Using the past tense when the future tense is required.

Solution 1
Since it is not common to have a chart with predicted future data, candidates often use the
incorrect tense. If a pie chart is from a date in the future (after the time of writing) e.g. 2050,
then you will need to use future forms to summarise the data. For example, In 2050, it is
predicted that 15% of students will study Art and Design.

Problem 2
Including detailed facts and figures in the overview

Solution 2
You do not need to include facts and figures in your overview. You should instead use general
descriptions of the most noticeable figures (the biggest/smallest/largest difference) and save the
detail for your main body paragraphs.

9. Quiz- Check Your Understanding

Take this short quiz to test your understanding of writing task 1 and pie charts:

1. The phrase ‘the chart shows…’ is most suitable for your:

A. Introduction
B. Main body paragraph

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 2. Which of these sentences describes the data in the most detail?

A. The pie charts illustrate what percentage of people graduated from university.
B. The pie charts illustrate what percentage of men and women that graduated from an
American university in 2020 found a job in a related industry.

3. You should not write about specific figures in your overview

A. True
B. False

4. Complete this sentences with vocabulary for a pie chart: The sector with ______________ of
sport chosen by women was hockey, at 50%

A. least popular
B. the highest percentage

C. ranked second

5. Complete this sentences with vocabulary for a pie chart: Football ________ of the chart for
women, with 20%

A. came top
B. followed
C. To summarise, …

6. The following sentence is correct: Football accounted 55% of the sports surveyed

A. True
B. False

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 7. Which of the following means the same as 10%?

A. A quarter
B. A tenth
C. A fifth

8. Which of the following means the same as 25%?

A. A half
B. A third
C. A quarter

9. Which of the following means the same as two-thirds?

A. 66%
B. 75%
C. 33%

10. Which of the following means the same as three-quarters?

A. 25%
B. 33%
C. 75%

Check Reset Score -

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 One thought on “IELTS Pie Chart for Academic Writing Task 1”

Muhammad Hussain Amini says:

August 27, 2023 at 5:17 pm
Dear Liz thanks for this essential website. it is really useful to read and learn about the IELTS test. I have one
suggestion. could you please add more practice tests to the website so that candidates can practice more and get
benefits out of it?
Reply

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