IELTS Writing Task 1 Bar Chart: Structure, Language and Band 8 Sample
How to describe an IELTS bar chart: choose the key features, group the data and compare. Includes an original band 8 sample answer.
Bar charts are one of the most common Academic Writing Task 1 visuals. Unlike line graphs, they often show categories rather than time, so the main skill is comparison: which is biggest, which is smallest, and which ones are similar.
The task
The chart below shows the average number of hours per week that students in four age groups spent on different leisure activities in 2025. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
| Activity | 13–15 | 16–18 | 19–21 | 22–25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social media | 12 | 15 | 14 | 9 |
| Sport | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Reading for pleasure | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Video games | 10 | 9 | 6 | 3 |
Step 1: find the big picture
Before writing, ask three questions:
- What is highest overall? Social media, in every age group.
- What changes with age? Video games and sport fall steadily as students get older.
- Is there an exception? Reading is low everywhere but rises slightly in the oldest group.
These answers become your overview, the most important paragraph for Task Achievement.
Step 2: group the data
Never describe the chart bar by bar. Group the information logically:
- Paragraph 3: the dominant activity (social media) and how it changes.
- Paragraph 4: the activities that decline with age (games, sport) and the exception (reading).
Band 8 sample answer
The bar chart compares how many hours a week students of four different ages spent on four leisure activities in 2025.
Overall, social media was by far the most time-consuming activity for every age group. Time spent on video games and sport generally decreased with age, whereas reading for pleasure remained the least popular pastime, although it rose slightly among the oldest students.
Social media use peaked among 16–18-year-olds at 15 hours a week, only marginally ahead of the 19–21 group at 14 hours. Students aged 13–15 spent 12 hours on these platforms, while the figure for the oldest group was considerably lower, at nine hours.
Video games occupied 10 hours a week for the youngest students but just three hours for those aged 22–25, a more than threefold difference. Sport followed a similar downward pattern, falling from eight hours to four. By contrast, reading for pleasure stayed between three and five hours across all ages, with the oldest group reading the most.
(178 words)
Language for comparing categories
- Highest / lowest: by far the most popular, the least common, ranked first.
- Similarity: a similar proportion, roughly the same, only marginally ahead of.
- Difference: considerably higher than, twice as many as, a threefold difference.
- Contrast connectors: whereas, while, by contrast, in comparison.
Mistakes that cost marks
- No overview, or an overview full of numbers.
- Describing every bar: 16 numbers in a row is a list, not a summary.
- Inventing reasons ("because teenagers have more free time"), which is not in the chart.
- Wrong tense: if the chart shows a past year, use the past simple.
Practice task
The bar chart shows the percentage of people in three age groups who used four types of transport to travel to work in 2024.
Before writing, answer the three "big picture" questions: what is highest overall, what changes across the groups, and is there an exception? Turn your answers into a two-sentence overview.
FAQ
Should I mention every category?
Mention every category at least briefly, but give detail only to the significant ones.
Can I use "percent" for bar charts showing numbers?
No. Check the units carefully: hours, numbers, percentages and dollars are not interchangeable.
Practise with our writing timer, compare with the line graph guide, and check your answer with AI feedback.