In this post: Ranking sentences, four ways to contrast, the rules for respectively, two-year pie charts and mixed charts.
Writing About Static Charts · 3 parts
- 1. Chart types, plans and proportions
- 2. Ranking, contrast and respectively (you are here)
- 3. Tables, mistakes and practice
✦ In this post
4. Comparatives and superlatives: ranking sentences
Static charts need ranking, but do not write “the highest” in every sentence. Here are the ranking patterns I collected, from the top down; rotate them within a paragraph:
| Function | Sentence frame | My original |
|---|---|---|
| First place | A was the largest / the main contributor / the predominant factor | the water for industrial usage is the main contributor (Task 2) |
| A close second | …, closely followed by B (X%) | closely followed by that for agricultural use, which accounts for 39% (Task 2) |
| Second place | B was the second highest / ranked second | other goods and services were the second highest proportion in Hong Kong (Task 14) |
| Roughly equal | A and B contributed almost equally, at X% and Y% respectively | housing and transport contributed essentially equally (Task 14) |
| Last place | C made up the smallest share, at only X% | the smallest percentage of expenditure was clothing, with only 4% (Task 14) |
| Higher than others | A was higher than any other category | Spending on housing was higher in Hong Kong than in Britain. (model) |
From my essays: good comparison sentences
✓ Good: Compared with 36% in Britain, other goods and services were the second highest proportion in Hong Kong with only 28%.
(Task 14, TA 8) “Compared with” links the same item in two countries, so a single sentence does the cross-chart comparison. This is what “make comparisons where relevant” looks like in practice.
✓ Good: Compared with the data in all five cities, Hobert has the biggest ratio at nearly 54%, while Sydney contributes the smallest percentage with about 43%.
(Task 16) Putting the largest and smallest in the same sentence with “while” is a good structure. Small fixes: the city is spelt Hobart, and on the chart the figure for instant coffee in Sydney is about 45%.
From my essays: common mistakes with comparatives
✗ Original: … the system in Tokyo has biggest number of passengers. In contrast, the shortest system is in Kyoto, which has less number of users as well.
→ Revised: … the system in Tokyo has the largest number of passengers. By contrast, the shortest system is in Kyoto, which also has one of the smallest numbers of users.
(Task 22) “Number” goes with “large/small”, not “big”; a superlative needs “the”; and “less number” is wrong. Write “fewer users” or “a smaller number of users”.
✗ Original: Regarding the sales of coffee, UK experienced a biggest growth from 1.5 million euros to 20 million.
→ Revised: Regarding coffee, the UK saw the biggest growth, from 1.5 million to 20 million euros.
(Task 24) A superlative takes “the”, not “a”, and the country name “UK” needs “the” in front of it.
5. While, whereas, compared with: four ways to contrast
| Linker | Position | Model sentence |
|---|---|---|
| while / whereas | Mid-sentence, joining two clauses | Housing was the largest item in Hong Kong, whereas other goods and services dominated in Britain. |
| compared with / to | At the start or in the middle, followed by a noun | Compared with 17% in Britain, transport made up only 9% in Hong Kong. |
| By contrast / In contrast | At the start, linking two sentences | By contrast, clothing was the smallest item in both places. |
| Similarly / Likewise | At the start, showing similarity | Similarly, clothing accounted for the smallest share in Hong Kong. |
All four are model sentences. A very common mistake is using “In contrast” where the two things are actually the same. In my household-spending essay (Task 14) I used “Similarly” in the last sentence to show that clothing was the smallest item in both places, which is correct. Before you write, ask yourself whether the two sentences show a difference or a similarity. For a difference, use “whereas” or “by contrast”; for a similarity, use “similarly” or “both”.
✗ Original: In contrast, with only 300 students under 11 choosing modern dance classes, over 500 students over 11-year-old like this type of class.
→ Revised: Modern dance, by contrast, was more popular among older students, with over 500 aged 11–16 compared with only about 300 under 11.
(Task 44) “11-year-old” used as an adjective cannot go after the noun, and the age group in the question is 11–16, not “over 11”. Using “compared with” to put the two numbers side by side makes the comparison clearer.
6. Using “respectively”: the small word that costs the most marks
“Respectively” comes up constantly in static charts, and it is also the word I got wrong most often. There are really only four rules:
- You need two or more subjects before it and the same number of figures after it, matching one to one in order: A and B accounted for 30% and 20% respectively.
- Do not use it with a single figure. If two items are both 15%, write “each accounting for 15%”, not “15% respectively”.
- Use it at most once per sentence, and ideally only once per paragraph, or the reader has to keep looking back to match things up.
- “Separately” cannot replace “respectively”. “Separately” means “apart from each other”, which is a different meaning.
✗ Original: As for French and other language, both of them contributed equally, constituting 15% respectively of the total.
→ Revised: French and another language contributed equally, each constituting 15% of the total.
(Task 11) There is only one figure, 15%, so use “each”.
✗ Original: … including no other language, French only, and German only all took up 10% separately.
→ Revised: … no other language, French only and German only each took up 10%.
(Task 11) “Separately” does not mean “each took up”.
✗ Original: Besides that, coal and oil, contributing 25 units, respectively, were the second and third highest production sources.
→ Revised: Coal and oil each contributed 25 units, ranking joint second.
(Task 42) Both are 25 units, so “respectively” has no job to do. And when the figures are identical, they cannot be second and third; they are joint second.
✓ Good: Besides that, housing and transport contributed essentially equally, which constituted 18% and 17% of the total, respectively.
(Task 14) Two subjects, two figures, in matching order: this is correct use. Small fix: changing “which constituted” to the participle “constituting” reads more smoothly.
7. Pie charts for two years: how to show the change
Two-year pie charts are essentially “two static charts plus a change”. The body paragraphs are usually split by year (one paragraph per year), but the second paragraph cannot simply repeat the second year’s figures. It has to show what happened compared with the first year. Some useful patterns:
| What you want to say | Pattern | Model sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Largest at first, then even larger | A increased its dominance | Coal increased its dominance in Australia, rising from 50 to 130 units. |
| Still the largest | A remained the largest category | Spanish remained the most common language in 2010. |
| Rankings swap | B overtook A as the largest | By 2000, nuclear power had overtaken coal as France’s main source. |
| Appears from nothing / disappears | A emerged / A disappeared | Hydro power almost disappeared from France’s energy mix. (only if the chart shows this) |
These are model sentences. The Overview of my electricity essay (Task 42) worked well: total production rose in both countries, and the biggest change was coal in Australia and nuclear power in France. Two sentences captured the heart of the question. But the body had a big hole: in 2000, hydro power in Australia was 36 units, the second-largest source, and I did not mention it at all. Instead I wrote about oil and natural gas, which were only 2 units. This essay scored only 6 for TA, and I think that was the main reason: when I chose which data to include, I picked the small figures and missed a big one.
Another detail is units. Each slice of the electricity pie charts is labelled in units, not percentages. In 1980 Australia’s total happened to be exactly 100 units, so writing 50% was not wrong, but by 2000 the total was 170 units, so 130 can no longer be written as 130%. Use whatever unit the chart gives you. If you want to express a proportion you have worked out yourself, an approximation such as “roughly three quarters of the total” is enough.
8. Mixed charts: how to link two charts
Two charts of different types (pie + bar, bar + table) look intimidating, but the structure is actually the simplest of all: one paragraph per chart. The hard part is making the Introduction and the Overview cover both charts.
| Paragraph | How to write it | My original |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | First chart + while/and + second chart, naming each chart type clearly | The graphs compare where the dance classes are located and which classes do students attend. (Task 44; small fix: “which classes students attend”) |
| Overview | First sentence: the key point of chart 1; second sentence: the key point of chart 2 | Overall, most classes are located in private studios. Additionally, people under 11 are more likely to attend ballet dance classes, whereas modern classes are older students’ preferences. (Task 44) |
| Body 1 | Details of chart 1 | Regarding the location, private studios are the most common places … (Task 44) |
| Body 2 | Details of chart 2 | As for the types of dance classes, ballet is the most popular one … (Task 44) |
My dance-class essay (Task 44) scored 8 for CC precisely because the structure was clear at a glance. The small problem is most classes are located in private studios: private studios account for 48%, which is less than half, so “most” may be judged inaccurate. “The largest proportion of classes” would be better.
The worst thing in a mixed chart is misreading it: the lesson of Trial 2
The exports question (Trial 2) combined a bar chart and a table. The bar chart showed export earnings for five product categories in 2015 and 2016, and the table showed the percentage change for each category. My essay scored 6.5 overall, and there were two main problems:
✗ Original: The line chart compares the export earnings …
The chart type is wrong: this is a bar chart.
✗ Original: In terms of the percentage change in value, all of the categories grew except gems and jewellery, which showed a 0.81% decrease.
→ Revised: In terms of percentage change, all categories grew except gems and jewellery, which fell by 5.18%. Agricultural products saw the smallest rise, at only 0.81%.
In the table, gems and jewellery fell by 5.18%; 0.81% was the rise for agricultural products. Misreading a row like this directly affects TA.
The Overview of that essay also said the revenue of four out of five categories increased by far in 2016. “By far” intensifies a superlative (by far the largest); it cannot modify “increased”. In a mixed chart, the data in the two charts often support each other, which gives you a natural linking sentence: in the bar chart textiles rose the most, and in the table textiles also had the highest growth rate, at 15.24%. Writing This is reflected in the table, where textiles show the highest growth rate. ties the two charts together (model).
Continue reading · Part 3 of 3
IELTS Notes in English · Task 1 Structure (post 4 of 7)
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Task 1 Structure · Task 2 Structure · Topic Guides · Writing Language · Band Score Samples · Practice Methods · Speaking & Study Tips
✦ Target Your Future
Some days you practise for hours and the score still does not move. I hope these notes remind you that the setbacks are part of the road: every recording you replayed, every essay you rewrote and every sentence you finally dared to say is progress you have already made.
I wrote this down so the next person can take fewer detours. You do not have to follow my method exactly. Find a rhythm that works for you, rest when you need to, and come back for the next small step.
I hope what you take away is more than a number on a score report: a little more confidence in yourself, and the courage to step a bit closer to the world.
— Ting
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