SAMPLE ESSAY:

The graph below compares changes in the birth rates of China and the USA between 1920
and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words. (blue: USA, red: China)

The line graph compares birth rates in China and the US and how these rates changed
from 1920 to 2000
Overall, it can be seen that the birth rates of both nations experienced downward trends
over the period of 80 years. Although the two trends were similar in terms of a general decline,
the birth rate of the USA in most years was higher than that of China.
In the 1920-1935 period, the birth rate in America fluctuated, although it always
remained above 10%. However, in the following decade, the American birth rate fell sharply to
below 5%. In the 1950s, the figure for the USA increased significantly to exactly 15%, which
was its highest point during the 80-year period. Throughout the remainder of the period, there
was a gradual decline in the US birth rate, which fell to 7% by the year 2000.
Over the same period, the birth rate in China varied more significantly than in the US. It
dropped to 5% from 1940 to 1945 before reaching the highest point of the whole line graph,
20%, in 1950. By contrast, 5 years later, the birth rate in China decreased rapidly by over 10%,
falling to approximately 2% in 2000.
Here is the outline of a trend essay:
1. INTRODUCTION:
Paraphrase the chart description.
Cách viết Introduction:
The number/ amount of + relative clause How many/ much + clause
- The chart shows the number of young males - The chart shows how many young men and
and females playing sports in 2000. women played sports in 2000.
- The chart illustrates the amount of electricity - The chart illustrates how much electricity
produced from three sources in 2010. was produced from three sources in 2010.
The percentage/ proportion of + relative
clause
- The chart shows the percentage of men and
women playing sport

How to address subjects

The number of + countable nouns (cars, students…)

The amount of + uncountable nouns (money, water…)
The percentage/ proportion of + count. & uncount. nouns (chỉ dùng khi bài có phần trăm)
The figure(s) for + count. & uncount. nouns (dùng thay thế được cho cả ba cái trên)

Time phases In 1990/ In the year 1990

From 2000 to 2005
Between 2000 and 2005
For five years
Over a period of 15 year, starting from 2000

2. OVERVIEW:
- Subjects with upward trends
- Subjects with downward trends
- Subject with the highest/ lowest data
Note: k đưa data cụ thể vào overview
Cách viết
Overall, it can be seen that/ it is evident that while the production of paper and packaging
experienced a(n) upward/ rising/ ascending trend, the opposite was true for sawn-wood and
wood pulp. In addition, paper and packaging accounted for the highest figure/ data.
Ex: Overall, it is evident that while the sales of adult fiction and children’s fiction experienced
ascending trends, the opposite was true for other kinds of books including travel, biography, and
others. In addition, adult fiction books accounted for the highest figure.
Overall, while + S(chủ thể tăng) + witnessed an upward trend, the opposite was true for +
S(chủ thể giảm). Notably, S (tăng nhiều nhất) emerged as the dominant category by +
năm(năm có tỉ lệ cao nhất), accounting for the largest share
Ex: Overall, while the sales of adult fiction and children's fiction witnessed an upward trend, the
opposite was true for travel, biography, and other books. Notably, adult fiction emerged as the
dominant category by 2012, accounting for the largest share

3. Cách chia body:

C1: chia đôi period (2-3 subjects)
C2: chia theo subjects:
TH1: có 2subjects thì bd1: viết riêng cho s1 ; bd2: viết riêng cho s2
TH2: >2 subjects thì chia bd1 là các subjects tăng, body2 là các subjects giảm.

LANGUAGE DESCRIBING TREND:

Direction Verb Noun
Xu hướng tăng Climb A climb
Rise A rise
Grow A growth
Increase An increase
Surge (tăng vọt) A surge
Double/ triple/ quadruple
Xu hướng giảm Decline A decline
Fall A fall
Drop A drop
Decrease A decrease
Plummet (giảm vọt) A plummet
A dip
Halve
Xu hướng duy trì ổn định Stabilize A stability
ở mức nào đó Plateau A plateau
Level off
Flatten out
Remain/ stay stable/ unchanged
 Xu hướng dao động Fluctuate around Fluctuation around/ between
Fluctuate between

Đạt mức cao nhất Peak at Reach a peak of

Hit the highest point of
Hit the highest value on record
of

Đạt mức thấp nhất Bottom at Reach a bottom of

Hit the lowest point of
Hit the lowest value on record of

Degree Adjective Adverb

Large change Dramatic Dramatically
Substantial Substantially
Considerable Considerably
Remarkable Remarkably
Significant Significantly
Sharp Sharply
Average change Noticeable Noticeably
Marked Markedly
Moderate Moderately
Small change Marginal Marginally
Minimal Minimally
Slight Slightly

Others:
Adjective Adverb
Slow Slowly
Gradual Gradually
Steady Steadily
Sudden Suddenly
Quick/ swift/ rapid Quickly/ swiftly/ rapidly

PREPOSITIONS “AT, TO, BY, OF”

AT (TẠI) Stand at + data (dùng cho The crime rate stood at 5% in 2000.
năm đầu)
Remain stable/ the same at + The figure for rice export in Vietnam
 data remained stable at $15 million in 2015.

(Verb) Increase/ decrease to + The number of students increased to

data 10,000 after 2 years
TO (TỚI)
(Noun) An increase/ a There was an increase in the number of
decrease (in sth) to + data students to 10,000 after 2 years.

BY ((TĂNG/ (Verb) increase/ decrease by + The number of students increased by

GIẢM) BAO data 2,000 after 2 years.
NHIÊU)

OF ((TĂNG/ (Noun) An increase/ a There was an increase of 2,000 in the

GIẢM) BAO decrease of + data number of students after 2 years.
NHIÊU)
WRITING PRACTICE
Suggested structures for describing changes:
Structure Example
S + V + Adv + Data. The number/percentage( với %) of university
students increased significantly to 4000 in 2015.
There was + a/an + Adj + Noun + Data There was a significant increase of 4000 in the
+ Subject. number of university students in 2015.
S experienced/ witnessed/ saw/ The number of university students witnessed a
underwent + a/an + Adj + N + Data + significant increase of 4000 in 2015.
Time
Time + witnessed/ saw + a/an + Adj + N The year 2015 witnessed a significant increase of
+ in + Subject 4000 in the number of university students.
S + increased twofold/ threefold. Car sales increased twofold from 2009 to 2019.
S saw/ witnessed a twofold/ threefold Car sales witnessed a twofold increase from 2009 to
increase. 2019.

A/ an + adj + noun was seen in the A dramatic fall was seen in the figure for home
figure for Subject. furnishings sector.
The most dramatic fall was in the home furnishings
retail sector.

Some advanced structures:

1. Before clause 1, clause 2.
After clause 1, clause 2.
Tỷ lệ nữ ở thành phố Hồ Chí Minh tăng tới 40% vào năm 2008 trước khi giảm xuống tới 30%
vào năm 2009
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Sau khi tăng tới 40% vào năm 2008, tỷ lệ nữ của thành phố Hồ Chí Minh giảm xuống tới 30%
vào năm 2009.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Clause 1, but/ and later clause 2.
Doanh thu của công ty A tăng đến $50000 vào năm 1998 nhưng sau đó giảm xuống tới $40000
vào năm 2000.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Doanh thu của công ty A tăng đến $50000 vào năm 1998 nhưng sau đó tăng mạnh hơn tới
$70000 vào năm 2000
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
3. Clause 1, after which clause 2.
Tỷ lệ hộ gia đình có hai xe hơi giảm tới 70% vào năm 1997, sau điều này nó giữ ổn định cho đến
năm 2006.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

D. linking words
Regarding…,
Looking at…,
Meanwhile,
Similarly,
A similar pattern can be observed in the figure for…,
By contrast,
While
PRACTICE:
The pie charts below show the percentage of five kinds of books sold by a bookseller
between 1972 and 2012. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main
features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Band 5.5-6.0
The pie charts below illustrate the proportion of five types of books sold by a bookseller from
1972 to 2012.
Overall, while the sales of adult fiction and children's fiction witnessed an upward trend, the
opposite was true for travel, biography, and other books. Notably, adult fiction emerged as the
dominant category by 2012, accounting for the largest percent of book-sold.
From 1972 to 1992, the percent of biography and others witnessed a slight decrease of 5%.
Wherease, adult fiction increased by 5%, which is the fastest growth of all. Meanwhile,
children’s fiction and travel books showed a modest increase, rising by 2% and 3%, respectively.
Between 1992 and 2012, adult fiction experienced a dramatic surge, growing from 25% to 45%,
making it the most popular category. Simularly, children’s fiction continued to rise, reaching
25% in 2012. In constrast, sales of biography books fell significantly from 15% to only 8%,
while travel books also saw a decline of 8%. The proportion of other books dropped the most,
decreasing by nearly half to only 12% in 2012.

.
Band 6-6.5
The pie charts below illustrate the proportion of five types of books sold by a bookseller from
1972 to 2012.
Overall, while the sales of adult fiction and children's fiction experienced an upward trend, the
opposite was true for travel, biography, and other books. Notably, adult fiction became the
dominant category by 2012, accounting for the largest percentage of books sold.
From 1972 to 1992, the percentage of biography and other books declined slightly by 5%.
Meanwhile, adult fiction showed the fastest growth, increasing by 5% to reach 25%. Similarly,
children’s fiction and travel books experienced modest rises of 2% and 3%, respectively.
Between 1992 and 2012, adult fiction saw a dramatic surge from 25% to 45%, making it the
most popular category. Likewise, children’s fiction continued to grow, reaching 25% in 2012. In
contrast, sales of biography books dropped significantly from 15% to only 8%, while travel
books also declined by 8%. The proportion of other books witnessed the most considerable
decrease, falling nearly by half to just 12% in 2012.

Band 8.5-9.0
The pie charts illustrate the distribution of five categories of books sold by a bookseller over a
40-year period from 1972 to 2012.
Overall, adult fiction and children’s fiction experienced notable growth, whereas the popularity
of travel books, biographies, and other genres declined. By 2012, adult fiction had become the
most dominant category, accounting for the largest share(=percentage) of total sales( =all, tổng
doanh thu).
Between 1972 and 1992, sales of adult fiction rose from 20% to 25%, making it the fastest-
growing category in this period. Meanwhile, children’s fiction and travel books experienced
marginal increases of 2% and 3%, respectively. In contrast, the proportion of biography and other
books declined slightly, both dropping by 5%.
From 1992 to 2012, adult fiction underwent a dramatic surge, almost doubling from 25% to 45%,
solidifying its position as the most popular book type. Children’s fiction also saw further growth,
reaching 25%. On the other hand, the demand for biography books plummeted from 15% to 8%,
while travel books experienced a similar decline, falling from 18% to 10%. The most significant
reduction was observed in the ‘others’ category, which dropped by nearly half to 12% by the end
of the period.

Tại sao bài này có thể đạt Band 8.5?

✅ Phần Overview rõ ràng, bao quát xu hướng chung (nêu sự tăng/giảm và loại sách phổ biến
nhất).
✅ Bố cục hợp lý, không có kết luận riêng biệt nhưng vẫn đảm bảo thông tin đầy đủ.
✅ Sử dụng từ vựng học thuật và đa dạng (marginal increase, dramatic surge, plummeted,
solidifying its position).
✅ Ngữ pháp phức tạp, tự nhiên (mệnh đề quan hệ, đảo ngữ, cấu trúc so sánh, thì quá khứ đơn).
✅ Liên kết tốt giữa các ý, không có câu nào thừa hoặc lặp lại thông tin không cần thiết.

The graph below shows the percentage of Australian exports to 4 countries from 1990 to
2012.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons
where relevant. Write at least 150 words.