Writing task 1.

Static charts

Common mistakes

Exercise 1.
a. Find the mistake in each sentence and correct
1. The percentage of cinema visitors are 30%.
2. The revenue for the charity accounted for more than two third.
3. The figure of health care and transport is 35%.

b. Choose the correct answer

1. The spending on food ……………. 11.2% in 1950 and 34% in 2010.
A. is B. was C. are D. were

2. 20% of the population ……………… younger than 25.

A. is B. are C. have been D. has been

3. Gas and coal accounted ……………. 74%.

A. at B. about C. to D. for

4. Nearly ……………. of the waste produced is plastic.

A. three quarter B. three quarters C. third D. thirds

5. The figure ……………. gas and nuclear rose slowly to 30.1%.

A. of B. for C. with D. in

Common mistakes
 Subject – Verb agreement
 Fraction (E.g. two-thirds, three quarters,…)
 Preposition (E.g. The figure for N; account for …%; stand at % …)

1
Exercise 2. Look at the chart below which shows how students on all courses at an
Australian university viewed different subjects on a scale of easy to difficult. Decide whether
the statements a-f are relevant or irrelevant, and explain why. Irrelevant statements may
contain an unnecessary opinion, too much data or unnecessary speculation.
a. The subject which was rated as difficult by the highest percentage of students (70
percent) was mathematics, mainly because I think it is complex for many students.
b. By contrast, the subject which was most often judged as easy was chemistry.
c. The chart shows the opinions of Australian students on whether different subjects were
easy or difficult.
d. African languages were seen as easy, which is somewhat surprising when you consider
the range of languages in Africa.
e. Oriental languages were ranked as easy by only about 20 percent.
f. The Y axis shows the percentages, and the bars contain the numbers about the legend at
the bottom.

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Languages Chemistry Physics Maths Oriental African Art
languages languages

Easy Moderately difficult Difficult

Common mistakes

Avoid irrelevance: Do not speculate or give opinions when you describe data. Avoid
going into too much detail

2
 Exam focus

Introduction - 1 sentence
 Paraphrase the question

Overview – 2 sentences
“1-2-3-4”
 Order (Comparative, Superlative)
 Outstanding similarities/differences

Body paragraphs - 3-4 sentences

(can be divided by categories or by chart)
 List data
 Make comparison (if possible)

Exercise 1. Practice writing

The first chart shows how energy is used in an average Australian household. The second
chart shows the greenhouse gas emissions which result from this energy use.

a. Write an introduction and overview

...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................

3
b. Write body paragraphs based on the given words
Body 1
1. largest / proportion / energy / 42% / used / heating purposes, / followed / water heating /
12% less
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................

2. share / other appliances / more than twice / as high as / refrigeration / 15% and 7%
respectively
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................

3. proportion / energy used / lighting / 4%, / twice / as high as / cooling / 2%

...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................

Body 2
4. other hand, / water heating / responsible for / largest share / greenhouse gas emissions /
32%, / while / that of other appliances / smaller / narrow margin (28%)
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................

5. There / no significant difference / figures / heating / refrigeration / 15% and 14%

respectively, / with / lighting and cooling / ranking last / 8% / 3% / respectively
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................

4
 Exam practice

Exercise 1. Look at the pie charts about ways of watching films. Decide if the sentences are
T (True) or F (False). Then correct them

1. The pie charts show how many people watched films in different formats in 1992 and
2008.

2. The pie charts show the proportion of films watched on different formats in 1992 and
2008.

3. More people watched films on television in 2008 than 1992.

4. In 1992 nearly a third of films were watched on video but this amount decreased to about
2% in 2008.

5. The proportion of people watching films at the cinema was about the same in 1992 and
2008.

6. There was a slight increase in the number of people watching films on DVD from 1992 to
2008.

7. In 1992 no one used the Internet to watch films but in 2008 people used the Internet to
watch a quarter of all films.

8. In 2008 approximately half of the films were watched using two formats: the cinema and
the Internet.

9. From 1992 to 2008, the number of people watching films on television decreased by just
over 25%.

5
10. From 1992 to 2008, the number of people watching films on television decreased to
approximately half.

Exercise 2. Practice writing

The table shows the average weekly salaries of men and of women working in different
occupations.

Average weekly salary by occupation 2015

Men Women
Technicians $1400 $900
Service workers $1300 $950
Professionals $2000 $1900
Administrative/Clerical workers $1350 $1000
Manual laborers $1100 $850

...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................

6
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................