Task 1 – multiple and mixed charts

How to handle two or three visuals in one IELTS Writing Task 1 - finding the link between them, writing a combined overview and keeping to 170-190 words.

More and more Task 1 questions present not one visual but two or three: a line graph with a table, a bar chart with a pie chart, sometimes three small charts together. Candidates often panic, thinking they must write twice as much. They need not. The word count and the structure stay the same; what changes is how strictly you must select.

What you may see

• Two charts of the same type (e.g. two pie charts for different years or countries)
• Two different charts on one topic (e.g. a table of visitor numbers and a bar chart of where visitors came from)
• Three charts on connected aspects of a topic (e.g. energy production, energy use and energy prices)

The task statement tells you how they are related: ‘The charts below show… and…’.

Step 1: Work out how the visuals are connected

If the charts show the same measure, weave them together. If they show different measures, describe them one after the other and connect them with a sentence. Do not force links that the data do not support, and never invent a cause (‘because there were more tourists, the museum earned more’) unless a chart actually shows it.

Step 2: One introduction covering everything

Mention each visual in a single sentence, or two short ones.

The table shows the number of people who visited three museums in a city in 2010, 2015 and 2020, while the bar chart illustrates the proportion of each museum’s visitors in 2020 who came from other countries.

Useful frames:

• The table shows…, while the bar chart illustrates…
• The first chart gives information about…, and the second shows…
• The line graph compares…; the pie chart breaks down… into…

Step 3: An overview with something from every chart

The examiner must see that you have understood all the visuals. Give the main feature of each.

Overall, the Modern Art Museum attracted the most visitors in every year, although numbers at all three museums were lower in 2020 than in 2015. It is also clear that the Modern Art Museum depended most heavily on overseas visitors, whereas the Maritime Museum’s audience was overwhelmingly local.

Frame: Overall, [main feature of chart 1]. It is also clear that / In addition, [main feature of chart 2].

Step 4: Body paragraphs with strict selection

With two charts you have about 55–65 words for each in the body. That is three sentences. So for each chart, report only:

• the highest and lowest;
• the most important change or contrast;
• one exception, if there is one.

Worked example

Task: The table below shows the number of visitors to three museums in one city in 2010, 2015 and 2020. The bar chart shows the percentage of visitors to each museum in 2020 who came from overseas.

Visitors (thousands)

Visitors from overseas, 2020: Science 35% · Maritime 12% · Modern Art 58%

Model answer (178 words)

The table shows how many people visited three museums in a particular city in 2010, 2015 and 2020, while the bar chart illustrates what proportion of each museum’s visitors in 2020 had come from abroad.

Overall, the Modern Art Museum was the most visited in all three years, and attendance at every museum rose to a peak in 2015 before falling. It is also clear that the more popular a museum was, the larger its share of overseas visitors.

In 2010, the Modern Art Museum received 610,000 visitors, considerably more than the Science Museum (420,000) and four times as many as the Maritime Museum (150,000). All three figures increased over the next five years, to 705,000, 510,000 and 162,000 respectively, but by 2020 each had dropped to slightly below its 2010 level.

Turning to the origin of visitors in 2020, well over half of those at the Modern Art Museum (58%) were from overseas. The proportion at the Science Museum was just over a third, whereas only about one in eight visitors to the Maritime Museum came from another country.

What to notice

• The introduction covers both visuals in one sentence using while.
• The overview has one statement from the table and one that genuinely links the two charts (popularity and overseas share run in the same order). That link is visible in the data; it is not an invented explanation.
• Turning to… moves clearly from one chart to the other. Other options: As for…, Regarding…, With regard to…, The second chart shows that…
• The unit is handled correctly: 610 in a table headed ‘thousands’ is written as 610,000.
• Fractions vary the percentages: well over half, just over a third, one in eight.

Three charts

Use the same structure, but the paragraphs become:

1. Introduction (one sentence naming all three, or two sentences)
2. Overview (the single most important point from each)
3. Body 1: the two charts that are most closely related
4. Body 2: the third chart

You will have room for only two sentences per chart in the body. Be ruthless: main feature, plus one supporting figure.

Common mistakes

• Ignoring one chart, or giving it a single sentence. Coverage must be reasonably balanced.
• Two separate reports with no overview that brings them together.
• Inventing causes to link the charts.
• Writing 260 words and leaving 30 minutes for Task 2. Decide your selection in the planning stage and keep to it.
• Mixing units: one chart in thousands, another in percentages. State the unit when you move from one to the other.

Key points

• Two or three visuals do not mean more words; they mean stricter selection.
• Work out the relationship: same measure (weave together) or different measures (one after the other).
• Introduce all visuals in one sentence; give an overview point for each.
• Signal the move between charts with Turning to… or As for….
• Link charts only where the data really support it.

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