Academic Writing Task 1 · bar chart

Participation rates in various sports by gender in New Zealand 2002

The chart below gives information about the most common sports played in New Zealand in 2002.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Sports played in New Zealand in 2002 (%)

Girls
Boys

View the data

	Cricket	Athletics	Marital arts	Basketball	Tennis	Netball	Soccer	Swimming	Other
Girls	0.5	4	3	6	7	25	5	22	10
Boys	10	3	9	7.5	8	0.5	24	13	18

Chart redrawn by BandLadder from the data in the original IELTS practice task. Many IELTS practice tasks come from the Cambridge IELTS series (Cambridge University Press & Assessment); all rights in the original tasks remain with their owners.

Band 8 sample answer

The bar chart illustrates the participation percentages of boys and girls in nine different sports in New Zealand during 2002. Overall, it is clear that there were distinct preferences between genders, with netball and soccer dominating for girls and boys respectively.

Regarding girls, netball was by far the most popular activity, accounting for 25% of participation, followed by swimming at 22%. In contrast, girls showed minimal interest in cricket and martial arts, with figures standing at just 0.5% and 3% respectively. Athletics and soccer also saw relatively low engagement from girls, at 4% and 5%.

Conversely, boys showed a strong preference for soccer, which attracted 24% of participants, followed by 'other' sports at 18% and swimming at 13%. Cricket was notably more popular among boys than girls, reaching 10%, whereas netball was almost exclusively a female-dominated sport. Martial arts and tennis were also more favoured by boys, at 9% and 8% respectively. While swimming remained a popular choice for both genders, the overall data highlights a clear divergence in sporting interests between boys and girls in New Zealand in 2002.

180 words. Every figure in the answer comes from the chart above.

How to write about bar charts

Compare the biggest and smallest bars before anything else.
If the bars show years, describe change; if they show places, describe rank.
Round sensibly and say 'just over' or 'nearly' rather than guessing decimals.

dominating: having the most influence or the highest proportion
minimal: the smallest amount or degree that is possible
engagement: the act of participating or being involved in
conversely: introducing a statement that reverses a previous one
divergence: the process of becoming different or moving apart
favoured: preferred or chosen more often than others

Write your own report and get a band

Take a timed Academic writing test and get a band for task achievement, coherence, vocabulary and grammar, with the sentences to fix.

Practise IELTS Academic writing

On your phone? Get the BandLadder app.

Frequently asked questions

What should the overview say?

Netball was the most popular sport for girls, while soccer was the most common choice for boys, with significant gender disparities observed across most categories.

How long should an IELTS Task 1 answer be?

At least 150 words; 170 to 200 is the safe range. Spend about 20 minutes on it and leave 40 for Task 2, which carries twice the marks.

How do I describe bar charts?

Compare the biggest and smallest bars before anything else. If the bars show years, describe change; if they show places, describe rank. Round sensibly and say 'just over' or 'nearly' rather than guessing decimals.