Academic Writing Task 1 · pie chart

Proportions of British university students speaking foreign languages in 2000 and 2010

The charts below show the proportions of British students at one university in England who were able to speak other languages in addition to English, in 2000 and 2010.

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

% of British Students able to speak languages other than English, 2000

No other language: 20
French only: 15
German only: 10
Spanish only: 30
Another language: 15
Two other languages: 10

View the data

Category	Value
No other language	20
French only	15
German only	10
Spanish only	30
Another language	15
Two other languages	10

% of British Students able to speak languages other than English, 2010

No other language: 10
French only: 10
German only: 10
Spanish only: 35
Another language: 20
Two other languages: 15

View the data

Category	Value
No other language	10
French only	10
German only	10
Spanish only	35
Another language	20
Two other languages	15

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 two pie charts illustrate the linguistic abilities of British students at a single university regarding languages other than English in 2000 and 2010. Overall, the proportion of students speaking no foreign language halved over the decade, while there was a general increase in the diversity of languages spoken by the student body.

In 2000, 20% of students spoke no other language, a figure that dropped to 10% by 2010. Conversely, the popularity of Spanish grew, rising from 30% to 35% of the total student population. The percentage of students capable of speaking 'another language' also saw an upward trend, increasing from 15% to 20% over the ten-year period. Similarly, the proportion of students who could speak two other languages rose from 10% to 15%.

In contrast, the figures for French and German showed different patterns. The proportion of students speaking only French declined from 15% in 2000 to 10% in 2010. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who spoke only German remained stable at 10% throughout the decade. In summary, while the number of monolingual students decreased, there was a clear shift towards multilingualism and a preference for Spanish among the student cohort.

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

How to write about pie charts

Name the largest and smallest shares in the overview.
Use proportion language: a quarter, just under half, the majority.
With two pies, compare the same slice across both.

proportion: a part or share of a whole number
illustrate: to provide pictures or charts to explain information
conversely: introducing a statement that reverses a previous one
upward trend: a general direction in which something is developing
stable: not likely to change or fail; firmly established
monolingual: speaking or using only one language

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?

Overall, the proportion of students speaking no foreign language halved over the decade, while there was a general increase in the diversity of languages spoken by the student body.

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 pie charts?

Name the largest and smallest shares in the overview. Use proportion language: a quarter, just under half, the majority. With two pies, compare the same slice across both.