Model Essay: Bar Chart

Question

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The graph below shows female unemployment rates in each country of the United Kingdom in 2013 and 2014.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Answer

The bar chart shows the unemployment rates for women in four countries during a two-year period. In three of the countries, the unemployment rate fell between 2013 and 2014; however, in Scotland it increased.

The highest unemployment rate recorded in these four countries was in England in 2013, at a rate of 6.8%. However, the following year this number fell to 6.5%. Although it dropped, that still gave England the second highest unemployment rate during 2014. The only country higher than 6.5% was Scotland, which had risen from 6.1% to 6.7% over the recorded period.

Both Wales and Northern Ireland had comparatively lower unemployment rates. Northern Ireland recorded the greatest fall in female unemployment, with a drop of 1%, while Wales fell 4%, ending slightly higher than Northern Ireland, whose 2014 unemployment rate was the lowest of all four countries at just 4.6%.

Notes

There are different ways to structure this sort of essay. In this case, I broke down the bar chart to describe the two countries with the highest unemployment rates – England and Scotland – and then the two with the lowest. I’ve used more specific numbers here than I usually do because I felt it was necessary, but I’ve been careful to employ useful language, which I’ve put in bold.