IELTS Writing Task 1 #197

How to write the introduction

  • One sentence is enough for the introduction.
  • Replace words in the general statement with synonyms or paraphrases where you can.
  • If you cannot quickly write your introduction in your own words, do not waste time. Write out the words in the rubric, but remember to change them later.
  • Do not write the word below from the rubric in your introduction.
  • Use one of the following four prompts to help you write an introduction:

    • The graph shows/illustrates the trends in ... between ... and ...
    • The graph gives/provides/reveals/presents information about (the differences/ changes ...)
    • The graph shows that (there is a number of differences between ...)
    • The graph shows/illustrates how the sales have differed/changed ...

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The chart below shows the proportion of businesses making e-commerce purchases by industry in Canada between 2015 and 2019.

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

Write at least 150 words.

IELTS Bar Chart

Model answer

The bar chart provides information about the proportion of businesses purchasing items online according to industry in Canada between 2015 in 2019.

Generally speaking, the proportion of businesses involved in e-commerce purchases across the years and sectors varied with the practice being most common in the information and communications industry. In this sector, there was a greater proportion of businesses involved (just over 60% in 2015) than the other sectors with a rise to just under 70% in 2019, including a peak to about 75% in 2018. The proportion of businesses involved in purchases on line in the retail sector followed a similar pattern, increasing from about 35% to about 55% in 2019 with a peak of about 58% in 2018. Just under 25% of construction businesses used online purchasing in 2015 compared to more than a half in 2019, whereas in the wholesale industry the rise was much smaller from just over 40% to about 60%. As regards manufacturing, there was a near 100% increase in the proportion of businesses purchasing online from about 33% in 2015 in comparison with about 58% in 2019.

(185 words)


Dear readers,

This is to inform you that we have moved to a new domain, https://www.ielts-writing.info/EXAM/.

Our old domain, https://www.ielts-exam.net/ will remain active till the time we migrate all our content to the new domain.

We look forward to your continuing support.