IELTS Writing Task 1 - Stacked Bar Chart (Working Patterns)
Each bar is a whole split into parts. Read the size of each part (not where it ends), follow each colour across the bars, and use "proportion" or "share", not "number".
Key points
The example question and chart from the video
The chart below shows the percentage of office employees in one country who worked only in the office, only from home, or in a hybrid pattern in four different years between 2019 and 2025. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
Band 9 model answer from the video (190 words)
The bar chart illustrates the proportion of office employees in a particular country who worked in the office, at home or in a mix of the two in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025.
Overall, working only in the office became much less common, whereas hybrid working grew steadily and was the most common pattern by 2025. Working entirely from home, by contrast, rose sharply in 2021 but then fell back almost to its original level.
In 2019, the vast majority of employees (78%) worked only in the office, while 12% followed a hybrid pattern. Two years later, the figure for office work had more than halved to 35%, and although it recovered to 44% in 2023, it fell back to 40% in 2025. Hybrid working, meanwhile, increased in every year shown, reaching 48% in 2025 and overtaking office work as the most common pattern.
The proportion of employees working entirely from home was 10% in 2019. However, this figure rose more than threefold to 35% in 2021, when it equalled the share for office work. It then dropped sharply to 15% in 2023, before declining slightly to 12% in 2025.
Chapters in this video (15)
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:50Example Question
- 1:54How a Stacked Bar Chart Is Different
- 2:32How to Read the Chart
- 3:34Finding the Overview
- 4:41Grouping the Information
- 5:24Words for Changes in Percentages
- 6:31Answer Structure
- 7:04Writing the Introduction
- 8:25Writing the Overview
- 9:40Body Paragraph 1 (Office and Hybrid)
- 10:58Body Paragraph 2 (Home Only)
- 11:51Three Common Mistakes
- 12:32Final Answer
- 12:59Outro
Words for changes in percentages
| Word / phrase | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| the vast majority | most of the group | In 2019, the vast majority of employees (78%) worked only in the office. |
| more than halved | fell to less than half | The figure for office work had more than halved to 35%. |
| more than threefold | rose to over three times as much | This figure rose more than threefold to 35% in 2021. |
| equalled / overtook | became the same as / went above | Hybrid working overtook office work as the most common pattern. |
| fell back / recovered | went back down / went back up | Although it recovered to 44% in 2023, it fell back to 40% in 2025. |
Practice task: Travelling to school
The chart below shows the percentage of secondary school students in one country who walked, travelled by car or took the bus to school in four different years between 2000 and 2024. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
Each year adds up to 100%, so if one way of travelling grows, the others must shrink.
Follow each colour across the years. Walking and the car belong together, because one overtakes the other.
Write "the proportion" or "the share" of students, not "the number of students".
Show model answer (try first!)
The bar chart illustrates the proportion of secondary school students in one country who walked, went by car or took the bus to school in 2000, 2008, 2016 and 2024.
Overall, travelling by car became much more common, while walking became less popular, and the car had overtaken walking as the most common way to get to school by the end of the period. The share of students taking the bus, by contrast, changed relatively little.
In 2000, walking was the most common choice, at 45%, whereas only a fifth of students travelled by car. Over the next sixteen years, the figure for walking fell steadily to 30%, while the proportion going by car more than doubled to 42%, overtaking walking. By 2024, however, car travel had fallen back to 36%, and walking had recovered slightly to 32%.
Turning to the bus, 35% of students used this option in 2000. This figure declined gradually to 30% in 2008 and 28% in 2016, before rising again to 32% in 2024, which put it level with walking.
175 words
This practice task and its model answer were written for the website. The video teaches the method with its own example (working patterns), shown above.
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