English · Graph & Chart Writing
How to Describe a Bar Chart
Describing a bar chart, with the comparison language and a full model paragraph.
A bar chart invites comparison between categories, so the description is built on comparatives and superlatives: which bar is highest, which lowest, which two are close, how many times bigger one is than another. Group the bars rather than reading them left to right, because a list of every value is a table in prose, not a description.
The format
A bar chart invites comparison
Bars sit side by side so that they can be compared, which means comparatives and superlatives do most of the work: the highest, the lowest, twice as many as, slightly more than, second only to. A description of a bar chart without a single comparison has missed what the chart is for.
Group the bars rather than reading them across
Do not go left to right naming every bar. Group them: the two or three tallest, the two or three shortest, and any that break the pattern. Grouping is the selection the examiner is looking for.
- Start with the tallest bar and say what it represents.
- Then the shortest, for contrast.
- Then any pair that are close, or any bar that is unexpectedly out of line.
- Finish with the overall pattern across the whole chart.
Language for comparing quantities
Comparison structures worth having ready
| Relation | Structures |
|---|---|
| much bigger | far more than · considerably higher than · nearly twice as many as |
| slightly bigger | slightly more than · a little higher than · marginally above |
| about equal | roughly the same as · comparable to · almost identical to |
| smaller | less than · lower than · below |
| the extremes | the highest · the lowest · the largest · the smallest |
| ranking | second only to · the next highest · the second largest |
Grouped bar charts
If each category has two or more bars — male and female, urban and rural, two different years — describe the pattern within one group first, then say whether the other group follows it or differs. Describing every bar in a grouped chart is impossible in a paragraph and is not expected.
Model answer
Model paragraph (about 125 words)
The chart
A bar chart showing the number of students in five departments of a college: Science, Business Studies, Humanities, Computer Studies and Agriculture.
Description
The bar chart compares student numbers across five departments of a college in a single academic year.
Science is by far the largest department, with about a third of all students and nearly twice the number in Business Studies, which comes second. Humanities and Computer Studies are close to each other in the middle of the range, differing by only a small margin. Agriculture is much the smallest, with roughly a quarter as many students as Science.
Overall, the chart shows student numbers concentrated heavily in Science and Business Studies, with the remaining three departments together accounting for less than half the total.
What earns and loses marks
- Lead with the tallest bar and finish with the overall shape; that structure works for every bar chart.
- Use at least three different comparison structures. Repeating “more than” five times is what a weak answer looks like.
- Where two bars are close, say so — “differing by only a small margin” is a genuine observation and shows you read the chart.
- For a grouped chart, describe one group fully then compare, rather than alternating between them.
- 🚨 Do not speculate about why one department is larger. Describe only.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Group them instead: the tallest, the shortest, and any that are unexpectedly close or out of line. Reading across in order produces a list rather than a description, and selecting what matters is exactly the skill being marked.
Describe the pattern within one group fully — say the male bars, or the 2010 bars — and then state whether the other group follows the same pattern or differs, naming the largest exception. Alternating between the groups category by category is unreadable in a paragraph.
As precise as the chart allows, and approximate where it does not. “About a third”, “roughly a quarter as many” and “nearly twice” are perfectly acceptable and often safer than inventing a decimal you cannot read off the axis.
Keep going
Model answers, formats and grammar rules for every SSC and HSC writing question.