Pick out the main features of this bar chart for your overview, write your report on a 20-minute timer, then compare it with a band-8 model answer.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The chart below shows hotel occupancy rates in four months of the year in three cities.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Dubai | Paris | Reykjavik |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 88% | 60% | 45% |
| April | 72% | 82% | 55% |
| July | 48% | 92% | 90% |
| October | 80% | 85% | 52% |
GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.
An overview names the main trends or differences in one or two sentences, without numbers. These are the features a strong answer picks out:
Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.
0 words of 150 minimum
Your answer stays on this page only. Copy it before you leave.
Write your own answer first, then compare: how it answers the exact question, what each paragraph does, and which phrases you could borrow.
The bar chart compares hotel occupancy rates in Dubai, Paris and Reykjavik in January, April, July and October.
Overall, Dubai's occupancy was highest in winter and lowest in summer, whereas Paris and Reykjavik were busiest in July. Reykjavik showed the greatest seasonal variation.
In Dubai, hotels were 88% full in January, and the rate declined to 72% in April and a low of 48% in July, before recovering to 80% in October. This was the opposite of the pattern in the other two cities.
Paris had relatively high occupancy throughout the year. Its rate rose from 60% in January to 82% in April and reached a peak of 92% in July, the highest figure on the chart. It then stayed high at 85% in October.
Reykjavik began the year with the lowest occupancy of the three cities, at 45% in January, and the rate rose to 55% in April. It then jumped to 90% in July, double the January level, before dropping back to 52% in October. In July, therefore, Reykjavik and Paris had almost identical occupancy rates, while Dubai's was about half of theirs.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| occupancy rate | percentage of rooms in use |
| peak in July | reach the highest in July |
| seasonal fluctuation | change by time of year |
| high season | busiest time |
| fall to a low of | reach the lowest point |
| by contrast | in contrast |
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