Pie charts and proportions

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Writing Task 1 30 minintermediate

Pie charts and proportions

Pie charts are about shares of a whole. Learn the fractions and proportion phrases examiners expect (just under a quarter, the vast majority), the difference between percentages and percentage points, and how to compare two or three pies, whether they show different years or different groups.

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

Turn percentages into accurate fractions and proportion phrases (roughly a third, a small minority)
Use 'the majority', 'the largest share' and 'a minority' correctly
Describe changes between percentages with 'percentage points' or 'from ... to ...'
Compare pies over time with change language and pies between groups with comparison language
Order and group slices so the answer reads as a comparison, not two lists
Avoid claiming absolute numbers that a pie chart does not show

Every pie adds up to 100%

A pie chart answers one question: how is a whole divided up? Every slice is a share of 100%, so the language you need is the language of proportion: a quarter, roughly a third, the vast majority, a small minority, accounted for.

That sounds simple, but pie charts produce some of the most common accuracy errors in Task 1:

calling 38% the majority (it isn't; it is the largest share),
writing rose by 10% when a share went from 20% to 30% (it rose by 10 percentage points, which is a 50% increase),
claiming that a smaller slice means fewer people, when the pie gives no totals at all.

In the exam, pie charts usually come in pairs or threes, so you must also compare pies, either across time (2015 vs 2025) or across groups (low-, middle- and high-income families). This lesson shows you how to do both accurately.

What a pie chart can and cannot tell you

It can tell you the relative size of each part, how the parts rank, and (with two or more pies) how the shares differ.

It cannot tell you absolute numbers, unless a total is printed. Suppose food takes 45% of the budget of poor households and 18% of the budget of rich ones. You cannot conclude that rich households spend less money on food: 18% of a large budget may be more money than 45% of a small one. Write a smaller proportion of their budget, not less money.

Two pies, two stories

The pies compare...	Example	Language you need
Different times	How students travelled to campus in 2015 and 2025	Change: fell from just over a quarter to around one in six; almost doubled; dropped by eight percentage points
Different groups or places	How low-, middle- and high-income families divided their spending	Comparison: was higher for; compared with; ranged from ... to ...; whereas; in all three groups

For pies that compare groups, avoid trend verbs (rose, declined, fell). Nothing changed over time. Instead of Food spending fell from 45% to 18%, write Food accounted for 45% of spending in low-income homes, compared with only 18% in high-income homes.

From percentages to proportion phrases

Figure	Natural expression	Example sentence
50%	half	Half of all students travelled by bus.
51–55%	just over half; a slim majority	A slim majority (53%) preferred online classes.
60–70%	the majority; around two thirds (66–67%)	Around two thirds of households owned a fridge.
75%	three quarters	Three quarters of the land was used for farming.
80–90%	the vast majority; four in five (80%); nine in ten (90%)	Nine in ten respondents used mobile banking.
95–99%	almost all; the overwhelming majority	Almost all households (98%) had electricity.
33%	a third; one in three	Roughly a third of journeys were made by rickshaw.
25%	a quarter; one in four	Just under a quarter (24%) of the budget went on housing.
20%	a fifth; one in five	The metro carried a fifth of students.
10%	a tenth; one in ten	One in ten students walked to campus.
1–5%	a tiny proportion; a negligible share; a small minority	Only a tiny fraction (2%) cycled.
38% (the biggest slice)	the largest share; the biggest proportion; the most common choice (NOT 'the majority')	Buses accounted for the largest share, at 38%.

Qualifiers that keep your fractions accurate

Qualifier	Use when the figure is...	Examples
just over / slightly more than	a little above the fraction	51% = just over half; 26% = just over a quarter
just under / almost / nearly	a little below the fraction	48% = just under half; 32% = nearly a third
roughly / approximately / around / about	close, on either side	32% or 34% = roughly a third
well over / well under	clearly above or below	62% = well over half; 15% = well under a quarter
exactly / precisely	exactly the fraction (use sparingly)	50% = exactly half

Majority, minority and stretched fractions

The majority means more than 50%. If the biggest slice is 38%, it is the largest proportion, the biggest share or the most common choice, but not the majority. Most students also means more than half.
A minority is anything under 50%, so calling 45% a minority is technically correct but misleading. Keep a small minority for small figures, roughly under 15%.
Don't stretch fractions. 28% is not a third; it is just over a quarter. Examiners check your approximations against the chart, and a wrong approximation counts as inaccurate data.
Verb agreement: The majority of students were bus users (plural people), but The majority of the budget was spent on food (uncountable).
Writing the symbol: 30%, 30 per cent (British) and 30 percent (American) are all accepted. Never write 30 percents.

Percentage or percentage points?

When you compare two percentages, there are two different ways to measure the difference. Suppose the share of students travelling by motorbike went from 8% to 14%:

The share rose by 6 percentage points (14 − 8 = 6). This is the absolute difference between two percentages.
The share rose by 75% (6 is 75% of 8). This is the relative increase.

So rose by 6% is wrong under either reading. You have three safe options in Task 1:

From ... to ...: The share rose from 8% to 14%. Always safe, and the best default.
Percentage points: The share rose by six percentage points.
A multiple or fraction: The share almost doubled.

Change	Percentage points	Relative change	Natural description
20% → 30%	+10 points	+50%	rose by ten percentage points; increased by half
38% → 30%	−8 points	−21%	fell by eight percentage points, from 38% to 30%
27% → 16%	−11 points	−41%	fell from just over a quarter to around one in six
8% → 14%	+6 points	+75%	almost doubled
not shown → 20%	n/a	n/a	appeared for the first time, at a fifth of the total

How students at a university in Dhaka travelled to campus, 2015 and 2025

2015

2025

Bus
Rickshaw
Walking
Private car
Motorbike
Metro rail

How students at a university in Dhaka travelled to campus, 2015 and 2025
Category	2015	2025
Bus	38%	30%
Rickshaw	27%	16%
Walking	15%	12%
Private car	12%	8%
Motorbike	8%	14%
Metro rail	–	20%

Two pies over time. Before you read on, find the largest slice in each year, the biggest gain, the biggest loss and the category that appears only in 2025.

Ordering your information: a plan for any pie chart task

1
Rank the slices in each pie
Note the top one or two slices in each pie and whether the ranking changed. In 2015 the order was bus, rickshaw, walking, car, motorbike. In 2025 it was bus, metro, rickshaw, motorbike, walking, car. Bus stayed on top, and the metro went straight into second place.
2
Find the movers (time) or the differences (groups)
For pies over time, work out each change in percentage points: metro +20 (new), motorbike +6, walking −3, car −4, bus −8, rickshaw −11. The biggest movers are your key features.
3
Write the overview from steps 1 and 2
One idea for what stayed the same (buses remained the largest share) and one for the biggest changes (the metro arrived; rickshaws fell sharply). You don't need numbers in the overview.
4
Choose an organisation
Over time: Body 1 = the first pie; Body 2 = the second pie, with every figure compared back to the first. Or organise by direction: shares that grew vs shares that shrank.

Between groups: organise by pattern, for example the categories that rise with income, then the ones that stay similar.

Avoid one paragraph per pie with no comparisons: that is just two lists.
5
Order each paragraph from largest to smallest
Readers expect the most important information first. Lead with the biggest slices or the biggest changes.
6
Group or skip the tiny slices
With five or more slices, group the small ones: Walking, private cars and motorbikes made up the remaining 35%. A brief mention of 'Other' is enough. But never leave out a key feature, such as a new category, even if it is small.

Describing two pies: Band 5 vs Band 8

Band 5: two separate lists

In 2015, 38% of students used bus, 27% used rickshaw, 15% walked, 12% used private car and 8% used motorbike. In 2025, 30% used bus, 20% used metro rail, 16% used rickshaw, 14% used motorbike, 12% walked and 8% used private car. The majority of students used bus in both years.

Band 8: compared and ordered

Buses remained the most common way to reach campus, although their share fell by eight percentage points to 30%. The most dramatic change was the arrival of the metro rail, which carried a fifth of students by 2025. Over the same period, rickshaws lost their position as the second most popular option, falling from just over a quarter of students to around one in six, while the proportion arriving by motorbike almost doubled to 14%.

The band 5 answer copies every figure, repeats 'used' ten times, leaves out articles ('used bus' should be 'travelled by bus' or 'used the bus') and makes no comparison between the years. It also makes an accuracy error: 38% and 30% are not 'the majority'. The band 8 version describes change, uses fractions and percentage points correctly, highlights the new category and the biggest loser, and links the two years in every sentence.

Check: proportions and percentage points

7 questions

1
Which phrase best describes 24%?
2
The largest slice in a pie chart is 41%. Which description is accurate?
3
The share of motorbike users rose from 8% to 14%, an increase of six percentage .
4
Pie chart 2015: Rickshaw 27%. Pie chart 2025: Rickshaw 16%.
The proportion of students travelling by rickshaw fell by 11%.
5
Pie chart 2015: Bus 38%. Pie chart 2025: Bus 30%. No total number of students is shown for either year.
Fewer students took the bus in 2025 than in 2015.
6
Match each percentage with the most accurate phrase.
76%
49%
11%
67%
21%
7
Find and correct the mistake:
Bus users made up 30 percents of the total in 2025.

Answer every question to check.

Annotated model answer: travel to campus, 2015 vs 2025 (band 8–9)

The pie charts below show how students at a university in Dhaka travelled to campus in 2015 and 2025. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The pie charts compare the ways in which students at a university in Dhaka travelled to campus in 2015 and 2025.

Overall, buses remained the most common means of transport in both years, although their share fell. The most striking change was the arrival of the metro rail, which had become the second most popular option by 2025, while the proportion of students using rickshaws declined sharply.

In 2015, buses carried 38% of students, and rickshaws accounted for just over a quarter (27%). The remaining 35% was divided between walking (15%), private cars (12%) and motorbikes (8%).

Ten years later, the share of bus users had dropped by eight percentage points to 30%. The metro, which had not yet opened in 2015, was used by a fifth of students, and the proportion travelling by motorbike almost doubled to 14%. Rickshaws, by contrast, suffered the steepest decline, falling to around one in six students (16%), while the figures for walking and private cars both fell slightly, to 12% and 8% respectively.

Introduction'Compare the ways in which ... travelled' paraphrases 'show how ... travelled'. One sentence, no data.
OverviewIt says what stayed the same (buses on top) and gives the two biggest changes (metro up, rickshaws down), with no numbers. This is the paragraph the examiner looks for first.
Body 1: the starting pieOrdered from largest to smallest. The three small slices are grouped in one sentence ('The remaining 35% was divided between ...'), so the paragraph doesn't become a list.
Body 2: every figure compared back'Dropped by eight percentage points', 'almost doubled', 'steepest decline': each 2025 figure is linked to 2015. That is what turns two descriptions into one comparison.
had dropped / had not yet openedThe past perfect shows the time relationship between the two years. It adds grammatical range naturally, without being forced.
Fractions with brackets'just over a quarter (27%)', 'a fifth', 'around one in six students (16%)'. The fraction gives variety; the exact figure in brackets proves accuracy.
No speculationThe answer never says why rickshaw use fell (traffic rules? the metro?). The charts don't tell us, so neither do we.

Writing Task 1 practice

150+ words · 20 min

The pie charts below show how the average monthly household budget was divided among six categories by low-income, middle-income and high-income families in one country in 2023.

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

Write at least 150 words.

Average monthly household spending by income group, 2023

Low-income families

Middle-income families

High-income families

Food
Housing
Transport
Education
Healthcare
Other

Average monthly household spending by income group, 2023
Category	Low-income families	Middle-income families	High-income families
Food	45%	32%	18%
Housing	25%	28%	30%
Transport	8%	12%	15%
Education	7%	12%	17%
Healthcare	6%	6%	7%
Other	9%	10%	13%

0 / 150 words0 paragraphs0 linking wordsDraft saved on this device

Self-check before submitting

☐ My introduction names all three income groups and the year, in my own words.
☐ My overview says food's share was much smaller for richer families, housing and education took larger shares as income rose, and healthcare was similar for everyone.
☐ I used comparison language, not trend verbs (these are groups, not years): compared with, whereas, ranged from ... to ...
☐ I used at least three accurate fractions (e.g. close to half = 45%, roughly a third = 32%, less than a fifth = 18%).
☐ I stated that housing, not food, was the largest item for high-income families.
☐ If I calculated a difference, I used 'percentage points' (education: 17% vs 7% = ten points).
☐ I never claimed that richer families spent less money on food: the charts show shares, not amounts.
☐ I ordered my body paragraphs from the biggest differences to the smallest and mentioned 'Other' only briefly.
☐ My answer is roughly 170–200 words in the past simple.

Final quiz: pie charts

11 questions

1
The pies compare low-income and high-income families in the same year. Which sentence is appropriate?
2
Low-income families spent 45% of their budget on food; high-income families spent 18%. Which conclusion is justified?
3
In 2025 the metro carried a of students (20%).
4
Choose TWO accurate descriptions of 65%.
Select 2.
5
Find and correct the mistake:
Housing made up the 30% of the high-income budget.
6
Healthcare took 6% of the low-income budget, 6% of the middle-income budget and 7% of the high-income budget. What is the best description?
7
Match each change in share with the best description.
20% → 30%
10% → 20%
40% → 30%
30% → 30%
8
High-income families: Housing 30%, Food 18%, Education 17%, Transport 15%, Other 13%, Healthcare 7%.
For high-income families, food and education together accounted for more than a third of spending.
9
High-income families: Housing 30%, Food 18%, Education 17%, Transport 15%, Other 13%, Healthcare 7%.
Housing made up the majority of high-income spending.
10
What is the best way to organise an answer about two pies from 2015 and 2025?
11
Put these sentences from a body paragraph about two pies in the most logical order.
Drag the cards (or use the arrows) into the correct order.
- 1The remaining 35% was divided between walking, private cars and motorbikes.
- 2In 2015, buses carried 38% of students, and rickshaws accounted for just over a quarter.
- 3Rickshaws, by contrast, suffered the steepest decline, falling to around one in six students.
- 4Ten years later, the share of bus users had dropped by eight percentage points to 30%.

Answer every question to check.

Key takeaways

Proportion vocabulary

Saved as flashcards with a free account

proportion

noun/prəˈpɔːʃn/

A part or share of a whole, often expressed as a fraction or percentage.

অনুপাত; অংশ

The proportion of students travelling by motorbike almost doubled.

account for

phrasal verb/əˈkaʊnt fɔː(r)/

To form a particular amount or part of something.

মোটের নির্দিষ্ট অংশ হওয়া

Food accounted for 45% of spending in low-income homes.

majority

noun/məˈdʒɒrəti/

More than half of a group.

সংখ্যাগরিষ্ঠ অংশ

The vast majority of respondents used mobile banking.

minority

noun/maɪˈnɒrəti/

Less than half of a group, especially a small part.

সংখ্যালঘু অংশ

Only a small minority of students cycled to campus.

fraction

noun/ˈfrækʃn/

A small part or amount of something; also a number such as 1/4.

ভগ্নাংশ; ক্ষুদ্র অংশ

Only a tiny fraction of household waste was recycled.

negligible

adjective/ˈneɡlɪdʒəbl/

So small that it is not important.

নগণ্য

Cycling accounted for a negligible share of journeys.

percentage point

noun/pəˈsentɪdʒ pɔɪnt/

The unit for the arithmetic difference between two percentages.

শতাংশ বিন্দু

The share of bus users fell by eight percentage points.

allocate

verb/ˈæləkeɪt/

To give a particular amount of money, time or resources for a purpose.

বরাদ্দ করা

Wealthier households allocated larger proportions of their budget to education.

constitute

verb/ˈkɒnstɪtjuːt/

To form or be a particular part of something.

গঠন করা

Plastic constituted 15% of household waste.

approximately

adverb/əˈprɒksɪmətli/

Close to an exact number but not exactly.

প্রায়; আনুমানিক

Approximately one in six students travelled by rickshaw.

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