Burglaries in Five Districts

The question

How to approach this bar chart question

A bar chart compares categories or shows change between points in time. Write an overview of the biggest differences, then compare the highest, lowest and any surprise.

1. Name the chart, the units and the time or places it covers in one sentence (paraphrase the question).
2. Write an overview: the largest and smallest categories, or the main change over time.
3. Group the bars into two body paragraphs by similarity, not one by one.
4. Quote the key numbers only, with units, and compare them.

How to plan this answer

Structure

1. Introduction: paraphrase the bar chart, which shows the number of burglaries per 1,000 households in five districts of a city in 2023.
2. Overview: Old Town has the highest rate, Hillview the lowest, and the gap between them is wide, with three districts above the average.
3. Body paragraph 1: the higher rates, Old Town (22.8), Eastfield (17.5) and Riverside (14.2), and how they compare with each other.
4. Body paragraph 2: the lower rates, Northgate (9.6) and Hillview (6.1), and how the lowest figure compares with the highest.

Key features to spot

• Old Town's rate of 22.8 per 1,000 households is almost four times Hillview's 6.1.
• Eastfield (17.5) is second-highest, and Riverside (14.2) is third, only just above the average of about 14.0 per 1,000.
• Northgate's rate of 9.6 is below the average, and Hillview is the lowest district.
• The gap between the highest and lowest district is 16.7 burglaries per 1,000 households.
• The chart gives rates rather than total counts, so the figures can be compared fairly across districts of different sizes.

Useful vocabulary

• per 1,000 households: Old Town recorded 22.8 burglaries per 1,000 households.
• the highest rate: Old Town had the highest rate in 2023.
• considerably higher than: Eastfield's rate is considerably higher than Northgate's.
• roughly four times: Old Town's rate is roughly four times that of Hillview.
• well above the average: Old Town's rate is well above the average for the five districts.
• the lowest rate: Hillview recorded the lowest rate of the five districts.
• ranks second: Eastfield ranks second for burglary rates.
• a gap of: There is a gap of 16.7 between the highest and lowest districts.

Common mistakes

• Describing the figures as total burglary numbers, rather than rates per 1,000 households.
• Omitting 'per 1,000 households' from the figures, so the rates read as raw counts.
• Presenting the 16.7 gap as a percentage rather than a difference in rates.
• Describing Riverside as clearly above average when it is only just above the average of about 14.0.
• Explaining why Old Town has the highest rate, which the prompt rules out.

Examiner tip: With five bars, order the comparisons from highest to lowest and keep the unit with each figure. A reference point such as the average can make the comparisons clearer.