Coral Cover in Three Reef Regions

The question

How to approach this line graph question

A line graph shows change over time. Your job is to describe the trends and compare the lines, not to list every point.

1. Paraphrase the question, giving the time span and units.
2. Overview: the overall direction of each line and where they cross or finish.
3. Describe each trend with a range of verbs (rose steadily, fell sharply, levelled off) and time markers.
4. Mention the highest points, lowest points and any crossover.

How to plan this answer

Structure

1. Introduction: paraphrase the line graph, which shows the percentage of live coral cover in three reef regions between 1990 and 2020.
2. Overview: the Red Sea stays highest and broadly stable, while the Great Barrier Reef and the Caribbean both decline, the Caribbean most sharply.
3. Body paragraph 1: the Great Barrier Reef, falling from 28% to 18% in a steady pattern, with the drop steeper after 2000.
4. Body paragraph 2: the Caribbean, falling from 22% to 9%, and the Red Sea, which remains between 34% and 36% throughout.

Key features to spot

• The Caribbean loses 13 points, from 22% to 9%, a fall of about 59% of its 1990 cover, the largest decline of the three regions.
• The Great Barrier Reef falls by 10 points, from 28% to 18%, and loses two points every five years from 2000 onwards.
• The Caribbean is the lowest region in every year, while the Red Sea is the highest in every year.
• The Red Sea peaks at 36% in 2005 and 2010 and ends at 35% in 2020, a change of only one point overall.
• The gap between the Red Sea and the Great Barrier Reef widens from 6 points in 1990 to 17 points in 2020.

Useful vocabulary

• live coral cover: Live coral cover in the Caribbean fell to 9% by 2020.
• percentage points: The Great Barrier Reef lost 10 percentage points over the period.
• declined steadily: Cover in the Great Barrier Reef declined steadily from 2000.
• fell from ... to ...: Cover in the Caribbean fell from 22% to 9%.
• remained broadly stable: The Red Sea remained broadly stable at between 34% and 36%.
• the sharpest decline: The Caribbean shows the sharpest decline of the three regions.
• peaked at: Cover in the Red Sea peaked at 36% in 2005 and 2010.
• a gap of: There is a gap of 17 points between the Red Sea and the Great Barrier Reef by 2020.

Common mistakes

• Saying all three regions declined, when the Red Sea is broadly stable and slightly higher at the end.
• Treating the Red Sea's one-point change as a significant decline.
• Confusing the Great Barrier Reef's 10-point fall with the Caribbean's 13-point fall.
• Reading the figures as damage percentages rather than the share of reef covered by live coral.
• Attributing the decline to warming or pollution, which the prompt rules out as speculation about causes.

Examiner tip: Describe each line's start, end and turning points, then compare the regions. A stable line beside two declining ones is a useful contrast to highlight.