A summary of a line graph

Learn how to describe a line graph.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and tips and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

The graph below shows how people buy music. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

A summary of a line graph

The graph illustrates trends in music buying habits between 2011 and 2018. It presents three different methods: streaming, downloading and buying CDs.

Overall, both downloads and physical sales of music have steadily declined. The latter has slumped since 2011, while the downturn for the former began in 2014. However, there has been a sharp rise in people streaming music since 2013.

In 2011, the majority of music sales were of CDs, at 55% of all sales. In contrast, streaming was not common at all at only 5%. Also, although people had started to download music, it only represented 35% of sales. As sales of CDs began to fall, downloads started to rise. They rose steadily and downloads overtook physical sales in mid-2013. During the same period, streaming doubled to 10% but then it started to grow more dramatically.

Downloads peaked in 2014 at about 43% of sales but fell to 30% by 2018. This was slightly higher than physical sales, which shrank to 25%. Streaming, on the other hand, overtook both of them and accounted for just over 40% of sales in 2018.

Please note: This page was designed for writing practice only. Information in the graph may not be accurate.

Tips

Change the words in the question to introduce your answer, e.g. This graph shows = This graph illustrates.
The second paragraph should give an overview of the main points the graph shows (imagine you're describing the results to someone who can't see the graph).
The following paragraphs should describe the main patterns or trends in more detail.
Use precise vocabulary like steadily declined and a sharp increase to describe trends. Use linking expressions like while and in contrast to make comparisons.
The question asks you only to 'Summarise the information'. Don't give reasons why these trends might have occurred, or your personal preferences on the topic.

Discussion

What are the trends in the way you have been buying and listening to music over the last five to ten years?

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Language level

B2 Upper intermediate

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It’s not so encouraging, as far as the music are available free of cost on different social media sides, people not bother to purchase it. In most European countries, the law of copyright is so powerful that it enforce people to buy music. In my opinion law prevails over the personal instinct. In canada, people are used to purchase music as they feel it is their moral obligation to respect copyright law. In last ten years trend is settled to purchase and buy music and adhere with common practices. In some parts of world, there are some bottlenecks to fulfill this practice.

Nowadays, I do not usually buy music, I listen to it on platforms like YouTube or Spotify, but there was I time me and my family used to do it. I remember going to the music shop in order to listen to music that was trendy. It happened 10 years ago, because the steady decreased in CDs purchased is evident in 2020. Although, I think physical music sales are still popular, I mean people, first of all, music collectors, often spend their money in vinyl stores.

Trends change over the last five years it's notorious the musical trends have changed a lot in the last five years. The reason of that is the sharp increase of the streaming. Before, we bought CDs, LPs and listen radios. Actually, we listen the new trends, launch music on the smartphone. The way of we listen to music has changed over the last few years. There’s no way: sometime let’s use the Spotify. It’s a fact. What do the market say about? The specialize companies have done research to understand how we consume music. The answer is not surprising: we listen music on the smartphone and on the web through the youtube or Spotify. The paper illustrated that the costumers prefer to do everything on the smartphone. Consequently, the sale of the CD starting steadily declined in 2011, while the downloads has rising. In contrast, streaming was not common at all and represented in this period only 5%. As sales of CD began to fall, downloads started to rise. However, in 2013, downloads was in peak and streaming started appear. In 2014, streaming overtook downloads music, reaching 43% the share. Now a days, downloads shrank and streaming continuous rising, representing more 50$ of sales in 2018.

I started to buy CDs in the mid-90s, physical sales probably peaked around 2000. Downloads increased steadily during the 00's. In contrast, CDs' purchase began to fall in this same period and decreased more dramatically by the end of this decade. Around 2010 streaming started to suddenly rise and overtook both CDs and downloads.

There's a video with tips on the "road to ielts" website, that says the overall statement should be the last paragraph. Which one is correct? Second or last paragraph? Or could be both?

Hello aluizaalthoff, While we do not comment on others sites' material, I can tell you that there is no single way to organise the text. The important thing is that all the required information is included and is organised in a logical way. The model on this page presents one possible way to do this, not the only possible way. ~ You can read more about writing for IELTS on our dedicated site, TakeIELTS: https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/take-ielts/prepare ~ Peter The LearnEnglish Team