•Bar chart
•Comparing age-groups
•Paraphrasing
Trends in insufficient or no physical
activity among Australians aged 18-75, 1997-2000
Getting Ready
What two pieces of information would you
include in your overview?
What is a good way to organize your answer?
Sample Answer
The bar chart gives information about the
percentage of physically inactive Australians from 18 to 75 years old in 1997,
1999 and 2000. It can not only be seen that the percentage of Australians who
don’t do enough exercise generally climbed over the period but that older
people are less likely to be active.
First, it is clear that young adults are
the most likely to do sufficient physical activity. In 1997, only 1 in 4 young
adults were considered to be insufficiently active, though this increased to
nearly 30% the next year.
As people age, they become less active. The
percentage of 30 to 44 year-old Australians who didn’t do enough exercise averaged
around 40%, while that of 45 to 49 year olds was even higher, ranging from 45
to 50%.
However, it was a completely different
situation in the oldest Australians in the sample. Surprisingly, not only were
60 to 75 year-olds generally more active than the 45 to 59 year-olds, but over
the period they actually became more active. In fact, the percentage of
inactive Australians gradually declined to under 45%. This is especially
interesting because in 1997, both groups were equally active, with both standing
at approximately 50%.
Getting Ready Answers
Your overview should mention:
1. As people get older, the become less
active
2. As time went on, people generally became
less active
Organization:
Because of the complexity of the
information, it is easiest to talk about each age group in turn – moving from
left to right. However, you still need to make comparisons between years and
age groups.
