Task 1 Sample Answer: Abroad Students

The chart below shows the percentage change in the share of international students among university graduates in different Canadian provinces between 2001 and 2006.

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

There is one big mistake in this answer. Can you spot it?

The bar graph compares the percentage of overseas students who graduated from universities in Canada over a five year period from 2001 to 2006.

Overall, the number of graduations by international students rose significantly in the 5-year period, with all universities seeing an increase, with the exception of Alberta. The most significant change was in British Columbia which saw their numbers increase by over a factor of 2.

Between 2001 and 2006, New Brunswick rose by around five percent from approximately 7% to just under 12%. Nova Scotia followed a similar trend growing from just over 6% to approximately 10%. However, the most significant change was in British Columbia which began at around 4.5% and finished the period slightly over 10%.

In contrast, the rest of the universities in Canada experienced a small rise of between 2% to 3%, with the exception of Alberta, which witnessed a slight decrease by about 2% from just under 6% in 2001 to just over 4% in 2006.

The mistake above shows how important it is to report the data accurately. Make sure you have enough time at the end to check your data.