The first graph shows the reasons for studying in the UK by age, while the second graph shows the support given by employers for training by age.
Summarise the information in the charts and make comparisons where appropriate.

Answer

The bar chart shows the percentage of students who choose to study because of their career or interest in the UK in five different age groups while the line graph shows how the level of support as a percentage from employers in terms of time-off work and help with fees changes between the age of 20 and 60.

The bar shows that young people in the under-25 age group study primarily for reasons of career development (80%) but this number decreases steadily over time and falls to 67% for the 30-39 age group. By the time people reach the 50-59 age group fewer than 20% study because of their career. The opposite trend is seen with the number of students studying because of interest increasing steadily as they age with only 20% studying because of interest in the under 25 group, but this rises to nearly 70% in those in the 50-59 age group.

The second chart shows that the level of support for study by employers is high in the early stages of people’s career at about 80% for people aged 20, but this decreases steadily to around 60% by age 40 before falling more steeply to 20% by age 60.

Essay Notes

The introduction describes the form of the two graphs and allows the reader to understand the title, axis and form of the data for both of the graphs. The body of the essay can be readily split into two body paragraphs, one describing each of the two graphs in the order that they appear in the question.

The first body paragraph describes the two reasons for undertaking education (career development and interest). The data for career development is described first because at the first age (under 25) it is the higher value. Each set of data is described in a single sentence and in both cases the starting value, end value and trend is described allowing the reader to readily reproduce the
graph from the description.

The second body paragraph describes the amount of time-off that employees are given to study. In this case the amount of time off given decreases slowly initially and then decreases more rapidly and shows two trends. For this reason the start and end point and the general trend are described for both parts of the graphs.

Overall the data is clearly described by the essay and a reader should be able to reproduce the graphs even if they have not seen the original question.