How to understand graph

Question

sometimes, I have hard time to undersatnd a graph especially in a short time for example ielts exam

I need time to understand, i'm dying to figure it out very quickly

how can I understand a graph quickly?

Tanit · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I am afraid this has nothing to do with English...
You might consider doing some practice in your own language before trying to explain a graph in English. If you're not able to do this quickly enough, then you have to deepen your knowledge of graphs. Perhaps you could start with something like this.

Teacherdominic · Answer

Another place to look is

http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/display.cfm?id=7933596.

It gives you very IELTS types charts and you get the bonus of a written analysis too.

A really practical tip
Be sure to identify what the key points are: perhaps the most common error is to fail to make a difference between what are key points and what are supporting details. A good way to do this is to stand back 5 metres and then look at the chart /graph. You won't see any detail, just the big picture. This really works.

Teacherdominic · Answer

Just to reply to myself - bad form I know, but I have just put together a video tutorial (13 mins long) on this, with more to follow. Part of the problem as mentioned is that it is not entirely a language problem. There are, however, definite language issues. My tips in brief are:

see the big picture
learn what details to include
focus on the right language
organise

That may not say too much to you. If not, try http://www.dcielts.com/?p=1155 where I analyse at length how to go through this process. Let me know if it's any help to you.

How to understand graph

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