1. Make the relationship carry the sentence
Comparison language is useful when it expresses a real relationship accurately. Replacing “higher” with a rare synonym will not rescue a mistaken ratio or an unclear subject. This lesson focuses on small decisions that often distort an otherwise clear report: percentage points versus percentage changes, counts versus proportions, differences versus multiples, and the noun that belongs after a comparative.
Use the numerical relationship first, then choose the wording. If two original values are 40 and 60, the difference is 20, the larger value is one and a half times the smaller, and the increase from 40 to 60 is 50%. Those statements are all compatible, but they answer different questions. “Sixty is 20% higher than forty” is not compatible with them. The number twenty alone is a difference in the original unit, not a percentage.
The examples here are invented for practice. They are not extracted from real surveys and do not establish claims about a particular city, business or population. Keep that same discipline in your own reporting: use the data supplied and leave explanations of cause aside unless the task actually provides them.
2. Study five precise sentence pairs
Each pair starts with a faulty or weaker version and then gives a useful revision. Read the explanation before trying to memorise the revised structure.
Shares: name a percentage-point gap
Faulty: “The share rose from 20% to 30%, an increase of 10%.”
Precise: “The share rose by ten percentage points, from 20% to 30%.”
The relative increase is 50% because ten is half of the original twenty. Percentage points express subtraction between shares. Relative percentage change uses the starting value as its denominator. In a short report, choose the simpler accurate formulation rather than adding both calculations unnecessarily.
Counts: preserve the measured unit
Faulty: “The website had twice as many people, with 800 visits compared with 400.”
Precise: “The website recorded twice as many visits, at 800 compared with 400.”
One person can produce several visits. You cannot change a count of events into a count of people. The ratio is correct in both sentences, but only the second preserves what was measured.
Differences: avoid an ambiguous multiplier
Risky: “The large room was three times bigger, at 90 square metres versus 30.”
Clear: “The large room was three times as large as the small room.”
“Three times as large” directly expresses a total ratio of three to one. “Three times bigger” can be interpreted inconsistently. You could also say that the larger room had 60 square metres more floor space, if the absolute difference is the point.
Rankings: compare matching subjects
Faulty: “The price of the train was higher than the bus.”
Precise: “The train fare was higher than the bus fare.”
A fare can be compared with another fare. Comparing a price with a vehicle creates a category mismatch. “Higher than that of the bus” can also work, but repeating a short noun is often clearer.
Time: separate a snapshot from a trend
Faulty: “In 2025, Oak Centre increased more visitors than Pine Centre.”
Precise: “In 2025, Oak Centre received more visits than Pine Centre.”
A single-year comparison cannot establish an increase. To describe growth, you need an earlier observation and a clear measure. The verb should reflect the data structure, not just sound dynamic.
3. Use comparisons to organise a paragraph
Original data for three delivery options show average times of two days for Express, five days for Standard and eight days for Economy. Their fees are twelve, six and four fictional currency units respectively. An unhelpful account lists all six values separately. A more coherent paragraph groups the trade-off: “Express was the fastest and most expensive option, taking two days and costing twelve units. Economy required four times as long but cost only a third as much. Standard occupied the middle position on both measures.”
The expression “four times as long” compares eight days with two, not the six-day gap. “A third as much” compares the four-unit fee with twelve. Notice that the paragraph switches measures only after naming them clearly. It does not say Express offers better value, because value depends on the customer’s priorities. Nor does it claim that paying more causes shorter delivery times in every situation.
Use “respectively” only when the mapping is easy to follow. “Standard and Economy cost six and four units respectively” has two clear pairs. A sentence with three services, three fees and three durations asks the reader to reconstruct too much. Splitting it is a clarity choice, not evidence of limited grammar.
4. Solve the comparison repairs
Exercise A: a share and a headcount
A fictional survey reports that cycling accounts for 15% of commuters in Town A and 25% in Town B. Total commuter numbers are not given. Repair: “Town B has ten more cyclists and its cycling rate is ten per cent higher.”
Check a worked solution
A safe revision is: “Cycling’s share in Town B is ten percentage points higher than in Town A.” You cannot calculate a difference in people without the totals. The relative share difference would be about two thirds, but that calculation is unnecessary here and would not reveal the number of cyclists. Precision includes knowing which quantity cannot be obtained.
Exercise B: compare equal units
Two factories produce 240 and 180 units per day. Repair: “Factory A produces 60 times more products than Factory B.” Offer one version using a difference and another using a proportion.
Check a worked solution
Difference: “Factory A produces 60 more units per day than Factory B.” Proportion: “Factory A’s daily output is one third higher than Factory B’s.” Sixty divided by 180 is one third. “Sixty times” would describe a vastly different relationship. Keep “per day” or “daily” because production counts without a time basis are incomplete.
Exercise C: retain the exception
A product costs 10 units in Year 1, 14 in Year 2 and 12 in Year 3. Repair: “Its price increased steadily throughout the period.”
Check a worked solution
A suitable answer is: “The price rose overall, despite falling from its peak in Year 2.” The end value is above the starting value, so an overall rise is accurate. “Steadily” is wrong because the direction reverses. Add the exact values in a detail sentence if they help show the size of the reversal.
5. Check grammar and arithmetic together
Make a final comparison audit in two passes. First check arithmetic: subtract differences, divide ratios and use the correct base for a relative percentage. Second check language: identify the two subjects, their units and the time period. A technically correct calculation can still be misleading when the sentence compares unlike things or quietly changes from shares to totals.
For focused practice, write three versions of one comparison: a difference, a ratio and a ranking. Then choose the version that makes the paragraph easiest to follow. You do not need to display every mathematical relationship you can calculate. The purpose of variety is to communicate selected features efficiently, not to turn a short Academic Task 1 report into a catalogue of formulas.
Format reference checked on 15 October 2026: official IELTS Academic Writing guidance. All prompts, models, data and exercises here are original teaching material. This independent page is not an official past paper or an examiner-marked answer.