What’s the story?
Select the three analytical statements below which, when combined, best summarise this graph’s overall ‘story’.
Select the three analytical statements below which, when combined, best summarise this graph’s overall ‘story’.
Put the statements in the correct sequential order so that they describe how secondary employment changes over time.
Describing trends accurately and comprehensively can be challenging: care is needed when communicating the dimensions of change over time.
One particular area of difficulty can be distinguishing between (i) low and high percentages and (ii) low and high rates of change.
Read the two responses to the following 5-mark AO3 question:
Describe the trends for primary and tertiary employment shown in Figure 1.
Decide which is the best response.
After discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each answer, click on the button to reveal an examiner commentary.
Total tertiary employment begins at a very low level of 10%. In stage one there is little increase prior to rapid increase in the percentage during stage two. Tertiary employment continues to rise in stage 3 but at a decreasing rate before levelling out at around 80%. In contrast, primary employment begins at a stationary high level of 70 per cent before falling rapidly in stage 2. The rate of decline slows down for three and primary employment levels off at 10 per cent.
This analysis is clear and unambiguous. The differences in the changing percentage of employment (high or low) and the rates of change (high/fast or low/slow) are very clear.
At the beginning, very little happens. There is low growth, and tertiary is always lower than primary. In stage two fast changes occur for both primary and tertiary employment and as one falls the other rises. After these fast changes, both trends are low again in stage 3.
This analysis is unclear. The phrase 'tertiary is always lower than primary' could mean that tertiary employment has a lower growth rate than primary employment. It could also mean that tertiary employment has a lower growth rate overall. As a result, it is hard to know exactly what is going on. The account of stage three is also unclear. Can you see why?