Question
Answer
The line graph shows the number of students arriving in Australia from four different Asian
countries. The number of students from each of these countries increased during the almost two-
decade-long period, but at different rates.
In the first year listed on the graph, there was a higher number of students from Malaysia than the
other three countries, with about five thousand Malaysian students visiting Australia. For
approximately the first five years, this figure was far higher than that of the other three countries.
While there were just under ten thousand Malaysian students, the other nations sent only about
one thousand. From about 1986 onwards, however, the other countries began sending more
students and these numbers rose faster than that of Malaysian students. By 2000, the final year on
the graph, Malaysia sent fewer students than the other nations listed, despite having quadrupled
from about five thousand to just shy of twenty thousand.
In contrast, the number of students from Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore began to rise quickly
in the mid- to late-eighties. Hong Kong rose suddenly, then levelled off, and then increased fitfully
after that, while Indonesia sent more students at a steadily increasing rate until about 1998, when
numbers dropped. Singapore followed a similar trend but without the sudden drop near the end.
