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User-written IELTS example

Writing Academic Task 1 Band 4.0 Example

Original task prompt, user essay, band score, and related examples in the same report workspace.

212 words AcademicTask 1Bar Chart
Task 1

Illustrative target band for this original model answer.

Plan your answer

Try your own response before reading the samples.

Ideas to explore

  • Compare the sexes by age band: men have the higher rate only among 15–24-year-olds.
  • Describe the contrasting patterns: the male rate falls to a low among 35–44-year-olds before recovering, while the female rate rises to a plateau above 50% from ages 35 to 64.
  • Highlight the endpoint: the two rates are almost equal among people aged 65 and over.

Suggested structure

  1. Introduce the chart, population, measure, age groups, and year.
  2. Give an overview of the main gender contrast and the near-equal oldest-group figures.
  3. Describe the male figures across the age groups, noting the low and later recovery.
  4. Describe the female figures, noting the rise and peak, then compare the oldest group.
Useful vocabulary & examples
participation rate
The percentage of a group taking part in an activity.

The male participation rate reached its lowest point among 35–44-year-olds.

reach a low
Fall to the smallest value in the figures being discussed.

The figure for men reached a low of roughly 39% in the 35–44 age group.

peak at
Reach the highest value in a set of figures.

Female participation peaked at approximately 53% in two age groups.

remain almost level
Be very similar, with only a small difference.

The male and female rates remained almost level among those aged 65 and over.

Task Prompt

The bar chart below shows the percentage of Australian men and women in different age groups who did regular physical activity in 2010.
IELTS Writing Task 1 visual

User Essay Analysis

Review the public answer with report-style highlights.

Band 4.0

The graph presents the proportion of Australian male and female of varied age groups engaging in daily exercise in 2010. Overall, it is apparent from the graph that the percentage of women doing physical activity were higher than men in various age group, rather than that of adult groups. Getting into details, more than a half of men in the 15 to 24 age group did regular exercise, at about 52%, while women was lower, at around 48%. In the next age group, women reached almost 49%, compared with 42% for men. The biggest difference can be seen among people aged 35 to 44, where female figure was about 52%, but male was around 39%. For people from 45 to 54, women had approximately 53% and men about 43%. A similar result was for the 55 to 64 group, with 53% of women and 45% of men doing activity. At the last group, 65 and over, the percentages were almost same, at about 47% for both sexes. In general, women was more active than men in most age groups, but the young group was an exception. Men's rate went down from first group to 35 to 44, then increased gradually in older groups. Female rate increased slightly and stay stable after 45.

Targeted Improvement Tips

1
Replace the unclear overview with one sentence stating that women recorded higher activity rates in most age groups, while men led among 15–24-year-olds and the oldest group was nearly equal.
2
Use paired comparisons for each age group, keeping the approximate male and female figures together so readers can compare them quickly.
3
After drafting, check every verb for agreement and past-tense consistency; pay particular attention to “women were” and “the rate stayed.”

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