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User-written IELTS example

Writing Academic Task 1 Band 7.0 Example

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

173 words AcademicTask 1Multiple Graphs
Task 1

Illustrative target band for this original model answer.

Plan your answer

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Ideas to explore

  • Further study was the leading destination for both graduates and postgraduates.
  • Voluntary work was the least common option in each group.
  • Graduate counts exceeded postgraduate counts in all four categories, with the biggest absolute difference in further study.

Suggested structure

  1. Paraphrase the chart topic and specify the year and population.
  2. Give an overview of the shared highest and lowest categories.
  3. Report graduate figures in rank order, grouping the leading choices and the smaller categories.
  4. Report postgraduate figures in the same order to make comparisons easy.
  5. Close with the most notable difference between the two groups.
Useful vocabulary & examples
the most common destination
The option chosen by the largest number of people.

Further study was the most common destination for both groups.

ranked second
Was the second-highest category in a set of figures.

Part-time work ranked second for graduates.

by contrast
A linking phrase used to introduce a noticeably different figure or fact.

By contrast, only 3,500 graduates undertook voluntary work.

the largest difference
The greatest gap between two compared figures.

The largest difference between the groups was in further study.

Task Prompt

The charts below show what UK graduate and postgraduate students who did not go into full-time work did after leaving college in 2008. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
IELTS Writing Task 1 visual

User Essay Analysis

Review the public answer with report-style highlights.

Band 7.0

A glance at the diagrams provided the information about the destination of UK graduates and postgraduates in 2008 after leaving college. Overall, it is immediately apparent that the highest number of UK graduates and postgraduates enrolled themselves in higher studies, while the lowest number of them opted for volunteer works. To begin with, from the figures for graduates, 29,665 chose further study, considerably more than the 17,735 who took part-time work. A further 16,235 were unemployed, while just 3,500 did voluntary work. Among postgraduates, further study was also the leading destination, at 2,725. This was only slightly higher than the 2,535 who worked part-time. Unemployment affected 1,625 postgraduates, and voluntary work remained the least popular option, with 345 students. Overall, the number choosing further study was the largest in both groups, whereas volunteering attracted the fewest. In every category, graduate totals were substantially higher than postgraduate totals. The gap between further study and part-time work was much wider for graduates (11,930) than for postgraduates (190).

Targeted Improvement Tips

1
Replace the opening wording with a direct chart introduction, then state the shared highest and lowest categories separately for graduates and postgraduates.
2
Use the chart’s category wording consistently: “further study,” “part-time work,” “unemployment” and “voluntary work.”
3
After reporting both groups, add one meaningful comparison, such as the much larger gap between further study and part-time work among graduates.

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