Pick out the main features of this bar chart for your overview, write your report on a 20-minute timer, then compare it with a band-8 model answer.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The chart below shows the percentage of people who play sport regularly in four age groups.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 16–24 | 72% | 58% |
| 25–34 | 60% | 44% |
| 35–54 | 44% | 36% |
| 55+ | 30% | 28% |
GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.
An overview names the main trends or differences in one or two sentences, without numbers. These are the features a strong answer picks out:
Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.
0 words of 150 minimum
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Write your own answer first, then compare: how it answers the exact question, what each paragraph does, and which phrases you could borrow.
The bar chart compares the percentage of men and women who play sport regularly in four age groups.
Overall, participation fell steadily with age for both sexes, and men were more active than women in every age group. However, the difference between them narrowed considerably among the oldest people.
Among 16–24-year-olds, 72% of men and 58% of women played sport regularly. The proportion of men then fell to 60% in the 25–34 group, while the female rate dropped to 44%. This was the biggest gender gap in the chart, at 16 percentage points, compared with 14 points in the youngest group.
The gap became smaller in later life. In the 35–54 group, 44% of men and 36% of women were active, a difference of only 8 percentage points, and the male figure was the same as the female figure in the 25–34 group.
Participation was lowest among people aged 55 and over, at 30% of men and 28% of women. The difference between the sexes was therefore just 2 percentage points, and both groups were less than half as active as their counterparts in the youngest group.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| regular participation | taking part often |
| decline with age | decrease as people get older |
| the gender gap | difference between men and women |
| nearly identical | almost the same |
| play sport | take part in physical games |
| a steady fall | gradual decrease |
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