Pick out the main features of this line graph 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 graph below shows average house prices in three cities between 2000 and 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | London | Manchester | Glasgow |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 150 | 70 | 65 |
| 2004 | 280 | 130 | 110 |
| 2008 | 350 | 190 | 150 |
| 2012 | 330 | 160 | 140 |
| 2016 | 520 | 200 | 150 |
| 2020 | 560 | 260 | 170 |
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 line graph compares average house prices in London, Manchester and Glasgow between 2000 and 2020, with prices given in thousands of dollars.
Overall, prices rose in all three cities, and London was the most expensive throughout while also recording the largest increase. Every city experienced a temporary fall after 2008 before recovering.
London began at $150,000 in 2000, and its average price almost doubled to $280,000 by 2004 and reached $350,000 in 2008. A dip to $330,000 in 2012 was followed by a strong recovery, to $520,000 in 2016 and $560,000 in 2020, which was more than three and a half times the starting figure.
Manchester and Glasgow had much lower prices that followed a similar pattern. Manchester started at $70,000, rose to $130,000 in 2004 and $190,000 in 2008, fell to $160,000 in 2012, and then increased to $200,000 in 2016 and $260,000 in 2020. Glasgow was the cheapest city for the whole period. Its prices went from $65,000 to $110,000 in 2004 and $150,000 in 2008, dipped to $140,000 in 2012, remained at $150,000 in 2016, and finally reached $170,000 in 2020.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| average house price | the typical cost of a home |
| rise sharply | go up quickly |
| experience a dip | fall briefly |
| recover | go back up after falling |
| consistently | at every point in time |
| considerably higher | much greater |
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