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 the number of births and deaths per thousand people in one country between 1950 and 2010.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Birth rate | Death rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 38 | 22 |
| 1960 | 35 | 15 |
| 1970 | 30 | 11 |
| 1980 | 24 | 9 |
| 1990 | 19 | 8 |
| 2000 | 15 | 9 |
| 2010 | 12 | 10 |
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 shows the birth rate and death rate, per thousand people, in one country between 1950 and 2010.
Overall, the birth rate fell steadily over the whole period, while the death rate dropped sharply at first and then rose slightly. As a result, the gap between the two rates narrowed dramatically.
In 1950 the birth rate stood at 38 per thousand, far above the death rate of 22. The birth rate then decreased consistently, to 35 in 1960, 30 in 1970 and 24 in 1980. The decline continued after that, with figures of 19 in 1990 and 15 in 2000, and it reached its lowest point of 12 per thousand in 2010, about a third of its starting level.
The death rate fell much more quickly during the first two decades, from 22 to 15 in 1960 and 11 in 1970. It continued to drop more slowly to 9 in 1980 and reached its minimum of 8 per thousand in 1990. From then on it began to creep upwards, to 9 in 2000 and 10 in 2010. By the end of the period the birth rate exceeded the death rate by only 2 per thousand.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| birth rate | the number of births per 1,000 people |
| death rate | the number of deaths per 1,000 people |
| fall dramatically | decrease by a large amount |
| reach a low of | hit the lowest point |
| edge up | rise slightly |
| the gap narrowed | the difference shrank |
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