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Line graph: Weekly hours of entertainment (teenagers)

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.

WRITING TASK 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The graph below shows the average number of hours per week spent on three forms of entertainment by teenagers between 2005 and 2022.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Weekly hours of entertainment (teenagers)
Line graph: Weekly hours of entertainment (teenagers). The values are in the data table below.hours05101520200520082012201620192022
  • Television
  • Video streaming
  • Video games
Show data table
Weekly hours of entertainment (teenagers) (hours)
CategoryTelevisionVideo streamingVideo games
20051805
20081716
20121448
201610911
201971513
202251912

GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.

What your overview should say

An overview names the main trends or differences in one or two sentences, without numbers. These are the features a strong answer picks out:

  1. 1Overall, television viewing fell sharply while video streaming rose from nothing to become the most popular activity among teenagers.
  2. 2Television declined from 18 hours a week to 5, whereas streaming climbed from zero to 19 hours, overtaking TV between 2016 and 2019.
  3. 3Video games increased from 5 to a peak of 13 hours in 2019 before dipping slightly to 12.

Write it on the clock

Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.

20:00

0 words of 150 minimum

Your answer stays on this page only. Copy it before you leave.

Band-8 model answer

Write your own answer first, then compare: how it answers the exact question, what each paragraph does, and which phrases you could borrow.

Show model answer (197 words)

The line graph illustrates the average number of hours per week that teenagers spent on television, video streaming and video games between 2005 and 2022.

Overall, television viewing declined steadily, while streaming grew dramatically and became the most popular form of entertainment. Video games rose for most of the period but fell slightly at the end.

In 2005 television was by far the most popular activity, at 18 hours per week. This figure dropped to 14 hours in 2012 and then more quickly, to 10 hours in 2016, 7 in 2019 and just 5 in 2022.

Video streaming moved in the opposite direction. It barely existed in 2005 and was only 1 hour in 2008, but rose to 4 hours in 2012 and 9 hours in 2016. It overtook television before 2019, when it reached 15 hours, and it peaked at 19 hours in 2022, almost four times the television figure.

Video games grew from 5 hours in 2005 to 8 hours in 2012 and 11 hours in 2016, climbing to a maximum of 13 hours in 2019. It then fell back slightly to 12 hours in 2022, which was still more than double its starting level.

Useful vocabulary

PhraseMeaning
weekly hourstime spent each week
fall sharplydecrease quickly
from zerostarting at no usage at all
overtakebecome greater than
peak atreach the highest figure
dip slightlyfall by a small amount

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