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 annual sales of fast food and of fresh healthy food in one country from 1995 to 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Fast food | Fresh healthy food |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 40 | 22 |
| 2000 | 55 | 24 |
| 2005 | 70 | 28 |
| 2010 | 78 | 38 |
| 2015 | 76 | 52 |
| 2020 | 72 | 70 |
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 annual sales of fast food and fresh healthy food in one country between 1995 and 2020, in billions of dollars.
Overall, fresh food sales grew strongly throughout the period, whereas fast food sales rose and then declined slightly. By 2020 the two categories were almost level, although fast food had been far ahead in 1995.
In 1995 fast food sales stood at $40 billion, nearly twice the $22 billion spent on fresh food. Fast food then grew steadily to $55 billion in 2000, $70 billion in 2005 and a peak of $78 billion in 2010. After this high point it began to fall, to $76 billion in 2015 and $72 billion in 2020.
Fresh food sales showed a different trend. They increased very slowly at first, from $22 billion to $24 billion in 2000 and $28 billion in 2005. The market then accelerated, with figures of $38 billion in 2010, $52 billion in 2015 and $70 billion in 2020. This represented more than a threefold increase over the whole period, and it left the fresh food market only $2 billion behind fast food.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| annual sales | yearly amount sold |
| peak at | reach the highest level |
| fall slightly | decrease a little |
| more than triple | become over three times higher |
| the gap closed | the difference almost disappeared |
| continuous growth | rising without interruption |
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