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 annual fish catch in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans 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 | Atlantic | Pacific |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 12 | 5 |
| 1960 | 18 | 9 |
| 1970 | 25 | 16 |
| 1980 | 22 | 24 |
| 1990 | 18 | 38 |
| 2000 | 13 | 47 |
| 2010 | 10 | 50 |
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 the annual fish catch in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans over a sixty-year period, from 1950 to 2010.
Overall, the two oceans followed opposite trends. The Atlantic catch rose to a peak in 1970 and then declined, whereas the Pacific catch grew almost continuously, and the Pacific overtook the Atlantic as the main fishing ground.
In 1950 the Atlantic yielded 12 million tonnes, more than double the Pacific's 5 million tonnes. The Atlantic figure then increased to 18 million tonnes in 1960 and reached its maximum of 25 million tonnes in 1970. After that it fell back, to 22 million tonnes in 1980, 18 million in 1990 and 13 million in 2000, ending the period at 10 million tonnes, which was below its starting level.
The Pacific catch climbed throughout. It rose to 9 million tonnes in 1960 and 16 million in 1970, and by 1980 it had overtaken the Atlantic, at 24 million tonnes against 22 million. Growth then continued strongly, to 38 million tonnes in 1990 and 47 million in 2000, before levelling off at 50 million tonnes in 2010, five times the Atlantic figure.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| annual catch | the amount of fish taken in a year |
| a tenfold increase | growth to ten times the original amount |
| peak at | reach a maximum |
| go into decline | start to fall |
| overtake | move ahead of |
| level off | stop changing and stay steady |
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