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 people regularly taking part in gym, yoga and swimming activities in one city between 2005 and 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Gym | Yoga | Swimming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 120 | 15 | 190 |
| 2008 | 160 | 28 | 185 |
| 2011 | 210 | 50 | 175 |
| 2014 | 260 | 90 | 160 |
| 2017 | 310 | 130 | 150 |
| 2020 | 350 | 160 | 140 |
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 illustrates the number of people regularly taking part in gym sessions, yoga and swimming in one city between 2005 and 2020, in thousands.
Overall, gym and yoga participation increased steadily, whereas swimming declined. Gym replaced swimming as the most popular activity, and yoga grew faster than either of the others in relative terms.
Swimming was the most popular activity in 2005, with 190,000 participants, well above gym at 120,000. Swimming then fell gradually and consistently, to 175,000 in 2011, 150,000 in 2017 and 140,000 in 2020. Gym participation, by contrast, rose from 120,000 to 160,000 in 2008, and overtook swimming between 2008 and 2011 when it reached 210,000. It continued to grow, hitting 260,000 in 2014, 310,000 in 2017 and 350,000 in 2020.
Yoga began as the least popular activity, with only 15,000 regular participants in 2005. It rose to 28,000 in 2008 and 50,000 in 2011, and then to 90,000 in 2014 and 130,000 in 2017. By 2020 it had reached 160,000, overtaking swimming at some point after 2017, and involved more than ten times as many people as in 2005.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| regular participants | people who take part often |
| nearly triple | rise to almost three times |
| overtake | become greater than |
| grow from a small base | increase from a low starting point |
| gradual decline | slow fall |
| popularity | how much people like something |
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