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Line graph: Internet users (% of population)

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

Line graph

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The graph below shows the percentage of the population using the internet in four countries between 2000 and 2020.

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

Write at least 150 words.

Internet users (% of population)
Line graph: Internet users (% of population). The values are in the data table below.0%20%40%60%80%100%200020042008201220162020
  • South Korea
  • Brazil
  • India
  • Nigeria
Show data table
Internet users (% of population)
CategorySouth KoreaBrazilIndiaNigeria
200044%3%1%0%
200467%12%2%2%
200874%25%5%8%
201283%40%10%16%
201690%59%18%26%
202096%81%35%36%

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, internet use rose in all four countries, but the gap between the leading and trailing nations narrowed markedly, with Brazil making by far the biggest leap.
  2. 2South Korea was ahead throughout, climbing from 44% to 96%, while Brazil grew from just 3% to 81% over the same period.
  3. 3India and Nigeria started from almost nothing and remained far lower, reaching only 35% and 36% respectively by 2020.

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 (173 words)

The line graph compares the proportion of people using the internet in South Korea, Brazil, India and Nigeria over a twenty-year period from 2000 to 2020.

Overall, internet use rose in every country, but the gap between the leading and trailing nations narrowed considerably. Brazil recorded by far the most dramatic growth, whereas India and Nigeria remained well behind the other two.

South Korea led throughout, climbing from 44% in 2000 to 74% in 2008 and then more slowly to 96% by 2020. Brazil began at just 3%, but its figure grew at an accelerating pace, reaching 25% in 2008, 59% in 2016 and 81% in 2020, which left it only 15 percentage points below South Korea.

India and Nigeria started from almost nothing, at 1% and 0% respectively. Both rose gradually until 2008, when they stood at 5% and 8%, and then expanded faster. By 2012 the figures were 10% for India and 16% for Nigeria, and by 2020 they had reached 35% and 36%, so the two countries finished almost level.

Useful vocabulary

PhraseMeaning
internet penetrationthe proportion of people who go online
rise steadilyincrease at a regular, even pace
leap from X to Yincrease very quickly between two figures
lag behindstay at a lower level than others
negligibleso small as to be almost zero
catch up withreduce the gap to a leader

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