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 visits to public libraries and books borrowed in one city between 2000 and 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Visits | Books borrowed |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 820 | 1,500 |
| 2004 | 860 | 1,450 |
| 2008 | 900 | 1,300 |
| 2012 | 870 | 1,050 |
| 2016 | 780 | 800 |
| 2020 | 520 | 450 |
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 shows the number of visits to public libraries and the number of books borrowed in one city between 2000 and 2020, in thousands.
Overall, both measures fell by the end of the period, but borrowing declined steadily from the start, whereas visits rose before dropping. As a result, visits finally exceeded the number of books borrowed.
Book borrowing began at 1,500,000 in 2000 and fell continuously, to 1,450,000 in 2004 and 1,300,000 in 2008. The fall then became steeper, with figures of 1,050,000 in 2012 and 800,000 in 2016, and the number of books borrowed reached its lowest point of 450,000 in 2020, a third of the original figure.
Library visits followed a different pattern. They started much lower than borrowing, at 820,000, and increased to 860,000 in 2004 and a peak of 900,000 in 2008. After that they fell slightly to 870,000 in 2012 and then more sharply, to 780,000 in 2016 and 520,000 in 2020. Between 2016 and 2020, therefore, visits overtook the number of books borrowed, which stood at 800,000 and 450,000 in those two years respectively.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| library visits | the number of times people go to a library |
| borrow books | take books temporarily |
| fall continuously | decrease without a break |
| a slight increase | a small rise |
| peak at | reach the highest level |
| overtake | become more than |
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