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 mobile phone and landline subscriptions per 100 people in one country between 1998 and 2018.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Mobile phones | Landlines |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 8 | 52 |
| 2003 | 45 | 58 |
| 2008 | 95 | 48 |
| 2012 | 118 | 36 |
| 2015 | 125 | 26 |
| 2018 | 128 | 18 |
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
Your answer stays on this page only. Copy it before you leave.
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 mobile phone and landline subscriptions per 100 people in one country between 1998 and 2018.
Overall, mobile subscriptions grew enormously while landline subscriptions fell after an initial rise, so mobile phones replaced landlines as the dominant technology. By the end of the period there were more mobile subscriptions than people.
In 1998 there were only 8 mobile subscriptions per 100 people, far fewer than the 52 landlines. Mobile numbers then soared to 45 in 2003 and 95 in 2008, overtaking landlines at some point in between. The figure passed 100 by 2012, when it reached 118, and growth slowed thereafter, with 125 in 2015 and 128 in 2018.
Landline subscriptions followed a very different course. They rose from 52 per 100 people in 1998 to a peak of 58 in 2003, which was marginally above the mobile figure of 45 at that time. They then declined consistently, to 48 in 2008 and 36 in 2012. The fall continued to 26 in 2015, and landlines ended the period at 18 per 100 people, less than a third of their peak and only one-seventh of the mobile figure.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| subscriptions per 100 people | a rate relative to population |
| soar | rise very quickly |
| exceed 100 | go above one per person |
| peak at | reach the highest figure |
| drop to | fall to |
| overtake | move ahead of |
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