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 percentage of waste recycled in one country for three materials between 1990 and 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Glass | Paper | Plastic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 20% | 35% | 2% |
| 1995 | 28% | 42% | 4% |
| 2000 | 40% | 50% | 7% |
| 2005 | 52% | 58% | 12% |
| 2010 | 62% | 64% | 20% |
| 2015 | 68% | 66% | 30% |
| 2020 | 72% | 67% | 38% |
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 percentage of glass, paper and plastic waste recycled in one country between 1990 and 2020.
Overall, recycling rates rose for all three materials. Glass and paper were recycled far more than plastic, but plastic showed the fastest relative growth, and glass ended up with the highest rate.
In 1990 paper had the highest recycling rate, at 35%, ahead of glass at 20%. Paper rose steadily to 50% in 2000 and 64% in 2010, but its growth then slowed, and it reached only 67% in 2020. Glass grew faster. It climbed from 20% to 40% in 2000 and 52% in 2005, drawing level with paper at around 62% to 64% in 2010. After that it overtook paper, reaching 68% in 2015 and 72% in 2020.
Plastic had a very low starting point of just 2% in 1990, and remained at 4% in 1995 and 7% in 2000. The rate then began to accelerate, reaching 12% in 2005 and 20% in 2010. It continued to rise to 30% in 2015 and finished at 38% in 2020, although this was still far below glass and paper, at barely half the glass figure.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| recycling rate | the proportion of waste reused |
| rise steadily | increase gradually |
| slow down | grow more slowly |
| remain the lowest | stay at the smallest figure |
| accelerate | speed up |
| proportional growth | growth in relative terms |
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