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 people owning a smartphone in three age groups between 2010 and 2022.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | 18–29 | 40–59 | 65 and over |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 28% | 12% | 2% |
| 2012 | 45% | 22% | 4% |
| 2014 | 62% | 38% | 9% |
| 2016 | 78% | 55% | 20% |
| 2018 | 88% | 70% | 32% |
| 2020 | 95% | 84% | 52% |
| 2022 | 97% | 90% | 65% |
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 proportion of people who owned a smartphone in three age groups, 18–29, 40–59 and 65 and over, between 2010 and 2022.
Overall, ownership rose in all three groups, and the youngest group consistently had the highest rate. Although the older groups started from much lower levels, the gap between the groups narrowed noticeably by the end of the period.
Among 18–29-year-olds, ownership climbed from 28% in 2010 to 78% in 2016, and then flattened out as it approached saturation, reaching 95% in 2020 and 97% in 2022. The 40–59 group followed a similar pattern with a delay. Its figure rose from 12% to 55% in 2016, and then to 84% in 2020 and 90% in 2022.
People aged 65 and over were the slowest to adopt smartphones. Only 2% of them owned one in 2010, and the figure was still just 9% in 2014. Growth then accelerated, with ownership reaching 32% in 2018 and 52% in 2020, before it rose again to 65% in 2022. This left the oldest group 32 percentage points behind the youngest.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ownership rate | the percentage of people who own something |
| age group | people within a particular range of ages |
| rise from X to Y | go up between two figures |
| approach saturation | come close to everyone having one |
| accelerate | speed up |
| the gap narrowed | the difference became smaller |
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