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 international tourists arriving in three countries between 2000 and 2019.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Spain | Turkey | Thailand |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 48 | 10 | 10 |
| 2004 | 52 | 17 | 12 |
| 2008 | 57 | 26 | 15 |
| 2012 | 57 | 36 | 22 |
| 2016 | 76 | 40 | 33 |
| 2019 | 84 | 51 | 40 |
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 compares the number of international tourists who arrived in Spain, Turkey and Thailand between 2000 and 2019, in millions.
Overall, tourist arrivals increased in all three countries, and Spain attracted the most visitors throughout. Turkey and Thailand began at the same level, but Turkey grew more quickly and finished ahead.
Spain started at 48 million visitors in 2000 and rose steadily to 57 million in 2008. The figure then stayed at 57 million in 2012 before climbing sharply, to 76 million in 2016 and 84 million in 2019, the highest figure on the graph.
Turkey and Thailand were both on 10 million in 2000. Turkey rose to 17 million in 2004 and 26 million in 2008, and continued to 36 million in 2012 and 40 million in 2016. It finished at 51 million in 2019, more than five times its starting figure. Thailand's growth was slower at first, with 12 million in 2004 and 15 million in 2008. It then accelerated, reaching 22 million in 2012 and 33 million in 2016, and ended with 40 million in 2019, quadruple its initial level and 11 million fewer than Turkey.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| international arrivals | visitors from other countries |
| remain unchanged | stay the same |
| rise fivefold | become five times greater |
| quadruple | become four times as large |
| stay level | remain at the same figure |
| the most visited | having the highest number of tourists |
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