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 unemployment rate in three countries from 2000 to 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Spain | Germany | Japan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 11% | 8% | 5% |
| 2004 | 11% | 10% | 5% |
| 2008 | 11% | 8% | 4% |
| 2012 | 25% | 5% | 4% |
| 2016 | 20% | 4% | 3% |
| 2020 | 16% | 4% | 3% |
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 unemployment rates in Spain, Germany and Japan over a twenty-year period from 2000 to 2020.
Overall, Spain had the highest and most volatile unemployment rate, while Japan's remained low and stable throughout. Germany's rate halved over the period, remaining just above Japan's rate of 3%.
Spain's rate stayed at 11% from 2000 to 2008. It then more than doubled to 25% in 2012, at the height of the economic crisis, before falling to 20% in 2016 and 16% in 2020. Even so, its final rate remained the highest of the three countries by a wide margin.
Germany's trend was quite different. Its rate rose slightly from 8% in 2000 to 10% in 2004, then returned to 8% in 2008. From then on it fell steadily, dropping to 5% in 2012 and 4% in 2016 and 2020. Japan consistently recorded the lowest rates. The figure was 5% in 2000 and 2004, and it eased to 4% in 2008 and 2012 before reaching 3% in 2016 and 2020.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| unemployment rate | the percentage of workers without a job |
| more than double | increase to over twice the level |
| remain constant | not change |
| ease back | decrease slightly after a rise |
| the lowest level | the minimum figure |
| volatile | changing frequently and sharply |
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