Pick out the main features of this table 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 table below shows the percentage of men and women taking part in sports in 2000 and 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Sport | Men 2000 | Women 2000 | Men 2020 | Women 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Football | 38 | 6 | 35 | 17 |
| Swimming | 22 | 26 | 19 | 24 |
| Running | 12 | 8 | 28 | 27 |
| Yoga | 2 | 10 | 5 | 23 |
| Cycling | 15 | 7 | 24 | 15 |
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 table shows the percentage of men and women who took part in five sports in 2000 and 2020.
Overall, women's participation rose in every sport except swimming, and the differences between men and women narrowed considerably. Men remained more active in football, while yoga stayed more popular among women.
Football was the most popular sport for men at both dates, at 38% in 2000 and 35% in 2020. Women's participation, however, almost tripled, from 6% to 17%. In 2000 women led in only two activities. Swimming had 26% of women against 22% of men, and this lead persisted in 2020, at 24% against 19%.
The biggest changes occurred in running and yoga. Running more than doubled among men, from 12% to 28%, and more than tripled among women, from 8% to 27%, leaving the two sexes almost level. Yoga participation rose from 2% to 5% for men, but from 10% to 23% for women.
Cycling also grew, from 15% to 24% among men and from 7% to 15% among women, more than doubling the female figure.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| participation rate | proportion taking part |
| narrow the gap | make the difference smaller |
| nearly triple | rise to almost three times |
| more than double | rise to over twice |
| the biggest growth | the largest increase |
| remain steady | stay unchanged |
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