Academic Writing Task 1 · bar chart

Leisure time in a typical week by employment status and gender: IELTS Writing Task 1 sample answer

An IELTS Writing Task 1 bar chart question with a Band 8 sample answer, the chart redrawn with its data, the vocabulary that lifts the report and how to write about bar charts.
  • 186 words
  • Bar charts
  • Academic
  • 20 minutes

The question

The chart below shows the amount of leisure time enjoyed by men and women of different employment statuses.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Leisure time in a typical week in hours by sex and employment status, 1998-99 (hours)
020406080100Employed (Full Time)Employed (Part Time)UnemployedRetiredHousewives
  • Male
  • Female
View the data
Employed (Full Time)Employed (Part Time)UnemployedRetiredHousewives
Male44–8584–
Female3740787850

Chart redrawn by BandLadder from the data in the original IELTS practice task. Many IELTS practice tasks come from the Cambridge IELTS series (Cambridge University Press & Assessment); all rights in the original tasks remain with their owners.

Model answer

Band 8 sample answer

Band 8186 words. Every figure in the answer comes from the chart above.

The bar chart illustrates the weekly leisure hours for men and women in 1998-99, categorised by their employment status. Overall, it is evident that unemployment and retirement provided the most leisure time, whereas full-time employment resulted in the least. Men consistently reported higher leisure hours than women, except in part-time employment.

Individuals in full-time employment had the least leisure time, with men at 44 hours and women at 37 hours. Conversely, those employed part-time, represented only by women in the data, enjoyed 40 hours of leisure. The unemployed and retired groups experienced significantly higher figures. Unemployed men had 85 hours of leisure, compared to 78 hours for unemployed women. Similarly, retired men recorded 84 hours, while retired women had 78 hours.

Finally, the category of housewives, which applies exclusively to women, showed an average of 50 hours of leisure time per week. In summary, the data highlights a clear disparity between those in full-time work and those outside the workforce, with the latter group enjoying nearly double the leisure time of their full-time employed counterparts. Gender differences were most pronounced among the unemployed and retired populations.

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Bar charts

How to write about bar charts: tips and vocabulary

  • →Compare the biggest and smallest bars before anything else.
  • →If the bars show years, describe change; if they show places, describe rank.
  • →Round sensibly and say 'just over' or 'nearly' rather than guessing decimals.
  • disparity

    a great difference between two or more things

  • categorised

    placed into groups based on shared characteristics

  • consistently

    in every case or on every occasion

  • counterparts

    people or things that correspond to another

  • pronounced

    very noticeable, obvious, or strongly marked

  • illustrates

    provides a visual representation of the data

Frequently asked questions

What should the overview say?+

Overall, unemployed and retired individuals enjoyed the highest amount of leisure time, while those employed full-time reported the lowest, with men generally having more leisure time than women across most categories.

How many words and how long for IELTS Writing Task 1?+

At least 150 words; 170 to 200 is the safe range. Spend about 20 minutes on it and leave 40 for Task 2, which carries twice the marks.

How is IELTS Writing Task 1 scored?+

On four criteria: task achievement, coherence and cohesion, vocabulary, and grammatical range and accuracy. A clear overview of the main features is what most separates Band 6 from Band 7 and above.

How do I describe bar charts?+

Compare the biggest and smallest bars before anything else. If the bars show years, describe change; if they show places, describe rank. Round sensibly and say 'just over' or 'nearly' rather than guessing decimals.

Keep practising

More bar charts

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