The bar chart below shows the hours per week that teenagers spend doing certain activities in Chester from 2002 to 2007.
Sample Response
The bar chart elucidates how long per week the activities performed by youngsters at Chester between 2002 and 2007.
Overall, it is clear from the given graph that going to pubs, watching television and shopping showed an upward trend while doing homework, doing sport and bowling experienced a downward trend. Watching DVDs had fluctuations throughout the period.
In the initial years 2002 and 2003, the hours spent per week going to pubs and disco were around 5 and 10 hours respectively. After that from 2004 to 2006, the figure remained constant at around 13 hours. At the end of the period, it showed a slight increase of around 4 hours. Watching television was the most favorable pursuit among adolescents. In 2002 and 2003 it stood at 25 hours which in the following years increased gradually and finished at below 38 hours per week. Shopping also showed a considerable rise throughout the period. It started at more than 7 hours and ended at 15 hours per week in 2007.
Doing homework and sport kept on declining gradually, In 2002 these were about 13 and 10 hours and at the end, these stood at around 6 and 2 hours respectively. Watching DVDs showed fluctuations throughout the period, in the beginning nearly 10 hours were devoted to it, and in the last year, it returned at 10 hours again. Bowling was the least pursued hobby, 5 hours per week was given to it by kids then it reached to 2 hours per week in 2007.
So This is Sample Answer of The bar chart below shows the hours per week that teenagers spend doing certain activities in Chester from 2002 to 2007.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use concise trend verb Original: had fluctuations throughout the period Suggested revision: fluctuated throughout the period Why it matters: Fluctuated is the natural verb for an irregular pattern over time.
- 2. Clarify time phrase Original: initial years 2002 and 2003 Suggested revision: first two years, 2002 and 2003 Why it matters: The revised phrase identifies the years clearly and uses appropriate punctuation.
- 3. Match activity label Original: going to pubs and disco Suggested revision: going to pubs/discos Why it matters: This wording matches the single activity category shown on the chart.
- 4. Correct starting figures Original: around 5 and 10 hours respectively Suggested revision: about 8 and 10 hours, respectively Why it matters: The bars show roughly 8 hours in 2002 and 10 in 2003 for pubs/discos.
- 5. Streamline time link Original: After that from 2004 to 2006 Suggested revision: From 2004 to 2006 Why it matters: The explicit date range makes After that redundant.
- 6. Describe small variation Original: remained constant at around 13 hours Suggested revision: remained nearly stable at 12–13 hours Why it matters: The bars vary slightly across these years rather than staying exactly constant.
- 7. Correct final increase Original: around 4 hours Suggested revision: about 5 hours Why it matters: The pubs/discos figure rises from about 13 to 18 hours at the end.
- 8. Describe measured quantity Original: most favorable pursuit Suggested revision: most time-consuming activity Why it matters: The chart measures time spent, not how much teenagers liked each activity.
- 9. Repair relative clause Original: which in the following years increased gradually Suggested revision: before increasing gradually in the following years Why it matters: The revision connects the later trend grammatically to the earlier figure.
- 10. Fix endpoint wording Original: below Suggested revision: about Why it matters: At about is the natural way to report the chart's approximate endpoint.
- 11. Use closer estimate Original: more than 7 hours Suggested revision: about 7 hours Why it matters: The 2002 shopping bar is approximately 7 hours rather than clearly above it.
- 12. Fix term and boundary Original: Bowling was the least pursued hobby, Suggested revision: Bowling was the least time-consuming activity; Why it matters: The replacement describes the measured quantity and prevents a comma splice.
Suggested Rewrites
- had fluctuations throughout the period fluctuated throughout the period
- initial years 2002 and 2003 first two years, 2002 and 2003
- going to pubs and disco going to pubs/discos
- around 5 and 10 hours respectively about 8 and 10 hours, respectively
- After that from 2004 to 2006 From 2004 to 2006
- remained constant at around 13 hours remained nearly stable at 12–13 hours
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response gives a strong overview of all major trends and covers every activity with generally appropriate supporting figures. Its main limitation is that some values are only approximate or inaccurate, and recurring comma splices and awkward expressions weaken control. The highest priority is to report the chart's figures more precisely while dividing long statements into correctly punctuated sentences.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview accurately distinguishes rising, falling, and fluctuating activities, and the details cover all seven categories, despite several imprecise endpoint figures.
Check values such as pubs and discos in 2002, homework in 2007, and bowling at both endpoints against the chart.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from rising activities to declining or fluctuating ones, with clear paragraphing, though some references and sentence joins are loose.
Keep each trend comparison in a separate, well-punctuated sentence and remove the irrelevant final sample-answer statement.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for trends and activities, but expressions such as 'most favorable pursuit' and 'reached to' are occasionally unnatural.
Use precise chart language such as 'most time-consuming activity', 'rose to', and 'fell to' consistently.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a mix of simple and complex structures, but comma splices, capitalization errors, and occasional agreement or preposition problems recur.
Separate independent clauses with full stops or conjunctions and proofread verb agreement, capitalization, and prepositions.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The bar chart below shows the hours per week that teenagers spend doing certain activities in Chester from 2002 to 2007.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.