The table below presents the number of children ever born to women aged 40-44 years in Australia for each year the information was collected since 1981.
Sample Response
The given data shows the number of children born to women aged 40–4440-44 years old women in Australia for 4 different years. The number of women from 40–44 years old40- 44 years old who had either one child or none increasednone, increased over time while the percentages decreased among womenthis number decreased for the women of the same age group who had two or more children. In 1981, the percentage of women in 40-44 years age group who hadhas no children was 8.5% and in 1986 this percentage increased slightly and reached 9.7%reached to 9.7%. The women of the same age group with one child were 7.6% in 1981 and reached 8.7%reached to 8.7% 5 years later. The percentages of women in the same age categorywho fall in the same age category with two, three, or four or more childrenwith 2-4 and more children were much higher, at roughly 27–29% in 1981much higher (approximately 28%). In 1996 and 2006 (at a ten-year intervalwith a 10 years interval) the percentage rose from 12.8% to 15.9%the percentage reached to over 15% for childless women while it rose from 11.3% to 13.2%it reached to 13% for women with 1 child. The percentage of women with 2 children rose from 29.0% to 38.3%had very little change while the percentage for three or four or more childrenthree of four children decreased over time. In summary, the women aged 40–44women from 40-44 years old had more children initially and the proportions with three or four or more children decreased over timethis percentage decreased over time.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response identifies the broad shift toward smaller families and uses several relevant figures, giving the report a generally clear direction. Its main weakness is data accuracy: the share with two children rose substantially rather than changing very little, and several categories are grouped too vaguely. Prioritise precise comparisons across all five family-size categories, especially the contrasting movement in two-child, three-child, and four-or-more groups.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A clear overview and some accurate figures are provided, but the major rise in the two-child category is misreported and higher-parity groups lack precise coverage.
Compare the start and end values for all five categories and state that two children rose from 29.0% to 38.3% while three and four or more fell.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report follows an understandable introduction-overview-detail sequence, although presenting everything in one paragraph weakens the separation of key comparisons.
Use distinct paragraphs for the overview and details, grouping the rising categories separately from the falling categories.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficient to describe trends, but awkward phrases such as 'reached to' and 'women from 40-44 years old' recur.
Use precise forms such as 'rose to' and 'women aged 40–44', and vary comparison language without sacrificing accuracy.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the meaning, though agreement, preposition, and noun-phrase errors are recurrent.
Proofread age expressions, subject-verb agreement, and verb-preposition combinations so that complex comparisons remain grammatically controlled.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The table below presents the number of children ever born to women aged 40-44 years in Australia for each year the information was collected since 1981.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.