The chart shows the division of household tasks by gender in Great Britain.
Sample Response
The provided graph gives information on the time spent by male and female on household works in Great Britain. As is observed from the graph, female spent more time cooking, cleaning, clothing and child rearing while male spent more time on gardening and odd jobs. According to the graph, female spend more than 200 minutes per day on household works while male spend about 140 minutes per day on those short of household jobs in Great Britain. On an average, female works more on household tasks like cooking, baking, cleaning, washing, house tidying, child caring and sewing. For those short of jobs, women work almost 3 times than the men do. On the contrary, male work more on gardening, pet care, odd job maintaining more than women do and they spend the highest amount of time on gardening and pet caring while the female work their highest amount of time on cooking, cleaning and washing. In conclusion, female work significantly more than men on household works like cooking, washing, cleaning and child nurturing while men spend their majority of time on household works like gardening, pet caring and odd jobs compared to the time they spend on household tasks.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use plural nouns Original: by male and female Suggested revision: by males and females Why it matters: Plural count nouns are needed when referring generally to the two groups.
- 2. Use uncountable task term Original: works Suggested revision: tasks Why it matters: “Housework” is uncountable, while individual categories can be called “household tasks.”
- 3. Fix number and tense Original: female spent more time Suggested revision: females spend more time Why it matters: The generic group requires a plural noun, and present tense is appropriate for the chart.
- 4. Name chart category Original: cleaning, clothing and child rearing Suggested revision: cleaning, clothes care and child rearing Why it matters: The chart measures washing, ironing, and sewing rather than the vague activity “clothing.”
- 5. Fix number and tense Original: while male spent more time Suggested revision: while males spend more time Why it matters: The plural group noun and present-tense verb must agree.
- 6. Use plural subject Original: female Suggested revision: females Why it matters: A plural noun is required when referring to women as a group.
- 7. Use household tasks Original: per day on household works while Suggested revision: per day on household tasks, while Why it matters: “Household tasks” is the correct countable expression, and the comma separates the contrasting clauses.
- 8. Use plural subject Original: male Suggested revision: males Why it matters: The noun must be plural to agree with the general reference and the verb “spend.”
- 9. Correct malformed phrase Original: on those short of household jobs Suggested revision: on those household tasks Why it matters: “Those short of” is not meaningful in this context.
- 10. Use fixed expression Original: On an average Suggested revision: On average Why it matters: The standard adverbial expression is “on average.”
- 11. Fix comparison wording Original: female works more on household tasks Suggested revision: women spend more time on household tasks Why it matters: The revision uses a plural subject and compares time rather than saying people “work more on” tasks.
- 12. Use standard noun Original: child caring Suggested revision: childcare Why it matters: “Childcare” is the standard noun for this activity.
Suggested Rewrites
- by male and female by males and females
- works tasks
- female spent more time females spend more time
- cleaning, clothing and child rearing cleaning, clothes care and child rearing
- while male spent more time while males spend more time
- female females
Why this response received Band 5.5
The response identifies the central gender contrast and accurately conveys the approximate daily totals, so its broad interpretation is clear. However, the report gives almost no category-level figures, overgeneralises that women spend nearly three times as long, and presents everything in one repetitive paragraph. Add precise comparisons from several categories, organise them into focused paragraphs, and correct recurring agreement and comparison structures.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The main division of tasks and overall daily totals are covered, but category-level evidence is limited and the claim that women spend almost three times as long is too broad.
Support the overview with accurate paired figures, such as 74 versus 30 minutes for cooking and 49.5 versus 21 minutes for gardening.
Coherence and Cohesion
The sequence is broadly understandable, but the single-paragraph presentation, repeated ideas, and overloaded sentences make progression mechanical.
Separate the overview from two detail paragraphs grouped by female-dominated and male-dominated tasks, removing the repetitive conclusion.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary communicates the topic, but repeated inappropriate phrases such as 'household works', 'those short of jobs', and 'odd job maintaining' limit accuracy.
Use precise combinations such as 'household tasks', 'categories', 'maintenance and odd jobs', and 'spent more time on'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning is generally recoverable, but subject-verb disagreement, faulty comparative forms, singular gender nouns, and long loosely controlled sentences recur throughout.
Use plural subjects consistently and form comparisons as 'women spent three times as long as men' in shorter, complete sentences.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart shows the division of household tasks by gender in Great Britain.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.