The chart below shows the percentage of male and female teachers in six different types of educational setting in the UK in 2010.
Sample Response
The bar chart compares the percentages of male and female teachersgives information about the gender of teachers in six educational settingssix types of educational institutions in the UK in 2010. It shows what percentage of teachers was male and what percentage was female. Women dominated the teaching profession in nursery and primary educationprimary education, but less so in secondary school and collegeat lower and upper secondary education. This pattern was most pronounced in nursery schoolsIt was particularly true of nursery school, with women accounting forwhere the share of female teachers was aboutabove 95%. The situation was similarly one-sidedSimilarly one-sided was the situation in primary school, where aboutover 90% of teachers were femalewere also female. At secondary-school and college levelsAt secondary and upper secondary level the gender gap was much narrowerthis pattern was less pronounced, with nearly equal proportionswhere there were nearly equal proportions of male and female teachers. On the other hand, male teachers outnumbered female teachers in high-level education, where the proportion of men was twice that for women. Overall, the higher the level of education, the greater the proportion of male teachersmore male teachers dominated, and the proportion of female teachers decreasedthe reverse occurred with respect to female teachers.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The report clearly communicates the broad shift from female dominance in early education to male dominance at university, and its language is generally fluent and varied. However, it falls just short of the required length and blurs distinct categories by calling college 'upper secondary' and combining private training institutes with university-level education. The priority is to name and compare all six settings accurately, especially the final two.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A clear overview and accurate descriptions of nursery, primary, and near-balanced middle categories are provided, but the final two settings are not distinguished accurately and the response is slightly under length.
Name college, private training institute, and university separately, adding precise proportions for the contrasting final two categories.
Coherence and Cohesion
The description follows the chart's educational progression coherently, though all information is compressed into one paragraph and some category transitions are vague.
Separate the overview from the details and group the six settings into female-dominated, balanced, and male-dominated categories.
Lexical Resource
There is useful range in expressions for proportions and contrasts, but labels such as 'upper secondary' and 'high-level education' are imprecise for this chart.
Use the chart's exact category names and more precise comparison language for the private training institute and university.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex comparative structures are handled well overall, with only occasional awkward clause attachment and phrasing.
Revise structures such as 'At ... level ... where' so the location phrase and relative clause connect cleanly.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart below shows the percentage of male and female teachers in six different types of educational setting in the UK in 2010.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.