The pie charts show the highest education level of women in Sri Lanka in 1965 and 1995.
Sample Response
The pie charts compare women’s education levelscompare the women education level in Sri Lanka in two years 30 years apartacross two different years with a gap of 30 years. Overall, the educational attainment of Sri Lankan womenSri Lankan women's education level in 1995 was significantly better than that of three decades earlier. In 1965, only 15% Sri Lankan women completed secondary education and only 3% completed their graduation. No women achievedNo women, in this year achieved a postgraduate qualificationpost-graduation qualification. A large proportionA great percentage of Sri Lankan women, 35% to be exact, did not go to school at all. In 1995, 80% of Sri Lankan women80% Sri Lankan women had completed secondary education or higherhad completed their secondary education which was a remarkable improvement compared to the figuresscenario 30 years earlier. 55% of women55% females had attained graduate or postgraduate qualificationsachieved graduation degrees while 20% had completed postgraduate qualificationspost-graduation studies. In this year, all womengirls attended schoolschools and completed their primary education, though 20% of them ended their education after six years of schoolingended their schooling at this point. This is a stark contrast with the women education level in 1965 when more than one-third of them received no education at all and 65% ended with the elementary education only.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response presents a clear overall improvement in women’s education and makes useful comparisons between 1965 and 1995. Its main limitation is that some category figures are misreported or merged unclearly, notably 15% for secondary education in 1965 and the claim that 65% ended with elementary education. Report each chart category directly before combining figures, and verify every total against the visual.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview captures the major improvement and most figures are relevant, but some values and combined-category claims do not match the charts precisely.
Report the five categories separately first, including 18% at 12-year education in 1965, before deriving any combined totals.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response moves clearly from an overview to 1965, then 1995, and finishes with a direct contrast between the years.
Separate the overview and year-by-year details into distinct paragraphs to make the comparison structure more visible.
Lexical Resource
The report uses a useful range of comparison language, but awkward expressions such as “women education level” and “completed their graduation” reduce precision.
Use accurate education terms such as “women’s educational attainment,” “graduates,” and “postgraduate qualifications.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex comparisons are generally understandable, but missing articles, awkward noun phrases, and punctuation errors occur across the response.
Add required prepositions and determiners in percentage statements, for example “15% of Sri Lankan women,” and remove misplaced commas.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The pie charts show the highest education level of women in Sri Lanka in 1965 and 1995.
Your response
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