The chart shows British Emigration to selected destinations between 2004 and 2007.
Sample Response
The column graph compares the number of British emigrantsnumber of emigrated British to five different countries over the four-year period from 2004 to 2007within a span of four years’ time commencing from 2004. The data was taken from the International Passenger Surveyfrom International Passenger Survey and it clearly showsoutlines that Australia was the most popular destinationtheir favourite country for settlement in the given period. In detailGetting back to details, just over 40 thousand Britons emigrated to AustraliaBritish arrived in Australia in 2004 which was the highest number of British citizens emigrating to any destinationBritish citizens immigrated to any country. That yearIn this year nearly 25 thousand British went to New Zealand, the USA and FranceNew Zealand, USA and France while 35 thousand went to Spain, making it the second favoured destination for British emigrantsUK residences. In subsequent yearsIn the consecutive years, Australia remained their most popular destinationhot destination and more than 50 thousand British went to this country in 2006 alone. Interestingly, the number of British migrated to Spain slowly decreased in the final two years and this trend was also true in the case of British people’s migration to New Zealand and USA. Around 20 thousand Britons emigrated to the USA and New ZealandBritish shifted to the USA and New Zealand in 2007 while this figure was higher in Spain, at about 28 thousandslightly more in Spain. The total number of Britons emigrating to AustraliaTotal migrated British in Australia in 2007, on the other hand, was approximately 44 thousandsomewhat 43 thousand.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response’s strongest feature is its clear identification of Australia as the leading destination, supported by several broadly accurate figures and comparisons. Its main limitation is incomplete and occasionally inaccurate trend coverage, especially the omission of France’s marked rise and fall and the claim that US emigration followed a steady decline. Prioritise selecting all major patterns for the overview and checking each stated trend against the four yearly bars.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response provides a valid overview and relevant figures, but omits France’s major fluctuation and mischaracterises the US trend.
Include France’s 2005 peak and subsequent fall, and verify whether each destination rises, falls, or fluctuates.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report follows a generally logical sequence and uses linking to connect comparisons, though some transitions are awkward or imprecise.
Organise the details into clear trend groups and use contrast markers only where the relationship genuinely contrasts.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary range is adequate for reporting figures and trends, but several word choices and collocations are unnatural or inaccurate.
Use natural forms such as ‘British emigrants’, ‘emigrated to’, ‘residents’, and ‘approximately 43,000’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Sentence structures show some variety, but recurring errors in participle clauses and noun phrases weaken grammatical control.
Review constructions after ‘the number of’ and use relative clauses or past-tense verbs accurately when describing migration.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart shows British Emigration to selected destinations between 2004 and 2007.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.