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 table shows the number of children ever born to womenchildren born to women aged 40–44 years in Australia in 1981, 1986, 1996 and 20062001.
In 1981, women aged 40-44 years were only marginally more likely to have had two children than three children (29% vs 27.4%) or four or more children (27.6%). By 1986Similarly, by 1986, women of this age were considerably more likely to have given birth to two children than three children (35.6% vs 27%) or four or more children (18.9%).
In 1996 and 2006, the proportions of women aged 40-44 years who had given birth to two children were almost identical, though the proportions who had given birth to three children or to four or more children had decreased. In these more recent periods, women were more likely to have had two children than three children –two children than three or more children – a trend that was most marked in the most recent period (38.2% vs 24.6% in 1996; 38.3% vs 21.5% in 2006).
While having two children was most common in 2006two-child families now predominate, the proportionnumber of women who had given birth to only one child increased progressively from 7.6% in 1981 to 13.2% in 2006.
In 1981, similar proportions of women aged in their early forties were childless or had given birth to only one child (8.5% and 7.6% respectively). By 2006, 15.9% of women were childless and 13.2% had given birth to only one child.
Overall, by age 40-44 years, the proportion of women who have had three or more children fell considerably between 1981 and 2006has fallen considerably since the 1980s, while the proportions who have had no children, or only one or two children havehas increased.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response is comprehensive, well organised and linguistically precise, with a strong overview and accurate reporting of most individual percentages. The principal weakness is data accuracy: it introduces 2001 instead of 2006 and twice labels the percentage for exactly three children as the combined figure for three or more. The highest priority is to verify category aggregation and year labels before finalising otherwise sophisticated comparisons.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The report provides a clear overview and detailed, mostly accurate coverage, but it misstates one year and incorrectly treats the three-children values as totals for three or more children.
Check every year label and add the three-children and four-or-more categories before making combined comparisons.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is sequenced logically across the periods, with controlled referencing and well-focused paragraphs that build toward a clear overview.
Place the overview immediately after the introduction so the main pattern frames the detailed comparisons from the outset.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied, precise and flexible, with effective terms such as marginally, proportions, progressively and predominate.
Maintain this precision by distinguishing number from proportion whenever the table reports percentages.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately, with only an isolated agreement error in the final sentence.
Proofread coordinated plural subjects so proportions correctly takes have increased rather than has increased.
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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.