The chart below shows the amount of leisure time enjoyed by men and women of different employment status.
Sample Response
The bar chartThe given bar graph depicts the hours of leisure time enjoyed by men and women in a typical week in different employment statusessectors in the year 1998-99. The first point to note is that, only mild variations between both sexes of free time enjoyment in the given year.
It is clear from the graph thatgraph that, unemployed and retired people spentpeople are spent more leisure timemore time for enjoyment and menmales had more leisure time than womenare dominant than females in every category where both sexes are shownirrespective of employment status.
Interestingly, similar amounts of timealmost equal hours are spent on leisurefor relaxation by both men and women in unemployed and retired categoriessections. It occupied around 85 and 75 hours by men and women respectively. Whereas, only around half of this figure engaged with free time in employment section with 42 and 38 hours by men and women respectively. Part-time female employeesPart-time employed women and housewives had about 40 and 50 hours of leisure time, respectively,are engaged 40 and 50 hours respectively in leisure time activities and the figuresfigure for these categoriessectors for men are not shownis not mentioned in the graph.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response identifies the broad leisure-time hierarchy and includes figures for every employment category, so its main message is generally clear. Its main limitation is imprecise comparison: figures for unemployed and retired people are collapsed together, while frequent awkward or incomplete constructions reduce clarity; the priority is to present each category’s male-female comparison separately in accurate, complete sentences.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response gives a relevant overview and covers all categories, but some comparisons are ambiguous or insufficiently differentiated.
Report the unemployed and retired figures separately and distinguish missing male data from genuine gender comparisons.
Coherence and Cohesion
The overview and details follow a broadly logical sequence, although paragraph roles overlap and some linking is awkward.
Use one concise overview paragraph followed by a detail paragraph organised around the highest and lower leisure-time groups.
Lexical Resource
There is enough vocabulary to describe the chart, but inaccurate collocations such as free time enjoyment and engaged hours recur.
Use precise chart language such as spent, recorded, and had more leisure time rather than forcing less natural synonyms.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of sentence forms is attempted, but frequent agreement, clause, and sentence-completion errors weaken control.
Check that every sentence has a clear subject and finite verb, especially after introductory phrases and contrast markers.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart below shows the amount of leisure time enjoyed by men and women of different employment status.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.