The bar chart below shows the percentage of people living alone in five different age groups in the USA between 1850 and 2000.
Sample Response
The bar chart illustrates the proportion of people who lived by themselves in the USA across five different age groupsUSA, in five different age groups (17-26, 27-36, 37-46, 47-54, and 55-64), in 1850, 1900, 1950 and 2000.
Overall, the percentage of Americans aged 55-64 who lived alone waswere highest in all measured years. In addition, figures for all age groups increased over the period.
The percentages of those living alone aged 37-46, 47-54, and 55-64 all followed upwardsimilar trends over the measured period. There were significant increases in these figures beginning at around 2%, 2% and approximately 3% in 1850, and ending at around 7%, 13% and 17% respectively, in 2000.
Additionally, Americans aged 27-36 were first recorded as living alone in 1900did not start living alone until 1900, beginning at just over 2%, and rising to around 8% in 2000. Furthermore, Americans aged 17-26 also were first recorded as living alone in 1950did not start to live by themselves until around 1950, beginning at around 2% and increasing to approximately 5% in 2000.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response is well organised, identifies the oldest group as consistently highest, and accurately describes the overall rise across age groups with appropriate supporting figures. The main limitation is that the intermediate years receive little numerical detail, which makes the development between the starting and ending points less fully illustrated. Add one focused comparison using the 1900 and 1950 values, and correct the few agreement and punctuation slips.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response gives an accurate overview and selects relevant, correct figures for all five age groups, though intermediate-year detail is limited.
Include one concise comparison of the 1900 and 1950 values to show how the trends developed before 2000.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is logically grouped by age bands, and the progression from overview to supporting details is easy to follow.
Use linking phrases selectively so the final paragraph remains concise and the comparisons carry the progression.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is accurate and appropriate for describing proportions and changes, with only minor repetition of age-group wording.
Vary repeated expressions such as living alone while preserving the chart’s precise meaning.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a good range of controlled sentence structures, with only a few minor agreement and punctuation errors.
Correct subject-verb agreement in the overview and remove unnecessary commas before participle phrases.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The bar chart below shows the percentage of people living alone in five different age groups in the USA between 1850 and 2000.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.