The bar chart below gives information about the number of students studying Computer Science at a UK university between 2010 and 2012.
Sample Response
The bar chart illustrates the number of male and female students studying Computer Science at a UK university over three years. It also indicates whether they were home or international students. Compared to the number of home students, the number of international students was significantly smaller. Nevertheless, there was clear growthstatistical growth in international studentsthe latter group from 2010-2012. Furthermore, the number of female home students eventually overtook the number of male home studentsthe number of males from the same group, reaching a peakhigh of 45 in 2012. The year 2011 saw the largest year-on-year changesthe most dramatic developments; the number of male home students fell from just below 40 to 24 and the number of female home studentsthe number of females rose from 32 to 44. There was also significant growth in the number of male international studentsmale students from overseas, climbing from 20 in 2010 to 39 in 2012. Overall, we can see an upward trend in the number of students at the university.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response accurately identifies the main trends and supports them with well-chosen figures, while its language is controlled and varied. Its main limitation is that the description is compressed into one paragraph and leaves the recovery in male home-student numbers and the steady rise among international women largely implicit. Organising the overview and details separately while broadening comparative coverage would make the report more complete and easier to follow.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The report presents a clear overview and accurately highlights major changes with relevant figures from the chart.
Add the rebound in male home-student numbers and the steady increase among international women for more complete coverage.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically through the main comparisons, and cohesive references generally make relationships clear.
Separate the overview from the detailed comparisons so the report's structure is more immediately visible.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and precise for describing trends, categories, proportions, and changes over time.
Replace slightly unnatural phrasing such as statistical growth with a more direct expression such as steady growth.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex sentence structures is used accurately with strong control of punctuation and agreement.
Maintain this control while varying sentence openings to make the sequence of comparisons feel less formulaic.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The bar chart below gives information about the number of students studying Computer Science at a UK university between 2010 and 2012.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.