The charts compare the number of people per household in the UK in 1981 and 2001
Sample Response
The two stacked bar charts detail the UK’s household demographics in 1981 and 2001. The initial impression from the chart is that 1-person and 2-person households were the second most and the most common family classifications in both given years, and they also experienced rises in percentages. The remaining groups made up smaller proportions and underwent declinescorresponding drops, with the 6-person household being the smallest groupleast popular one.
In 1981, 2-person householdshousehold made up 31%, ranking first among the given household typestype, and then rose slightlyafter which the rate underwent a mild rise to 34% in 2001. A similar picture is evident for one-person households, which accountedin 1-person household, with its figure accounting for 17% and thereafter rising to 26% in 2001.
By contrast, the opposite pattern was observedOpposite patterns could be observed with regard to the remaining groups. In 1981 the shares of 3-person, 4-person, 5-person and 6-person were 20%, 18%, 8% and 6% respectively. Over the next 20 years, they all decreased by similar margins (of around 2-3%) to 17%, 15%, 6% and 2%.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response gives a clear, accurate overview and covers every household size with well-selected comparisons and figures. Its main limitation is language precision: several collocations and noun phrases sound unnatural, and the claim that all decreases were around two to three percentage points overlooks the four-point fall for six-person homes. Prioritise more natural comparative phrasing and qualify changes exactly.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A clear overview identifies the dominant household sizes and overall shifts, while the detailed figures are almost entirely accurate.
State that the six-person share fell by four percentage points rather than grouping it with the two-to-three-point declines.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from the overview to rising categories and then declining categories, with effective referencing.
Use simpler transitions between the two detail paragraphs to make the contrast feel less formulaic.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and generally precise, though phrases such as ‘family classifications’ and ‘underwent a mild rise’ are unnatural.
Prefer natural combinations such as ‘household types’ and ‘rose slightly’ when describing categories and changes.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex structures are well controlled, but missing articles and plural marking recur in phrases such as ‘2-person household’.
Review countable noun phrases so each category is written as ‘a two-person household’ or ‘two-person households’ as appropriate.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The charts compare the number of people per household in the UK in 1981 and 2001
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.