The diagram below shows the average hours of unpaid work per week done by people in different categories. (Unpaid work refers to such activities as childcare in the home, housework and gardening.)
Sample Response
The given diagram presents information on average weekly unpaid working hours of married men and women according to their number of childrenfamily members’ number (without children, with 1–2 children, or with 3+ childrenwithout children, 1-2 children, with 3 children). It is clear that women spend more time doing unpaid work than men dothe unpaid works than men do. Unpaid work mainlyThe unpaid works mainly involve household and child-rearing taskschild upbringing works like housework, taking care of children, and gardening.
As is illustrated in the diagram, more the number of children the more unpaid working hours could be observed in the case of women and the reverse scenario is true for unpaid working hours of men. Women without children work about 30 hours of unpaid workworks per week while it is about 1917 hours for men without children. The unpaid working hours increaseincreases significantly when a married woman has children. For women with 1–2 children, this figureFor 1-2 children this working hour stands at over 50 hours per week and for 3+ children it reaches about 60 hoursreaches to about 60 hours. Interestingly, the weekly unpaid working hours for married men decrease very slightly as the number of children increaseswith the increase of children in the family. While a man works for about 17 hours of unpaid tasks weekly if has no child this working hour decreases to nearly 16 when he has children.
This may be becauseThis is a possibility because women often spend more time at homewomen most of the time stay at home and do more household and child-rearing tasks than men do. Men, on the other hand, work outside and do less household-related taskshousehold related tasks. In addition, married womenAgain married women with children need to work more on such tasks than married women without children.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response gives a clear overview and accurately captures the contrasting pattern: women's unpaid work rises sharply with more children, while men's changes little, and the proposed reasons are relevant. Its main limitation is recurring grammatical and collocational awkwardness, which reduces precision despite generally clear meaning; prioritise subject–verb agreement, complete clause structures, and natural phrases such as 'unpaid work' to make the report more polished.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The report presents a clear overview, accurately compares the main gender patterns, and offers relevant reasons for them.
Refine the men's figures by distinguishing the virtually unchanged first two categories from the small fall for those with three or more children.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from an overview to detailed comparisons and then to possible explanations.
Reduce repetition of references to unpaid working hours by using more concise linking and controlled substitution.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a sufficient range for describing trends and household responsibilities, though several collocations are unnatural.
Use precise uncountable and idiomatic forms such as 'unpaid work,' 'child-rearing tasks,' and 'the number of children.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the comparisons clearly, but agreement and clause-formation errors recur.
Check subject–verb agreement and ensure clauses have explicit subjects, especially in forms such as 'if he has no children.'
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The diagram below shows the average hours of unpaid work per week done by people in different categories. (Unpaid work refers to such activities as childcare in the home, housework and gardening.)
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.