The chart below shows estimated world illiteracy rates by region and by gender for the year 2000.
Sample Response
The given bar chart shows the approximate world illiteracy rates by gender and region for the year 2000. As the chart showsAs is observed in the given column graph, in all cases, the illiteracy rate among women was higher than that among menilliteracy rate among women was higher than men. Developed countries had negligiblealmost ignorable illiteracy rate. By contrastOn the contrary, about half of the population in South Asia, Arab states and Africa were illiterate.
The illiteracy rate in Latin America / Caribbean and East Asia / Oceania was only 1 percent (approximately), 10 percent and 14 percent (approximately) respectively considering both male and female. Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab States and South Asia had rates of approximately 40%, 41% and 45%. Illiterate women were higher than the illiterate men in all the regions shownall the given countries.
In the developed countries, the illiteracy ratethe proportion of literacy among males and femalesamong men and female was similarwas almost similar but the gender gaps were largerthe differences increased in Asian, Arab and African regionsfor Asia, Arab states and Africa. Among the six regions shownthe given 6 countries, the South Asian population waswere had higher illiteracy rates than any other regionfar more illiterate than any other country.
Delete(Approximately 16 3 words)
Why this response received Band 5.5
The report’s strongest feature is its recognition that female illiteracy is higher in every region and that the highest rates occur in South Asia, the Arab States, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Its main limitation is inaccurate and unclear handling of regional figures and gender comparisons; the highest-priority improvement is to report separate male and female percentages for selected regions rather than inventing combined averages.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A relevant overview identifies the broad gender gap and high- and low-rate regions, but several figures are combined inaccurately and key male–female comparisons are not developed.
Compare the two bars directly in selected regions, such as about 34% versus 55% in South Asia and roughly 1% in developed countries.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is divided into sensible overview and detail stages, although unclear lists and repeated conclusions weaken progression.
Organise the details from lowest to highest regions and give each region one complete male–female comparison.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is adequate for describing rates, but choices such as “ignorable,” “illiterate women were higher,” and calling regions “countries” reduce precision.
Use “negligible,” “female illiteracy was higher,” and “regions” consistently.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning is mostly clear, but agreement, article, parallel-list, and comparative errors occur repeatedly.
Check plural agreement and comparison structures, especially “the South Asian population was” and “higher than that of men.”
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart below shows estimated world illiteracy rates by region and by gender for the year 2000.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.