The graphs below show the post-school qualifications held by Canadians in the age groups 25 to 35 and 45 to 55.
Sample Response
The two pie charts compareThese two pie charts show the differences between two groups of Canadians (25 to 35 and 45 to 55 year-oldsyear olds) by field of post-school qualificationin terms of their post-school qualifications. The first point to note is the huge increase in the number of people with qualifications. The younger cohortgroup is more than twice as large asmore than two times bigger than the older group (515,600 compared to 213,400). Comparing the two groups, humanities and nursingHumanities and Nursing accounted for larger shares among older graduateshave experienced an increase in popularity with older graduates; Nursing was 4 percentage points higher among older graduatesNursing rose by 4%. However, the largest difference was in engineeringthe biggest gain was made by engineering, which accounted for 9% of the younger group and 19% of the older groupincreased from 9% to 19% of the whole. Several fieldsSome subjects accounted for larger shares in the younger age groupwere more popular with the younger age group. The biggest loss in graduate numbers were to Science, Maths and Computers which, as a group, have decreased by 8%. Administration was 4 percentage points lower among older graduateshas declined by 4%. OverallTo sum up, the graphs show that the younger group contains more than twice as many graduatesa more than twofold increase in the number of graduates. The most noticeable difference in subject shares is the higher proportion of engineering graduates among older graduateschange in subject percentages is the increase in the number of engineering graduates.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response makes clear comparisons between the two age groups and highlights the striking difference in total degree holders and the reversal in engineering and science-related shares. Its main weakness is treating the charts as changes over time, using language such as increased and declined, and it omits several subject categories. Prioritise neutral cross-group comparisons and include the other major proportions, especially social science and arts and education.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The report identifies the main difference in group totals and several notable subject contrasts, but change-over-time wording is unsuitable for static age-group data and some categories are omitted.
Compare the age groups directly using higher and lower shares, and cover the major stable categories as well as the largest contrasts.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from overall totals to subject comparisons and a concluding summary, although the single-paragraph format limits structural clarity.
Use a separate overview and group related subject comparisons into focused detail paragraphs to make the information hierarchy clearer.
Lexical Resource
The response has sufficient range for comparing proportions and fields of study, but gain, loss, increased, and declined create misleading temporal implications.
Replace change vocabulary with precise comparative forms such as accounted for a larger share or was more prevalent among the older group.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Sentence structures are varied and mostly accurate, with occasional agreement and reference problems such as the mismatch between loss and were.
Check subject-verb agreement in complex noun phrases and ensure relative clauses refer clearly to percentages rather than graduate numbers.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The graphs below show the post-school qualifications held by Canadians in the age groups 25 to 35 and 45 to 55.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.