The charts below show the average hours worked last year by full time and part time employees in 3 countries.
Sample Response
The bar charts show the average number of hours that full-time and part-time employees worked in the Netherlands, the UK and Greece in the previous year.
Overall, what immediately stands out is the fact that the number of hours worked by male and female workers was relatively equal for both types of work, and that full-time employees worked almost twice as much as part-time employees.
Taking a closer look at the numbers for full-time positions, the figures for both men and women ranged from about 35 to just over 40between 35 to 40 hours per week. UK men were the only groupMale workers in the UK were the only ones to exceed 40 hours a week. The figures for the Netherlands were the lowest for both genders, at about 37 hours for men and 34 for womenat around 35 hours weekly.
Moving on to part-time employment, the difference between the number of hours worked by men and women is more apparent for part-time workin this chart. People from the Netherlands worked the fewest hours with men spending 10 hours, and women – roughly 15 hours per week at work. The UK figures were close, at about 18 hours for men and 19 for womenThe UK had almost equal figures for both genders, around 17 hours a week, while the figures for Greece were slightly higher; the male workers there workeddid around 20 hours per week and female workers worked a little over 20and female – a touch above 20.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response is fluent, logically organised, and supported by well-selected comparisons across employment type, country, and gender. The main weakness is numerical precision: the full-time range excludes the UK male figure above 40, while the Dutch part-time values are understated. Refining these approximations and checking every reported range against the chart would make an otherwise strong account more exact.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A clear overview and relevant comparisons cover the main patterns, but several reported figures and ranges are not fully accurate.
Check approximate values more closely, including the Dutch part-time hours and the UK male full-time figure above 40.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is arranged in a clear four-paragraph sequence, with each employment type developed logically and cohesive links used effectively.
Maintain this progression while making transitions slightly less formulaic where the paragraph topic already signals the shift.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and precise for describing figures and comparisons, with only occasional awkward phrasing such as 'ranged between 35 to 40'.
Refine the few collocational slips by using forms such as 'ranged from 35 to 40' or 'ranged between 35 and 40'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of sentence structures is handled accurately, and the few grammatical lapses do not impede communication.
Polish preposition pairings and make elliptical comparisons fully explicit when doing so improves grammatical completeness.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The charts below show the average hours worked last year by full time and part time employees in 3 countries.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.