The graph below provides information on the number of students from the US, UK and Australia who studied in other countries between 2002 and 2007.
Sample Response
The chart provides data on the number of students from the US, UK, and Australia who studied in other countries between 2002 and 2007over a six-year period from 2002 to 2007.
Overall, while the US and Australia initially saw a decrease in students studying abroad, they returned to their original figures by 2007. The UK, however, experienced an overall decline, remaining level initially before falling steadilya continual decline over the six years.
Initially, in 2002, the US had the highest number of students studying abroad, atwith 50,000, followed by the UK with 30,000, and Australia with 10,000. Over the next two years, there was a decrease in the number of students from all three countries studying abroad. The US saw a reduction to 48,000 in 2003 and then to 46,000 in 2004. Similarly, the UK maintained its figure at 30,000 in 2003 but then dropped to 27,000 in 2004. The number of Australian students fellAustralian students decreased to 9,000 in 2003 and further to 8,000 in 2004.
However, in 2005, the trend reversed for the US and Australia, with the number of US students increasing slightly to 47,000 and the number of Australian students returning to 10,000Australian students returning to 10,000. The UK, on the other hand, continued to see a decline, dropping to 25,000. This downward trend persisted for the UK through 2006 and 2007, reaching 23,000 and 21,000 respectively. In contrast, the US and Australia maintained a steady increase. The US returned to its 2002 level of 50,000 students by 2007, while Australian students consistently remained at 10,000 from 2005 onward.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response's strongest feature is its systematic, accurate account of the three series, supported by a clear overview and well-selected figures. The main weakness is a small contradiction: Australia is said to maintain a steady increase even though the response then correctly notes that it stayed at 10,000 from 2005. Revise the overview and concluding comparisons so every trend label matches the plotted movement exactly.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response identifies the main patterns and supports them with comprehensive, almost entirely accurate data from all three series.
Describe Australia's post-2005 movement as stability rather than a steady increase to remove the sole substantive inconsistency.
Coherence and Cohesion
The overview and two chronological detail paragraphs form a logical sequence, and cohesive devices guide comparisons clearly.
Avoid using contrast markers where the following statement merely adds detail rather than establishing a new contrast.
Lexical Resource
Trend vocabulary and numerical expressions are varied, natural, and generally precise throughout the response.
Vary repeated references to students studying abroad while preserving the exact meaning of each comparison.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately, with clear sentence boundaries and very few noticeable slips.
Maintain this control while tightening a few long sentences that contain several coordinated trend descriptions.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The graph below provides information on the number of students from the US, UK and Australia who studied in other countries between 2002 and 2007.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.