The chart below shows the total number of minutes (in billions) of telephone calls in the UK, divided into three categories, from 1995-2002.
Sample Response
The bar chart outlines the total duration of calls made by UK residentsthe duration of phone calls by the UK residents from 1995 to 2002.
Generally speaking, most of the UK citizens made local calls during the period and the usage of cell phones rapidly increased. According to the bar chart, initially in 1995, British people spentBritish talked more than 70 billion minutes on local fixed-line callson fixed-lines while about 37 billion minutes were spent on national and international fixed-line callswere national and international fixed line calls. Only approximately 3 billion minutes were spent on mobile callswere spent by people to talk over cell phone calls. Local fixed-line call minutesThe use of local fixed-line increased steadily until 1999 when it reached 90reached to 90 billion minutes and after that, the number decreased each year and finally fell to nearly 72 billion minutes in 2002reached to nearly 72 billion in 2002. The national and international fixed-line call minutesnational & international-fixed dialling increased each year and reached 61 billion minutes in 2002reached to 61 billion in 2002 from the initial figure of 38 billion. Finally, mobile-call minutes rosethe number of cell phone calls expanded significantly each year, showingeach year which shows its increasing popularity. In 1995, the mobile phone calls were only about 3 billion minutesonly 2 billion minutes and in 2000 this figure reached approximately 25 billion minutesit reached to approximately 25 billion minutes. Over the next 2 years, this number increased to 45 billion. In summary, mobile phone calls gained significant popularitygained a significant popularity among the UK callers and as of 2002, the local fixed-line calls still accounted for the most minutes in the UKlocal fixed-line calling was still the highest in the UK.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response gives a clear overview and accurately selects the principal patterns, including the peak and decline in local calls and the sustained growth of the other categories. The main weakness is recurring awkward or inaccurate phrasing, which makes otherwise correct comparisons less natural and occasionally less precise. The priority is to retain the strong data selection while expressing trends through controlled grammatical structures and standard chart vocabulary.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview and supporting figures accurately cover the dominant category, the local-call peak and decline, and the steady rises in the other two categories.
Avoid unsupported wording about how many citizens called and keep every statement tied precisely to call minutes shown in the chart.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from the overview through each category, with clear referencing despite some repetitive sequencing and a dense main paragraph.
Separate the detailed trends into balanced paragraphs and reduce repeated transition words such as “finally.”
Lexical Resource
The response uses a sufficient range of trend and telephone vocabulary, but several collocations are awkward or imprecise.
Prefer standard forms such as “call duration,” “rose to,” “mobile-phone usage,” and “gained popularity.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex and comparative structures is used, but recurring article, preposition, agreement, and verb-form errors reduce accuracy.
Edit recurring constructions such as “reached 90 billion,” “British people made calls,” and plural references to call categories.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart below shows the total number of minutes (in billions) of telephone calls in the UK, divided into three categories, from 1995-2002.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.