The charts below give information about travel to and from the UK, and about the most popular countries for UK residents to visit.
Sample Response
The diagrams show the number of international tourists who travelled to the UK, and British residents who travelled outside from 1979 to 1999. The data also presents the top 5 countries where UK citizens travelled in 1999.
Overall, the number of international tourists travelling in the UK kept on increasing after 1989, and more UK people travelled outside the UK than the number of tourists the UK received. According to the graph, around 10 million international tourists travelled the UK. And the number of UK residents who travelled outside was 2-3 million more. Both of these numbers kept on increasing gradually till 1986 and after that, the number of UK citizens travelling outside increased very sharply. The number of tourists the UK received also kept on increasing and reached over 25 million in 1999 while more than 50 million people travelled outside. The number of UK travellers who went to other countries was roughly double than the number of people who came to the UK for visiting. The second bar graph shows the countries UK citizens travelled in 1999 and among them France was their favourite destination where more than 10% of tourists travelled in1999. The second most visited country by UK people was Spain where about 8% of total UK tourists travelled. Other countries visited by UK tourists were the USA, Greece and Turkey where less than 5% UK tourists travelled in 1999.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use travel collocation Original: travelled outside from 1979 Suggested revision: travelled abroad between 1979 Why it matters: 'Travelled abroad' is the natural expression, and a period bounded by two years begins with 'between'.
- 2. Match subject and verb Original: The data also presents Suggested revision: The bar chart also presents Why it matters: The singular verb needs a singular subject, and naming the chart makes the reference precise.
- 3. Use formal number style Original: top 5 countries Suggested revision: five most popular countries Why it matters: The revision is more formal and states what the ranking measures.
- 4. Use transitive verb Original: where UK citizens travelled in 1999 Suggested revision: that UK residents visited in 1999 Why it matters: People visit countries; 'travelled' would require the preposition 'to'.
- 5. Correct trend period Original: travelling in the UK kept on increasing after 1989 Suggested revision: visiting the UK increased throughout the period Why it matters: The line rises at every recorded point from 1979 to 1999, not only after 1989.
- 6. Use chart terminology Original: people Suggested revision: residents Why it matters: 'UK residents' matches the population identified in the chart.
- 7. Use concise travel term Original: travelled outside the UK Suggested revision: travelled abroad Why it matters: 'Travelled abroad' is the natural concise expression for leaving one's country.
- 8. Add year and accuracy Original: around 10 million international tourists travelled the UK Suggested revision: around 10 million overseas residents visited the UK in 1979 Why it matters: The value belongs to 1979, and 'visit' takes the UK directly as its object.
- 9. Correct graph year Original: till 1986 Suggested revision: until 1989 Why it matters: The chart records 1984 and 1989, not 1986, and the sharper rise follows 1989.
- 10. Use concise trend verb Original: increased very sharply Suggested revision: rose sharply Why it matters: 'Rose sharply' reports the upward trend more concisely.
- 11. Fix double comparison Original: roughly double than Suggested revision: roughly twice Why it matters: The multiplicative form is 'twice the number', without 'than'.
- 12. Use natural visit phrase Original: came to the UK for visiting Suggested revision: visited the UK Why it matters: The original phrase is unnecessarily indirect and unidiomatic.
Suggested Rewrites
- travelled outside from 1979 travelled abroad between 1979
- The data also presents The bar chart also presents
- top 5 countries five most popular countries
- where UK citizens travelled in 1999 that UK residents visited in 1999
- travelling in the UK kept on increasing after 1989 visiting the UK increased throughout the period
- people residents
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response identifies the main travel trends correctly, including sustained growth, higher outbound travel, and France and Spain as the leading destinations. Its main limitation is data accuracy: every destination figure is presented as a percentage even though the bar chart measures millions of UK visitors, and one timing reference is imprecise. Prioritise exact units and selected year-by-year comparisons from both charts.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview and line-graph comparisons are broadly accurate, but the destination chart's values are systematically misreported as percentages rather than millions of visitors.
Report France at about 11 million, Spain at about 9 million, and the USA, Greece, and Turkey below 5 million each.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has a clear introduction and overview before moving through the line and destination data, though dense paragraphing and some abrupt sentence links reduce polish.
Use separate detail paragraphs for the line graph and bar chart, avoiding fragments beginning with 'And.'
Lexical Resource
The response has adequate vocabulary for trends, comparisons, and travel, but repetition and awkward phrases such as 'travelled outside' and 'came to the UK for visiting' reduce naturalness.
Use precise terms such as 'travelled abroad,' 'overseas visitors to the UK,' 'outbound visits,' and 'destination.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of sentence forms conveys the main trends, but article, preposition, agreement, comparison, and sentence-fragment errors recur.
Check comparative structures such as 'twice as many as' and use complete clauses with consistent plural agreement.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The charts below give information about travel to and from the UK, and about the most popular countries for UK residents to visit.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.