IELTS Writing Task 1 Line Graph: Model Answer and Language

An IELTS Writing Task 1 line graph asks Academic candidates to describe, in their own words, how one or more lines change over a period of time, using at least 150 words and spending no more than 20 minutes. The answer needs an introduction that paraphrases the title, an overview of the main trends, and body paragraphs that report grouped lines with figures and comparisons.

The Academic Writing paper lasts 60 minutes and contains two tasks that must both be completed, so the line graph answer is written quickly from a short plan. Each part of that plan links to one of the four marking criteria, and the sections below follow the order in which a line graph answer is usually built, with a 208-word model answer written for a task of its own.

What does a line graph task look like in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1?

A line graph task presents one or more lines plotted against time and asks the candidate to describe the visual information in their own words, usually by summarising the main features and making comparisons. It sits in Task 1 of the Academic Writing paper, which allows 60 minutes for two tasks that must both be completed, with no more than 20 minutes advised for Task 1 and a minimum of 150 words. Line graphs share that slot with tables, charts and diagrams.

The task wording gives a title, the units and the period covered, and each line represents one category such as a country, an age group or a product. The answer is marked on four criteria, namely Task achievement/response, Coherence and cohesion, Lexical resource and Grammatical range and accuracy, and every planning step below links back to one of them.

How do you read the axes, units and time period before writing?

Reading a line graph starts with the title, the labels on both axes and the units, followed by tracing each line from left to right along the time axis. The vertical axis decides how figures are written, so a label of hours per week leads to phrases such as 'hours a week', and a percentage axis leads to 'per cent'. Each line is followed separately before any comparison is made.

Next, the first and last data points and the time intervals are marked, because the period decides the tense and the intervals decide which dates can be named. A few brief notes per line, covering its start value, any highest or lowest point and its end value, usually capture the data without describing every point.

The introduction that follows paraphrases the title in a single sentence, naming what is measured, who or where it concerns and the period covered, with synonyms in place of the task's own words. Keeping it to one sentence leaves time and word count for the overview and the comparisons that the Task achievement/response criterion looks for.

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How do you choose the main trends for the overview?

The overview states the main trends in one or two sentences without specific figures, and it is chosen by asking what the lines do overall and which one stands out. Useful features include the general direction of each line, the line that changed most, any two lines that swap positions and any line that stayed steady. Two or three of these features are enough.

Placing the overview directly after the introduction keeps it easy to find, and only one overview is needed. A signal such as 'overall' or 'in general' marks it clearly, and the sentence should read as a summary that a reader could follow without seeing the graph. Figures belong in the body paragraphs, and a final check that the body paragraphs match the overview avoids contradictions.

How do you group lines that behave alike?

Lines that behave alike go into the same body paragraph, so that each paragraph carries one clear point instead of a list of separate lines. Rising lines can sit in one paragraph and falling or steady lines in the other, which keeps comparisons between similar items easy to make. With only two or three lines, splitting the data into an earlier and a later period and comparing the lines within each is a second option.

Within a paragraph, a sensible order starts with the highest figures and moves towards the lowest, and linking words such as 'whilst', 'whereas' and 'in contrast' connect lines that move in opposite directions. These links serve Coherence and cohesion, because they show how lines relate to each other. Grouping in this way also avoids the robotic, item-by-item style that weakens an answer.

Which language describes change in a line graph?

Change is described with verbs, adverbs and noun phrases that match the size and speed of the movement. The verbs below cover the main patterns a line can show, and varying them across the answer supports Lexical resource.

Adverbs describe how a change happened: 'sharply', 'dramatically' and 'considerably' suit large changes, 'steadily' and 'gradually' suit even movement, and 'slightly' and 'marginally' suit small ones. The same ideas fit noun phrases, as in 'a sharp rise', 'a steady decline' or 'a slight fluctuation', and switching between a verb with an adverb and an adjective with a noun adds the grammatical variety that Grammatical range and accuracy rewards.

Approximate language such as 'roughly', 'just under' and 'approximately' describes values that fall between gridlines, and 'from X to Y' or 'at Z' states the figures themselves. Prepositions matter here: a value rises 'from' one figure 'to' another, peaks 'at' its highest point and increases 'by' an amount. Reading the vertical axis carefully makes each estimate safe to state.

• Rise: rise, increase, climb, grow
• Fall: fall, decline, drop, dwindle
• Variation: fluctuate, vary, go up and down
• Highest and lowest points: peak at, reach a high of, bottom out at
• Flat stretches: remain stable, level off, plateau

How do you compare lines at the start and end, and which tense do you use?

Comparing lines at the start and at the end shows how the relationship between them changed, so the first body paragraph usually states the starting values side by side and the closing sentences state the final values and any crossover point. Phrases such as 'was almost double', 'was roughly half', 'overtook', 'fell below' and 'ended the period level with' express the comparison, and 'whilst' or 'whereas' places two contrasting values in one sentence.

Tense follows the time period on the graph: the simple past describes periods that have finished, and present or future forms describe data that runs into the present or is projected. When a graph mixes both, the sentence about observed years takes the past tense, and the sentence about projected years uses 'is expected to', 'is projected to' or 'will' followed by the verb. Checking the last date on the axis against the task wording settles the choice before the first sentence is written.

Model answer: Line graph: weekly leisure hours of adults

Task: You should spend no more than 20 minutes on this task.

The line graph below shows the average number of hours per week that adults in one country spent on three leisure activities over a twenty-five-year period.

Data (average hours per week):
Year: first year, then every five years to the last year of the period (six points in total)
Television: 18, 19, 17, 14, 11, 9
Social media: 1, 2, 5, 9, 13, 15
Reading: 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 4

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

"

The line graph compares the average number of hours per week that adults in one country spent on television, social media and reading at five-year intervals across a twenty-five-year period.

"

Television viewing fell considerably whilst social media use rose sharply, and the two activities swapped positions during the period. Reading changed little, edging down over the period.

"

At the start of the period, television was by far the most popular activity at 18 hours a week, compared with 6 hours for reading and just 1 hour for social media. Television viewing then peaked at 19 hours in the second data year before dropping steadily to 9 hours by the final year, roughly half the peak.

"

Social media followed the opposite course, climbing from 1 hour to 5 hours by the third data point and then accelerating to 15 hours by the end of the period. It overtook television between the fourth and fifth data points, when it rose from 9 hours to 13 whilst television fell from 14 to 11.

"

Reading declined only gradually, from 6 hours at the start of the period to 4 hours at the end, and was the lowest of the three activities from the fourth data point onwards.

What this model answer does:

• Task achievement/response: the overview names the two opposing trends and the steady line without figures, and the body paragraphs then support each trend with accurate values.
• Coherence and cohesion: the lines are grouped by behaviour, with television and social media compared directly and reading kept to a short final paragraph, linked by 'whilst' and 'the opposite course'.
• Lexical resource: change is expressed through varied verbs and adverbs such as peaked, dropping steadily, climbing, accelerating and edging down.
• Grammatical range and accuracy: the simple past matches a finished period, and participle phrases and a 'when' clause sit alongside simple sentences.

What are the common mistakes, and how should you practise?

Marks can be lost through a short list of habits, all of which are avoidable with a plan made before writing begins. The graph shows what happened, so the answer reports it and leaves out explanations of why. Selecting key features, instead of describing every data point, keeps the answer within the time and still gives a full picture.

Practice goes best in a fixed order: read the axes and write the introduction, identify the overview, group the lines, and then write the body paragraphs with figures. Timing each full answer at no more than 20 minutes builds the habit of planning briefly and still reaching at least 150 words. Afterwards, the answer is checked against the four published criteria, asking whether the overview is clear, the comparisons are made, the vocabulary varies and the tenses match the period.

• Describing every data point in turn
• Giving reasons or personal opinions for a trend
• Leaving out the overview or key features
• Skipping figures or comparisons between lines
• Packing sentences with too many dates
• Using the wrong tense for the time period

Related guides

• What is IELTS? Format, versions and scoring
• IELTS Writing band descriptors
• IELTS Speaking band descriptors
• IELTS Writing Task 1 (Academic)
• Task 1 bar chart model answer
• Task 1 pie chart model answer
• Task 1 table model answer

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