IELTS Writing Task 1 · Academic

Bar chart: how three groups of students spend their week

A real-format chart task with a band 8 report written from its data, the plan behind it, and the phrases worth keeping. Aim for 150 to 190 words in 20 minutes.

The task

The chart below shows how three groups of university students spend a typical week. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Average weekly hours spent on four activities	Lectures	Self-study	Paid work	Leisure
Full-time	18	14	8	25
Part-time	8	10	24	14
Mature	10	12	20	16

Band 8 model answer

179 words. The minimum is 150, and anything under it is penalised on Task Achievement; a strong answer sits between 150 and 190, which leaves time to check the figures.

The bar chart compares the average number of hours per week that full-time, part-time and mature university students spend on lectures, self-study, paid work and leisure. Overall, the groups differ most in how they balance study and employment. Full-time students devote the most time to their courses and to leisure, part-time students give priority to paid work, and mature students fall between the two on every activity. Full-time students attend 18 hours of lectures a week and study alone for another 14. Their lecture time is more than double that of part-time students (8 hours) and well above that of mature students (10 hours). Full-time students also have the most free time at 25 hours, making leisure their largest single activity. Paid work shows the reverse pattern. Part-time students work 24 hours a week, three times as many as full-time students (8 hours), and mature students work 20. Part-time students therefore have the least time for leisure at 14 hours, with mature students on 16. Self-study is the most evenly spread activity, ranging only from 10 to 14 hours.

Why this answer earns band 8

"mature students fall between the two on every activity" is an overview claim about the third group that is true for all four activities, so it reports a key feature without a single number under Task Achievement.
"Full-time students devote the most time to their courses" uses a verb and a noun phrase that sum up lectures and self-study together, the Lexical Resource skill of grouping data under one term.
"Paid work shows the reverse pattern." starts the second body paragraph by pointing back at the first, so the two paragraphs read as a pair, which is Coherence and Cohesion.
"making leisure their largest single activity" is a participle clause that draws an inference from the number just given (25 hours against 18), a flexible structure that counts under Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
"Self-study is the most evenly spread activity, ranging only from 10 to 14 hours" notices that one category barely differs across groups, the contrast-by-exception that earns Task Achievement.

The plan, reusable on any chart of this kind

Introduction (1 sentence, 20-30 words): the measure, the unit, the three groups and the four activities.
Overview (2 sentences, 35-45 words): how the groups differ in study versus employment, with the middle group placed. No numbers.
Body 1 (50-60 words): the study activities and leisure, with the full-time group compared against the other two.
Body 2 (55-65 words): paid work first, its effect on leisure, and the one activity that varies least.

Phrases worth learning

balance study and employment	to name the main axis on which groups differ
devote the most time to	to say which group spends the most on an activity
more than double	for a figure a little over twice as large as another
shows the reverse pattern	to open a paragraph that mirrors the one before it
the most evenly spread	for the category with the smallest differences between groups

With three groups and four activities there are twelve figures, and a report that tries to quote all of them reads as a list. Select the contrasts that matter, as above, and make sure each figure you do quote matches the chart: a swapped pair of numbers between two groups changes the meaning of the whole sentence.

Questions about this answer

What band is this model answer?

It is written to band 8, and the notes under it quote the answer's own words to show why.

How long should a Task 1 answer be?

Aim for 150 to 190 words in 20 minutes. This model answer is 179 words, and anything under 150 is penalised on Task Achievement.

What is the most common mistake on Task 1?

Writing under the 150 word minimum, which is penalised on Task Achievement, or running out of time to check the figures.