Skip to content

Academic Task 1

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Leisure time by age (bar chart)

Question type: Academic Task 1: bar chart

The question

The bar chart below shows the average number of hours per week that people in different age groups in one country spent on three leisure activities.

Average weekly hours on leisure activities
0510152025hours16–2425–4445–6465+Watching TV, 16–24: 12 hoursExercise, 16–24: 6 hoursSocialising, 16–24: 10 hoursWatching TV, 25–44: 10 hoursExercise, 25–44: 4 hoursSocialising, 25–44: 7 hoursWatching TV, 45–64: 14 hoursExercise, 45–64: 3 hoursSocialising, 45–64: 6 hoursWatching TV, 65+: 22 hoursExercise, 65+: 2 hoursSocialising, 65+: 8 hours
  • Watching TV
  • Exercise
  • Socialising
View the data as a table
Watching TVExerciseSocialising
16–2412610
25–441047
45–641436
65+2228

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

Write at least 150 words.

Write your own answer first. Then get an estimated band and corrections from our AI marker.

Answer this question

How to approach it

  1. Look for patterns across age groups for each activity.
  2. Overview: TV was the main activity for every group and rose sharply for the oldest; exercise fell with age.
  3. Describe TV in one paragraph, and exercise and socialising in another.

Model answer

186 words (minimum 150). Written to show the features of a Band 8-level answer.

The bar chart shows how many hours per week people in four age groups in one country spent watching TV, exercising and socialising.

Overall, watching TV was the most popular of the three activities in every age group, and people aged 65 and over spent by far the most time on it. In contrast, time spent exercising declined steadily with age.

Television viewing varied considerably between the groups. The youngest group, aged 16–24, watched 12 hours a week, and this fell slightly to 10 hours among 25–44-year-olds. However, the figure then rose to 14 hours for people aged 45–64 and reached 22 hours for those aged 65 and over, almost double the figure for the youngest group.

Exercise was the least common activity for all groups. People aged 16–24 exercised for 6 hours a week, but this fell to 4, 3 and just 2 hours in the older groups. Socialising followed a different pattern. It was highest among the youngest group, at 10 hours, dropped to 7 and 6 hours in the middle age groups, and then increased again to 8 hours among people over 65.

Useful language from this answer

varied considerably between the groups
introducing differences
declined steadily with age
describing a consistent pattern
almost double the figure for
comparing two numbers
followed a different pattern
introducing a contrasting trend
the least common activity
a superlative comparison

Common mistakes with this question

  • Missing the overview. A report without a clear summary of the main trends cannot score above Band 5 for Task Achievement.
  • Giving your opinion or explaining why the changes happened. Task 1 Academic only asks you to describe the data.
  • Listing every number in order instead of selecting the key figures and making comparisons.

Now write your own answer

Reading a model helps, but writing is what improves your band. Answer this question and get an estimated band for all four criteria, with corrections taken from your own sentences.

Get my answer markedTake a timed Writing test

This model answer was written by TestWise Prep to show the features of a high-scoring answer. It is not official IELTS material. Use it for ideas and language, not to memorise.