Source: Cambridge IELTS 9

Model Answer
The bar chart illustrates the total number of calls in the UK in billions of minutes, with three call types over
an eight year period from 1995 to 2002.

Overall, local fixed line calls reached a peak by the middle of the period, then gradually declined. National
and international calls showed a gradual rise over the whole period with mobile calls rising considerably
toward the end of the period.

Regarding local fixed line calls, in 1995 they began at slightly over 70 billion minutes and rose gradually to
a peak of 90 billion minutes by 1999. However, from 2000, the trend showed a gradual decline in numbers
of calls, ending in 2002 at the same amount as the start of the period.

Turning to national, international fixed calls and mobile calls. Mobile calls in 1995 stood at around 2 billion
minutes. Over the next 4 years they showed a gradual rise, with a considerable increase in call numbers
from 2000 to 2002. International fixed calls showed a similar pattern, starting at just under 40 billion
minutes of calls in 1995, then climbed steadily to around 60 billion minutes of calls in 2002. (190 words)
Analysis
Word count: Yes it’s a little bit long at 190 words, aim for around 160 -190 words in task 1.
Just do not go below the word count of 150 words and do not go above 200 words, as that is
overdoing it. You only have 20 minutes to do this task so keep it concise and clear.
The Introduction
As is the case with all writing task 1 academic tasks, you need to write the introduction in your
own words, or paraphrase it. So I changed the task question below.

Original question:
The chart below shows the total number of minutes (in billions) of telephone calls in the
UK, divided into three categories, from 1995-2002.
Paraphrased:
The bar chart illustrates the total number of calls in the UK in billions of
minutes with three call typesover an eight year period from 1995 to 2002.
You do not need to paraphrase everything (always keep the word ‘chart’ ) you can also move
the words around or change the grammatical structure of the sentence.

The Overview
As I mentioned before in other blog posts for academic task 1, the overview should not
include numbers or statistics or too much detail. The point of the overview is to summarise
the main features of the chart. Overviews often start with the word ‘Overall’
Overall, local fixed line calls reached a peak by the middle of the period, then gradually
declined. National and international calls showed a gradual rise over the whole
period with mobile calls rising considerably toward the end of the period.
In the overview above there are no numbers or even years, you can use trends language.
When describing a date range you can say:

 at the beginning of the period

 by the middle of the period
 over the whole period
 at the end of the period.
The red text above in the overview shows trends:

 reached a peak
 gradually declined
 showed a gradual rise
 rising considerably
The Body paragraphs
This is where you will need to group the information. Look at the chart and you can see there
are 2 different trends, write about those in separate paragraphs.
Grouping the data is important for good coherence. In main Body one, I wrote about fixed line
calls which rose then declined, in main Body two, I wrote about national, international and
mobile calls which both went up, most notably, mobile calls which increased sharply near
the end of the period.

Regarding local fixed line calls, in 1995 they began at slightly over 70 billion minutes
and rose gradually to a peak of 90 billion minutes by 1999. However, from 2000, the trend
showed a gradual decline in numbers of calls, ending in 2002 at the same amount as the
start of the period.

Turning to national, international fixed calls and mobile calls. Mobile calls in 1995 stood
at around 2 billion minutes. Over the next 4 years they showed a gradual rise, with
a considerable increase in call numbers from 2000 to 2002. International fixed calls showed
a similar pattern, starting at just under 40 billion minutes of calls in 1995, then climbed
steadily, to around 60 billion minutes of calls in 2002.