Whooping cough notifications and childhood vaccination coverage: IELTS Task 1 Line Graph

The question

The first graph shows annual whooping cough notifications in England and Wales from 1940 to 1990. The second shows the percentage of children who had completed a primary course of whooping cough vaccination by age two, recorded by the end of each year: England and Wales from 1969 to 1977, and England only from 1978 to 1985.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Annual whooping cough notifications in England and Wales, 1940–1990 (notifications)

Swipe across the chart to see every label, or open the data below.

Annual notified cases, which are different from laboratory-confirmed diagnoses. All years from 1940 to 1990 are shown.

View the data

	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990
Notified cases	53,607	173,330	66,016	96,136	93,990	62,663	92,912	92,662	146,383	102,809	157,752	169,347	114,863	157,835	105,904	79,101	92,407	85,017	33,400	33,252	58,030	24,469	8,347	34,736	31,594	12,945	19,417	33,531	17,367	4,994	16,597	16,844	2,069	2,437	16,225	8,910	3,907	17,475	65,956	30,816	21,131	19,395	65,815	19,340	5,517	22,046	36,506	15,203	5,117	11,646	15,286

Completed primary whooping cough vaccination courses by age two, 1969–1985 (% of children)

England and Wales, 1969–1977
England only, 1978–1985

Swipe across the chart to see every label, or open the data below.

Years are the “immunised by end of” years, not birth years. Coverage changes from England and Wales to England only in 1978; the lines are separated at that boundary. These coverage and notification series describe different populations after 1977 and do not by themselves establish causation.

View the data

	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985
England and Wales, 1969–1977	81	78	78	78	78	77	59	38	39	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
England only, 1978–1985	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	31	35	41	46	53	59	65	65

BandLadder practice charts compiled from the official historical tables linked below. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Model answer

Band 8 sample answer

Band 8181 words. Every figure in the answer comes from the chart above.

The graphs present annual whooping cough notifications in England and Wales from 1940 to 1990 and childhood vaccination coverage over a shorter period. The latter covers England and Wales until 1977, followed by England alone.

Overall, notifications fell substantially across the five decades, although the trend was interrupted by several outbreaks. Vaccination coverage declined during the 1970s before recovering in the later years shown.

Notifications rose from 53,607 in 1940 to the period's highest figure, 173,330, in 1941. Another substantial peak of 169,347 occurred in 1951. Although the annual total generally declined thereafter, it climbed to 65,956 in 1978 and 65,815 in 1982. By 1990, notifications stood at 15,286, well below the early peaks.

Among children in England and Wales, completed vaccination coverage was 81% in 1969. It remained close to this level through 1974, then fell to 59% in 1975 and 38% in 1976, before edging up to 39% in 1977. The England-only series starts at 31% in 1978 and rises to 65% in both 1984 and 1985. The geographical change means the two coverage series should be compared cautiously.

Write your own response

Line graphs

How to write about line graphs: tips and vocabulary

→Overview first: the overall direction of each line and which was highest.
→Group lines that move together instead of describing each one in turn.
→Give the start and end figures plus the peak or low point, not every value.

notifications
cases formally reported to public health authorities
coverage
the proportion receiving the stated vaccination course
substantial
large enough to be important or noticeable
peak
the highest value reached during a period
declined
became smaller in amount or number over time
edging up
increasing by only a small amount

Frequently asked questions

What should the overview say?+

Annual notifications were generally much lower after the 1950s, despite renewed peaks in 1978 and 1982. Vaccination coverage fell during the 1970s and subsequently recovered, with a change in geographical coverage in 1978.

How many words and how long for IELTS Writing Task 1?+

At least 150 words; 170 to 200 is the safe range. Spend about 20 minutes on it and leave 40 for Task 2, which carries twice the marks.

How is IELTS Writing Task 1 scored?+

On four criteria: task achievement, coherence and cohesion, vocabulary, and grammatical range and accuracy. A clear overview of the main features is what most separates Band 6 from Band 7 and above.

How do I describe line graphs?+

Overview first: the overall direction of each line and which was highest. Group lines that move together instead of describing each one in turn. Give the start and end figures plus the peak or low point, not every value.

Keep practising

More line graphs

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