Academic Writing Task 1 · line graph

Trends in three types of crime in England and Wales 1970-2005

The chart below shows three different types of crime in England and Wales from 1970 to 2005.

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

Three different types of crime in England and Wales from 1970 to 2005 (Million)

Car theft
house burglary
Street robbery

View the data

	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1995	2000	2005
Car theft	0.4	0.6	0.8	0.9	1	1.6	1.4	1
house burglary	0.2	0.4	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.5
Street robbery	0	0	0	0	0	0.1	0.2	0.2

Chart redrawn by BandLadder from the data in the original IELTS practice task. Many IELTS practice tasks come from the Cambridge IELTS series (Cambridge University Press & Assessment); all rights in the original tasks remain with their owners.

Band 8 sample answer

The line graph illustrates the number of car thefts, house burglaries, and street robberies in England and Wales between 1970 and 2005.

Overall, car theft was the most prevalent crime throughout the period, while street robbery remained the least common, despite all categories experiencing fluctuations in their crime rates. Notably, car theft peaked significantly in the mid-1990s before declining.

In 1970, car theft stood at 0.4 million, rising steadily to reach 1.0 million by 1990. This figure surged to a peak of 1.6 million in 1995, before falling back to 1.0 million by 2005. House burglary followed a similar upward trend initially, starting at 0.2 million in 1970 and climbing to 0.6 million by 1980. It remained stable until 1985, then rose to 0.7 million in 1990 and 1995, before gradually decreasing to 0.5 million by the end of the period.

Street robbery remained negligible for the first two decades, staying at approximately 0.0 million until 1990. It then began a modest upward trajectory, reaching 0.1 million in 1995 and plateauing at 0.2 million between 2000 and 2005. Despite these increases, street robbery remained significantly lower than the other two crime categories throughout the entire 35-year timeframe.

197 words. Every figure in the answer comes from the chart above.

How to write about 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.

prevalent: widespread or common in a particular area
fluctuations: irregular rising and falling in number or amount
surged: increased suddenly and powerfully in a short time
negligible: so small or unimportant as to be ignored
trajectory: the path followed by a development or trend
plateauing: reaching a state of little or no change

Write your own report and get a band

Take a timed Academic writing test and get a band for task achievement, coherence, vocabulary and grammar, with the sentences to fix.

Practise IELTS Academic writing

On your phone? Get the BandLadder app.

Frequently asked questions

What should the overview say?

Overall, car theft was the most prevalent crime throughout the period, while street robbery remained the least common, despite all categories experiencing fluctuations in their crime rates.

How long should an IELTS Task 1 answer be?

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 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.