The line graph below shows crime incidence, in millions, for car theft, house burgling and street robbery between 1970 and 2005.

Crime Incidence Millions Car Theft House Burgling Street Robbery 1970 2005 - IELTS Writing Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

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

Write at least 150 words.

A student's answer to this task, and the feedback on it

Written by an IELTSX user under exam conditions and published unedited and anonymously. Band 7 · 167 words.

Overall, all three types of crime saw an overall increase between 1970 and 2005, although car theft experienced the most dramatic changes, peaking in 1995 before declining. Street robbery consistently remained the least common offence throughout the period

In 1970, car theft was at 400,000, and then it increased to 600,000 in 1975. Over the next five years, car theft experienced a climb to 800,000, before it rocketed to 1,600,000 in 1995. However, in the next 10 years there was a sharp decrease to 1,000,000 in 2005. In addition, house burglary began at 400,000, after which there was a steady rise to 600,000 in 1980. It then fluctuated until 2000, when it stood at around 600,000. At the end of the period, house burglary fell to around 500,000.

The number of street robberies started at approximately 50,000, which remained stable until 1990. After 1995, street robbery experienced a climb at about 100,000. In 2000, it reached a peak at 200,000, before falling to around 180,000 in 2005.

Examiner feedback

This is a strong Band 7 response. It provides a clear overview and accurately reports the data for all three categories. To reach a higher band, the response should integrate more direct comparisons between the data sets rather than describing them in separate blocks, and use more sophisticated grammatical structures.

Task Achievement - 7

- The response covers all three categories (car theft, house burglary, street robbery) across the entire timeframe. - A clear overview is provided at the beginning, identifying the general trend and the most significant peak. - Key features are highlighted with data support, though comparisons between the three categories within the body paragraphs are somewhat limited.

Coherence & Cohesion - 7

- Paragraphing is logical, with a clear introductory/overview paragraph followed by data-specific paragraphs. - Cohesive devices like 'In addition', 'However', and 'At the end of the period' are used effectively to guide the reader. - The progression of ideas follows a chronological order which is easy to track.

Lexical Resource - 7

- Good range of vocabulary related to trends: 'rocketed', 'fluctuated', 'peaking', and 'dramatic changes'. - Use of synonyms for crime (offence, types of crime) helps avoid repetition. - Word choice is mostly precise, although 'experienced a climb at about' is slightly awkward compared to 'climbed to'.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy - 7

- Uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms (e.g., 'after which there was a steady rise'). - Majority of sentences are error-free, particularly in the use of past tense for historical data. - Punctuation is generally accurate, though some sentences could benefit from more varied structure to avoid a repetitive 'Subject + Verb' pattern.

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