Life Expectancy Across Four Regions · Line Graph
A complete IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 question with a model answer of 205 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 20 minutes. Write at least 150 words.
The line graph below shows the average life expectancy at birth, in years, in four world regions — Europe, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America — between 1960 and 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words. [Chart Data] Year | Europe | East Asia | Sub-Saharan Africa | Latin America 1960 | 69.0 | 44.0 | 40.0 | 56.0 1970 | 71.0 | 60.0 | 44.0 | 60.0 1980 | 73.0 | 66.0 | 48.0 | 65.0 1990 | 74.0 | 69.0 | 50.0 | 68.0 2000 | 76.0 | 72.0 | 51.0 | 72.0 2010 | 78.0 | 75.0 | 56.0 | 74.0 2020 | 80.0 | 77.0 | 62.0 | 75.0
How to approach it
- 01Paraphrase the question in the introduction rather than copying it word for word
- 02Group the regions in your overview — e.g. fastest improvers vs slowest, highest vs lowest
- 03Use a range of trend verbs: 'rose steadily', 'surged', 'climbed gradually', 'narrowed the gap'
- 04Quantify changes precisely — give both raw differences and proportional comparisons
- 05Do not describe every data point — select the most striking features
- 06Use past tenses consistently, as the data covers a historical period
Model answer
205 words in 4 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
The line graph illustrates how average life expectancy at birth changed in four world regions — Europe, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America — over a sixty-year period from 1960 to 2020.
Overall, life expectancy rose in every region throughout the period, although the starting points and rates of improvement varied considerably. Europe remained the longest-living region throughout, while East Asia recorded the most dramatic gains, narrowing the gap with Europe to just three years by 2020.
In 1960, Europeans enjoyed by far the highest life expectancy at 69 years, climbing steadily and reaching 80 years by 2020. Latin America began at 56 years and improved consistently to 75 years over the six decades, with the steepest rises occurring between 1960 and 2000.
The most striking change occurred in East Asia, where life expectancy surged from just 44 years in 1960 to 77 years in 2020 — an increase of 33 years. Most of this gain was concentrated in the first two decades, when the figure jumped by 22 years. Sub-Saharan Africa, by contrast, had the lowest life expectancy throughout the period. Although it rose from 40 to 62 years, progress was relatively slow, and the region ended more than a decade behind every other area shown.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 38 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
2.5 fewer than the median answer for this task type
12 words at the shortest, 31 at the longest
the same as the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 22.8 words and vary by 5.4 words either side of that, running from 12 words to 31. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 3 of the 9 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
5 in total, spread across 2 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
by contrast, although, while
overall
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 68 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 54 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 12 words. That is long enough to notice. Copied wording is discounted from your word count, so a run this size is doing less work than it looks like it is doing.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Achievement
Cover all four regions with key trends and comparisons
Coherence & Cohesion
Organise the response by trend or grouping rather than region by region
Lexical Resource
Range of vocabulary for describing change over time
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Accurate past tenses and comparative structures
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