Writing Task 1: Line Graph: Question 4
Syllabus W.task1
The line graph below shows the number of domestic and international visitors to the Aldemere Maritime Museum between 2015 and 2023. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
| Year | Domestic visitors (thousands) | International visitors (thousands) |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 240 | 95 |
| 2017 | 255 | 110 |
| 2019 | 270 | 130 |
| 2021 | 230 | 20 |
| 2023 | 290 | 150 |
The graph plots number of visitors in thousands on the vertical axis against five years from 2015 to 2023 on the horizontal axis, with separate lines for domestic and international visitors; both lines rise gradually until 2019, then domestic visitors dip only slightly in 2021 while international visitors collapse to almost nothing in the same year, before both lines recover sharply and reach their highest points of the whole period in 2023.
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Worked solution
Examiner notes: why this is a band 9 response
Task Achievement
The overview isolates the graph’s defining contrast (shared growth overall, but far greater volatility in the international line) before any figures are given, and the body is structured to build directly on that claim: early parallel growth, the 2021 shock specific to international visitors, then a shared recovery to new highs. Every stage cites accurate supporting figures from the table rather than only the two endpoints.
Coherence & Cohesion
Clear time-based paragraphing (“Domestic visitor numbers rose steadily…”, “The year 2021 marked a sharp turning point…”, “Both categories then rebounded…”) gives the response a logical shape, and comparative language (“by contrast”, “a much smaller margin”) explicitly links the two data series rather than describing them in isolation.
Lexical Resource
A wide range of trend and magnitude vocabulary is used precisely and without repetition (“rose steadily”, “dipping slightly”, “collapsed”, “a fall of over 80%”, “rebounded strongly”, “comfortably surpassing”), showing control over both gradual and dramatic change.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Complex sentences combine data reporting with accurate comparatives, cause-neutral throughout (“whose numbers collapsed to just 20,000, a fall of over 80% from 2019”), and all percentage calculations and comparatives are grammatically correct and well controlled.
Common pitfalls specific to this task
See commonMistakes above: the most damaging is skipping the 2021 collapse to focus only on the overall upward trend from 2015 to 2023. A band 9 response reports the most striking feature even when, as here, it is a temporary dip rather than the long-term direction.