IELTS Task 1 line graph: Cinema visits by age group
Line graphAcademic
The question
The graph below shows the average number of times people in four age groups in one country went to the cinema each year between 2000 and 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
Average cinema visits per person per year, by age group
- 15–24
- 25–44
- 45–64
- 65+
See the figures as a table
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15–24 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| 25–44 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| 45–64 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 65+ | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Visits per year
The figures are invented for practice. They are not real statistics.
Write your answer
Then get an estimated band, with checks on your overview, the key features and every figure.
0 words · 150 more to reach 150
Write your own answer first, then compare. Reading a model before you write tends to make you copy it.
The plan
Key features for the overview
- The gap between the age groups closed: all four reached about four visits by 2020.
- The youngest group fell the most; the oldest group rose the most.
How the details are grouped
- The two younger groups, which fell
- The two older groups, which rose
Model answer
179 wordsThe line graph compares how often people in four age groups went to the cinema each year in one country between 2000 and 2020.
Overall, the gap between the generations closed almost completely. Young people, who were by far the most frequent cinema-goers at the start of the period, went much less often by the end, while attendance among the over-65s rose steadily, so that all four groups recorded the same figure in 2020.
In 2000, people aged 15 to 24 went to the cinema nine times a year on average, almost twice as often as those aged 25 to 44, at five visits. Attendance among the youngest group then fell without interruption, reaching just four visits in 2020. The 25 to 44 group was more stable, peaking at six in 2005 before easing back to four.
The two older groups moved in the opposite direction. The figure for 45 to 64-year-olds edged up from three to four, while the over-65s, who went only once a year in 2000, increased their attendance fourfold by the end of the period.
The highlighted paragraph is the overview. Scored by the MyBandPrep checker on 7 October 2026. An estimate, not an examiner’s mark. How scoring works
Why it works
- Task Achievement
- The overview names the one big story, convergence, before any numbers. Every age group is covered, with figures for the start, the end and the one peak worth mentioning (25–44 in 2005).
- Coherence and Cohesion
- Paragraphs group the lines by direction: the two that fell, then the two that rose. “Then”, “before” and “in the opposite direction” carry the reader through time and between groups.
- Lexical Resource
- Trend verbs are varied and precise: fell without interruption, peaking, easing back, edged up, increased fourfold. “Attendance” and “cinema-goers” avoid repeating “visits”.
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy
- Past simple throughout for a finished period, relative clauses (“who were by far…”, “who went only once…”) and comparisons with “almost twice as often as”.
Phrases worth reusing
- the gap between the generations closed
- fell without interruption
- peaking at six in 2005
- moved in the opposite direction
- increased their attendance fourfold