IELTS Examiner / Practice Prompt Bank — GT & Academic / Academic Task 1
IELTS Academic Task 1: Bar Chart — Work & economy
Original practice prompt written in exam style — not a real exam question, and not a prediction.
The chart below shows the percentage of a country's workforce employed in three sectors in 1980 and 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. The data is as follows (percentage of the total workforce; each year totals 100%). In 1980, agriculture employed 25% of workers, manufacturing 35% and services 40%. By 2020, agriculture had fallen to just 3% and manufacturing to 10%, while services had more than doubled its share to 87%. Services was the largest sector in both years, but in 1980 the three sectors were relatively close in size, whereas by 2020 services employed nearly nine in every ten workers.
Examiner focus: A complete structural flip: from a fairly even three-way split to overwhelming dominance by one sector.
Grade my first essay free
Write your answer to this prompt, then see exactly where it sits — four criterion bands, the #1 issue capping your score, and a model rewrite. Your first grading is free.