IELTS Task 1 line graph band 8 sample answer with examiner notes

A band 8 Task 1 answer is not longer or more decorated than a band 7 one; it is one in which every statement about the data is precise, and in which the overview names the relationship between the lines instead of listing them one by one. Almost every IELTS line graph band 8 sample online asserts the band and then praises itself in general terms, so this one does the opposite: a 182-word answer annotated against the public Band Descriptors (Updated May 2023), sentence by sentence, followed by three edits that pull the same answer down to band 6.

One thing to be clear about first. IELTS has never published a band 8 Academic Task 1 answer with examiner comments — the official sets cover band 4 and band 6 on the computer-delivered tests, and band 3.5 and band 5.5 in the British Council collection. The notes below are ours, written against the published descriptors, not an examiner's marking. The graph and the question were written for this article: only the task type is reproduced, and the figures are invented, not real visitor statistics.

Every sentence tagged to the criterion it earns. The annotation is against the public descriptors, not an examiner's marking.

The graph and the answer

Visitors to three types of tourist attraction in one country, 2005–2020 (millions). Invented data, internally consistent, not real statistics.

Attraction	2005	2010	2015	2020
Coastal resorts	12.4	10.1	8.6	7.2
National parks	4.8	6.5	8.0	14.3
Museums	7.0	7.4	6.9	7.3

The task. The line graph shows the number of visitors to three types of tourist attraction in one country between 2005 and 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The answer — 182 words.

The line graph compares the number of visitors to three categories of tourist attraction — coastal resorts, national parks and museums — in one country over the period 2005 to 2020.

Overall, national parks and coastal resorts moved in opposite directions, exchanging first and last place by the end of the period, while museum attendance remained broadly unchanged throughout.

In 2005 coastal resorts were by far the most popular category, drawing 12.4 million visitors, well ahead of museums at 7 million and national parks at 4.8 million. Coastal figures then declined at every interval, falling to 10.1 million in 2010 and 8.6 million in 2015 before reaching 7.2 million in 2020, their lowest point.

National parks followed the reverse pattern, climbing steadily to 6.5 million in 2010 and 8 million in 2015. Growth then accelerated sharply, and by 2020 the parks had almost tripled their 2005 total to reach 14.3 million — roughly double the coastal figure and enough to overtake it at some point after 2015.

Museums, by contrast, fluctuated only marginally, staying within half a million of 7 million in all four years.

The published requirement is "you must write at least 150 words", with "no more than 20 minutes on this task". 182 words is what this data needed, not a band 8 threshold.

Annotated sentence by sentence

S1 — "The line graph compares the number of visitors to three categories of tourist attraction — coastal resorts, national parks and museums — in one country over the period 2005 to 2020." [TA] [LR]

The task is restated once and never again. Compares, categories and over the period replace the prompt's wording, and the three series are named up front. Band 8 LR asks for "a wide resource" that is "fluently and flexibly used to convey precise meanings within the scope". The scope of a line graph is narrow: precision here means naming the variable and the period exactly, not reaching for unusual words.

S2 — "Overall, national parks and coastal resorts moved in opposite directions, exchanging first and last place by the end of the period, while museum attendance remained broadly unchanged throughout." [TA] [CC]

This is the sentence the answer is built on. It does not report what each line did; it states the relationship between them — two series inverting, one flat. Band 8 TA: "The response covers all the requirements of the task appropriately, relevantly and sufficiently." Summarising the main features is one of those requirements, and one sentence discharges it. Note that the overview carries no figures — a choice, not a rule, and one the shape of the data justified here.

S3 — "In 2005 coastal resorts were by far the most popular category, drawing 12.4 million visitors, well ahead of museums at 7 million and national parks at 4.8 million." [TA] [CC]

Three data points in one sentence, ranked, with the ranking stated rather than left to be inferred. Band 8 CC: "The message can be followed with ease. Information and ideas are logically sequenced." Opening at the earliest year and ordering by size is what delivers that.

S4 — "Coastal figures then declined at every interval, falling to 10.1 million in 2010 and 8.6 million in 2015 before reaching 7.2 million in 2020, their lowest point." [TA] [GRA]

At every interval is the claim; the three figures prove it. Band 8 GRA: "A wide range of structures within the scope of the task is flexibly and accurately used." A main clause, a participle clause (falling) and a prepositional clause (before reaching), all accurate — range delivered inside a sentence rather than announced by a connector.

S5 — "National parks followed the reverse pattern, climbing steadily to 6.5 million in 2010 and 8 million in 2015." [TA] [CC]

The reverse pattern points back at S4 without restating it — cheaper and clearer than On the other hand, which signals a contrast without naming what the contrast is.

S6 — "Growth then accelerated sharply, and by 2020 the parks had almost tripled their 2005 total to reach 14.3 million — roughly double the coastal figure and enough to overtake it at some point after 2015." [TA] [LR]

Two comparisons in one sentence: within the series (4.8 to 14.3) and across series (14.3 against 7.2). Both are hedged because neither multiple lands exactly — and a hedge followed by the figures reads as precision, not vagueness.

S7 — "Museums, by contrast, fluctuated only marginally, staying within half a million of 7 million in all four years." [TA]

The flat line is the feature most often dropped, and the one that completes coverage. Fluctuated only marginally is quantified in the same sentence, which stops it reading as filler.

Why this is a band 8 and not a band 9

The band 9 wording is not in our verified source set, and we do not paraphrase descriptors from memory, so none is quoted. What can be shown is where this answer is not at its ceiling.

• "at some point after 2015" leaves the crossover unlocated. Four data points do not resolve it, so the hedge is honest — but a tighter sentence would report what the graph does fix: parks below coastal in 2015, roughly double them by 2020.
• "roughly double" stands in for 1.99 — safe, and one degree less precise than the band 8 LR line asks for.
• "by far the most popular" and "well ahead of" sit in one sentence doing the same job. One of them could have been a figure.
• The 2010 museum peak of 7.4 is never mentioned. Coverage is complete at the level of trends, not of turning points.

None of that threatens the band 8 lines quoted above; it is the gap between an answer that is accurate and one with nothing left to tighten. It is also the reason to distrust the models labelled 8.5 and 9.0 elsewhere: those numbers are self-assigned, and so is ours.

The downgrade demo: three edits that make this a band 6

No new errors, no weaker vocabulary. Three structural edits and the same answer reads two bands lower.

Three edits, none of which lower the vocabulary level or add a single grammatical error, move this answer down two bands.

Edit 1 — delete the overview. Remove S2 and what remains is three series reported in turn. Every figure is still correct and every sentence still parses. What has gone is any statement of what the data means taken together.

Edit 2 — trade the figures for impressions. "Coastal resorts had a lot of visitors in 2005, but the number went down a lot over the period, while national parks had a big increase." Nothing there is false. Nothing there is checkable either.

Edit 3 — repeat one structure. Rewrite every body sentence as X increased/decreased from A in 2005 to B in 2020. Four sentences, one frame, no errors.

The published band 6 examiner comment for Academic Task 1 describes what is left: "The key features which are selected are covered and clearly highlighted, but reporting is somewhat mechanical and data is provided to support only some of the descriptions." Mechanical is edit 3. Data provided to support only some of the descriptions is edit 2. The missing summary is edit 1.

Run the three in reverse on your own answer and you have the check: is there one sentence that states a relationship, does every claim carry a number, and does the sentence frame change from line to line?

The overview is the band 7 gate

Of the three edits, the first costs the most, and it is the one candidates make most often — usually not by omitting an overview but by writing one that lists instead of relating.

On sourcing: the band 7 Task 1 wording is not in our verified source set, so it is not quoted; the argument rests on the two ends that are. Band 8 TA requires that "the response covers all the requirements of the task appropriately, relevantly and sufficiently", and summarising the main features is one of the requirements printed in the task itself. At band 6, the published examiner comment records key features that "are covered and clearly highlighted" while the reporting is "somewhat mechanical".

So the practical test is one question: could your overview have been written while looking at only one line of the graph? If yes, it is a list. S2 above could not be — it needs all three series in view at once.

The same gate applies where the shape is static rather than temporal: the band 7 bar chart sample runs the same annotation one band lower, and ten overview sentences scored takes the gate itself apart.

FAQ

Is this an official band 8 sample?

No. IELTS has not published a band 8 Academic Task 1 answer with examiner comments. The band here is our reading of the public descriptors.

How many words should a band 8 line graph answer be?

There is no band-linked word count. The published requirement is "you must write at least 150 words", and the only length rule IELTS states is that "responses of 20 words or fewer are rated at Band 1".

Does Task 1 count as much as Task 2?

No. IELTS states that "the assessment of Task 2 carries more weight in marking than Task 1", without publishing a ratio. Plan around the published time guidance: no more than 20 minutes on Task 1, within the 60 allowed for the paper.

Is it Task Achievement or Task Response?

Task 1 is assessed on Task Achievement; Task Response is the Task 2 criterion. A page that marks a line graph answer on "Task Response" is not reading from the official criteria.

Can I put figures in the overview?

Yes. No published descriptor rules either way. The sample above happens not to, because the inversion of two series carried more than any single number would have.

Related reading

• IELTS Task 1 Academic band 7 sample: bar chart — the same annotation one band lower
• IELTS Task 1 pie chart band 6.5 sample — the same annotation a band and a half down
• IELTS Task 1 process diagram band 7 — the Task 1 type with no figures to be precise about
• The IELTS Task 1 overview sentence, scored — ten overviews judged against the band 7 line

Official task instructions are on ielts.org.