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How teenagers spend their free time
IELTS Writing task 1 (Academic). Write at least 150 words in about 20 minutes.
The bar chart shows the average number of hours teenagers spent each week on four activities in 2005 and in 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
0 words (minimum 150) · 20:00
How to plan it
- Paragraph 1: introduce the chart.
- Paragraph 2: overview of the trend.
- Paragraph 3: the first year, highest to lowest.
- Paragraph 4: the second year and the main changes.
Show a model answer (182 words)
The bar chart compares the weekly hours that teenagers spent on four free time activities in 2005 and 2020.
Overall, activities on screens became far more popular over the fifteen years, while sport and reading both declined. Social media saw the biggest change.
In 2005, sport was the most common activity at 8 hours a week, followed by reading at 6 hours. Online games and social media were much less popular, with 3 hours and 2 hours respectively. Together, the two traditional activities accounted for 14 hours, compared with only 5 hours for the two screen activities.
By 2020 the picture had reversed. Time spent on social media rose six-fold to 12 hours, and online games tripled to 9 hours. In contrast, sport fell to 5 hours and reading was halved to 3 hours, so the two screen activities together took 21 hours a week, compared with only 5 hours in 2005. The gap between the two years is striking: in 2005 young people spent far more time on offline activities, whereas by 2020 digital activities were by far the most common.
Why it works
- Percentages and multiples such as six-fold and tripled show change efficiently.
- The writer groups the two screen activities together to make a clear comparison.
- The overview names the biggest change instead of repeating the first numbers.