Task
The charts below give information about USA marriage and divorce rates between 1970 and 2000, and the marital status of adult Americans in two of the years.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Candidate’s Answer
This is written by a candidate who achieved a Band 6.5 score.
We are given two charts which show us a few sets of data about the marital status of the Americans between 1970 and 2000.
The first chart compares the number of marriages and divorces in the United States of America between 1970 and 2000. We can see that data is given for each decade; the number of people who are getting married decreased slightly since 1980, as well as the divorces one. Nevertheless, divorces increased between 1970 and 1980.
The second chart is more precise about the different marital status of the Americans between 1970 and 2000. The number of divorced people has risen more than the double during this two years, and the data for the never married people has also increased significantly. However, less and less people are married, as the first chart showed us; the widowed American number is also decreasing.
As a conclusion, we can say that the marital status background of the Americans has maybe known the greatest change it had ever seen.
Examiner’s Comment
The Task Achievement is the weak point in this answer. Some of the data is summarised but the points are not well-selected to convey the key trends shown in the charts. The main features of the first chart are not adequately presented and the overall conclusion does not summarise the main information. No figures are given to illustrate the points made.
The information is well-organised, however, with clear paragraphing and well-signalled sections. The accurate use of a range of sequencers and other linkers makes it easy to follow the writing. There are examples of errors but they are not frequent and do not cause confusion.
A range of vocabulary is used with flexibility, in spite of some inappropriate collocations and awkward phrasing. Structures are varied and generally accurate, while any mistakes do not make the message unclear.
