The table below gives information on the percentage of women in the workforce and the proportion of female managers across five countries.

Percentage Women Workforce Proportion Female Managers Five Countries - IELTS Writing Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

A student's answer to this task, and the feedback on it

Written by an IELTSX user under exam conditions and published unedited and anonymously. Band 6.5 · 190 words.

The table illustrates the percentage of women participating in the workforce and those holding managerial positions across five different countries: Australia, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Japan, and the United States. Overall, the proportion of people in the working population and managerial positions in Australia and the United States is one of the highest among other countries. While that for Japan, Sri Lanka, and Egypt is also considerably high, the individuals in management positions are the reverse.

Focusing on Australia and the United States, the proportion of staff in managerial positions is the same (43%), while in terms of the labour force, that for the latter is 4% higher than the former.

Regarding Egypt, Sri Lanka, and Japan, the proportion of women in the labour force is 42% in Sri Lanka, the same as in Australia, while the proportion in managerial positions is the lowest (9%). Similarly, the share of the workforce in Japan is the highest across all countries, but the percentage of people who work as managers is low (17%). In contrast, in Egypt, the share of the workforce is relatively low (20%), and also the share of managers (12%).

Examiner feedback

This is a strong response that clearly categorizes the data and identifies the main trends. The main area for improvement is in lexical resource, specifically ensuring that terms used (like 'people') accurately reflect the specific demographic described (women). The grammatical structures are varied and accurate, and the logical flow between paragraphs is a major strength.

Task Achievement - 7

- All five countries are mentioned and relevant data points are included for both categories. - A clear overview is provided, identifying that Australia and the US lead in both categories. - There is a slight inaccuracy in the overview description regarding the "reverse" trend which could be more precisely articulated.

Coherence & Cohesion - 7

- Information is logically organized into thematic groups based on the percentage of female involvement. - Cohesive devices such as "Regarding," "Similarly," and "In contrast" are used effectively to guide the reader. - The progression from general trends in the overview to specific details in the body is clear.

Lexical Resource - 6

- The range is adequate but lacks precision in certain areas, specifically referring to "people" when the data is specifically about "women." - There is some repetition of the word "proportion" and "share." - Spelling is accurate and vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy - 7

- A good mix of simple and complex sentence forms is used, such as the comparison between the US and Australia. - Accuracy is generally high with only minor phrasing awkwardness. - Punctuation is well-managed and helps clarify the data comparisons.

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