IELTS Writing Task 1 Analysis (Marriage and Divorce Rates)

The bar chart illustrates information about marriage and divorce rates in the USA and the marital status of American adults over three decades, from 1970 to 2000.

To begin with, it can be seen that the rate of marriages experienced a significant drop during the given time period. The rate was constant for two years, 1970 and 1980 (2.5 million), but it witnessed a significant decline in the next two years, 1980 (just over 2 million) and in 2000 exactly 2 million marriages. On the other hand, the divorce rate showed a different trend. In 1970, the divorce rate was 1 million, and it increased slightly to just under 1.5 million. But the figure returned to the same point where it started in 2000 (1 million).

As for the marital status of American adults, in both 1970 and 2000, the percentage of married adults was higher than the other three categories. However, the percentage in 1970 was considerably higher than in 2000. Interestingly, the year 2000 saw a higher proportion of divorced adults compared to 1970, nearly double, from just over 3% in 1970 to 6% in 2000. The proportions of never-married and widowed adults were almost the same, with slight differences.

In conclusion, despite the decrease in marriage rates over the period, they still remained higher than the divorce rates in the USA. Additionally, American adults were married in higher proportions in both the years, with a slight drop observed in 2000.

Expected Band Score: 6.5 Band

The candidate has effectively described the main key features and used appropriate sentence connectors. However, there are errors in complex sentence structures, grammar, capitalization, and other minor issues. With some improvements, the response can achieve a higher band score.