Academic Task 1 model answer: Weekly physical activity by gender
The question
The bar chart below shows the percentage of men and women in one country who took part in six types of physical activity at least once a week in 2024. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
| Activity | Men (%) | Women (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Walking | 62 | 68 |
| Gym | 31 | 27 |
| Cycling | 24 | 12 |
| Swimming | 18 | 22 |
| Team sports | 21 | 8 |
| Yoga | 5 | 19 |
Model answer
The bar chart compares the proportions of men and women in one country who did six kinds of physical activity at least once a week in 2024.
Overall, walking was by far the most popular activity for both sexes. Men were considerably more likely than women to cycle and to play team sports, whereas women dominated yoga and, to a lesser extent, swimming.
Walking was a weekly activity for roughly two-thirds of adults, with a slightly higher figure for women (68%) than for men (62%). Going to the gym was the second most common activity, reported by 31% of men and 27% of women, so the gender gap here was relatively narrow.
The largest differences appeared in the remaining categories. Twice as many men as women cycled (24% compared with 12%), and the gap was even wider for team sports, which attracted 21% of men but only 8% of women. Yoga showed the reverse pattern: almost a fifth of women (19%) practised it, nearly four times the male figure of 5%. Swimming was also somewhat more popular among women, at 22% against 18%.
Why it works
Task Achievement
Rather than describing six activities one by one, the answer compares men and women throughout, which is exactly what the chart is designed to show. All figures are reported accurately.
Coherence & Cohesion
Categories are grouped by the size of the gender gap — small gaps first, large gaps second — so each paragraph has a clear purpose.
Lexical Resource
A range of comparison language — 'twice as many… as', 'nearly four times the male figure', 'the reverse pattern', 'to a lesser extent'.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Comparatives and superlatives, a reduced passive ('reported by 31% of men') and a 'which' clause, with accurate articles and prepositions.
Written by Stride as a study model against the public IELTS band descriptors. It has not been marked by an IELTS examiner.