University enrolment by field of study, 2000 and 2020
An IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 bar chart comparing university enrolment across five fields of study in two years, with a band 9 model answer, a plan, and notes on how it meets each marking criterion.
Write your answer
Do this before you scroll. The model answer below will make sense as a comparison and not much use as a template.
Task 1 Academic · 20 minutes · at least 150 words
The bar chart below shows the number of students enrolled in five fields of study at universities in one country in 2000 and 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
A bar chart with five pairs of bars, one pair per field, each pair showing enrolment in thousands of students in 2000 (lighter bar) and 2020 (darker bar). Engineering: 120 thousand in 2000, 210 thousand in 2020. Business: 150 in 2000, 240 in 2020. Medicine and health: 60 in 2000, 140 in 2020. Humanities: 130 in 2000, 95 in 2020. Computing: 40 in 2000, 260 in 2020. The vertical axis runs from 0 to 300 thousand.
Spell check is turned off deliberately, because it is off in the real test. Your essay stays in this browser and is never uploaded.
How to plan this one
- 1Two years, five categories: the figure is about change between the years and rank within each year. Both belong in the overview.
- 2Find the extremes first: computing has the largest rise and ends highest; humanities is the only fall. Those two facts are the overview.
- 3Group the body by direction and size of change: the three that rose moderately, then the two outliers. Do not go field by field in chart order.
- 4Report figures with units ("thousand") and both years for each comparison. Approximate multiples are useful: computing rose more than sixfold.
Model answer
Written at the top of the band. Read it for the moves it makes, not the opinions it holds: a memorised essay on this topic will not fit the prompt you actually get.
The bar chart compares the number of students enrolled in five university fields in one country in 2000 and in 2020, measured in thousands.
Overall, enrolment grew in four of the five fields over the twenty years, with computing rising far faster than any other and moving from the smallest field to the largest. Humanities was the only field to decline, and by 2020 it had the fewest students.
The three fields that grew steadily were business, engineering and medicine. Business enrolment rose from 150 thousand to 240 thousand, and engineering from 120 thousand to 210 thousand, so that both fields expanded by roughly 60 to 75 per cent while keeping their relative order. Medicine and health started from a smaller base of 60 thousand and more than doubled to 140 thousand, the largest proportional increase among these three.
The two remaining fields moved in opposite directions. Computing, which in 2000 had the fewest students at just 40 thousand, reached 260 thousand by 2020, an increase of more than sixfold that made it the most popular field, overtaking business by 20 thousand. Humanities, by contrast, fell from 130 thousand to 95 thousand, a drop of just over a quarter, and was the only field with fewer students at the end of the period than at the start.
Why it scores, criterion by criterion
Task Achievement
The overview states the two main features (four rose, computing rose most and became largest; humanities alone fell to the smallest) without figures, then each body paragraph supports it with selected data: both years for every field, the extremes, the crossing where computing overtook business, and proportional change. Nothing is speculated about causes.
Coherence and Cohesion
The body is grouped by pattern (steady growth; the two outliers) rather than by chart order, which is what lets the paragraphs make comparisons. Openings state the grouping ("The three fields that grew steadily", "The two remaining fields moved in opposite directions"), and reference ("these three", "by contrast") carries the links.
Lexical Resource
A controlled range of trend and comparison language matched to the numbers: "grew steadily", "more than doubled", "sixfold", "overtaking", "a drop of just over a quarter", "kept their relative order". Field names are used exactly as labelled. No degree word exaggerates the data.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Comparatives and superlatives are handled accurately ("far faster than any other", "the largest proportional increase"), relative clauses carry the data ("which in 2000 had the fewest students"), and "so that" and "by contrast" structure the comparisons. Past simple throughout for dated data; error-free.
Language worth stealing
Each of these carries a trap as well as a use, so the note matters as much as the phrase.
- Overall, X grew in four of the five categories, with A rising far faster than any other
- An overview sentence that gives the pattern and the exception in one line, with no numbers. "With" plus participle adds the standout feature without a new sentence.
- expanded by roughly 60 to 75 per cent while keeping their relative order
- Reports proportional change and rank together. "Roughly" is honest for a figure read off a chart.
- an increase of more than sixfold that made it the most popular field, overtaking B by 20 thousand
- Three facts in one sentence: multiple, rank, and the crossing with its margin. This is the comparison the examiner is looking for.
- the only field with fewer students at the end of the period than at the start
- A comparative structure for an exception. "Fewer" for countable students; "less" would be an error here.
More Task 1 Academic practice
Last updated 18 September 2026.