Band 8 model answer
A model answer written to illustrate a Band 8 response to this question, with the rubric breakdown and what carries it. Written by us as a teaching example, not a verified exam script.
“The bar chart shows the female labour force participation rate in four countries in 2010 and 2020.”8
Overall
8
Task response
8
Coherence & cohesion
8
Lexical resource
8
Grammar
The bar chart compares female labour force participation rates in four countries in 2010 and 2020.
Overall, Sweden had the highest participation rate in both years, while Italy recorded the lowest. All four countries showed an increase over the decade, though the magnitude of change differed considerably.
In 2010, Sweden led at 58.98%, closely followed by the USA at 57.52%. Japan and Italy trailed with figures of 48.34% and 37.88% respectively. By 2020, Sweden had risen modestly to 60.59%, while Japan recorded the largest increase of the group, climbing from 48.34% to 53.09%, a rise of nearly five percentage points. This gain allowed Japan to narrow the gap with the USA, which actually fell slightly from 57.52% to 55.7% over the same period.
Italy remained at the bottom throughout, inching up from 37.88% to 39.5%. The gap between Italy and Sweden widened marginally, from around 21 percentage points in 2010 to just over 21 percentage points in 2020. Japan's notable rise stands out as the most significant change, while the USA's slight decline was the only case where participation moved in the opposite direction to the general upward trend.
- •Overview captures both the ranking stability and the general upward trend concisely.
- •Correctly identifies Japan's rise as the most significant change and the USA as the only country to decline.
- •Accurate figures with precise difference calculations: 'nearly five percentage points', 'around 21 percentage points'.
- •Effective use of comparison language: 'closely followed by', 'trailed', 'narrow the gap', 'inching up'.
- •Could note the Italy-to-Japan gap in absolute terms to provide one more cross-country comparison.
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