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 line graph shows the female labour force participation rate in four countries from 1990 to 2020.”8
Overall
8
Task response
8
Coherence & cohesion
8
Lexical resource
8
Grammar
The graph shows female labour force participation rates, expressed as a percentage of working-age women, in the USA, Germany, Japan and Italy from 1990 to 2020.
Overall, Germany recorded the most consistent rise over the period and had nearly caught up with the USA by 2020, while Italy remained the lowest throughout. Japan, the only country to experience a temporary dip, recovered strongly in the final decade.
In 1990 the USA led with 56%, dipping slightly to a low of 55.7% by 2020, indicating broad stability. Germany, meanwhile, climbed steadily from 45.2% to 55.1%, almost drawing level with the USA by the end. Japan began at 50.1% but edged downwards to 48.3% by 2010 before rising to 53.1% in 2020, its highest figure of the period. The trajectory for Japan was therefore U-shaped, contrasting with the more linear gains seen elsewhere.
Italy consistently recorded the lowest participation rate, moving only marginally from 35% in 1990 to 39.5% in 2020. By 2020 Italy still lagged Germany by more than 15 percentage points, and the gap with the other three countries narrowed only fractionally over three decades.
- •Overview correctly identifies the biggest mover, the stable leader and the persistently lowest series.
- •Japan's U-shaped trajectory is noted and accurately described with the correct turning point.
- •Precise comparative language: 'almost drawing level', 'lagged Germany by more than 15 percentage points'.
- •Well-organised body paragraphs with logical grouping of series.
- •The final sentence of the overview could be slightly tighter; the point about Germany is restated in the body paragraph.
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