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Model answer

Academic Task 1 model answer 25: Participation in leisure activities

A high band model answer to a real Academic Task 1 question, with the task it answers. 20 minutes, at least 150 words.

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This is a model answer to a real Academic Task 1 question. Read the task first, write your own answer, and only then read the model. Reading it first tells you very little about your own writing.

A model answer shows you the target. It does not show you the gap between your answer and that target, which is why the band sample answers with corrections are worth reading alongside it.

The task

The Academic Task 1 question

Write your own answer before reading the model.

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The table below shows information on participation in various leisure activities in the U.K.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

The answer

The Academic Task 1 model answer

Written at the length the test actually asks for.

The table shows the percentages of people taking part in 8 different categories of leisure pursuits, in three selected age brackets.

According to the figures, the single most popular leisure activity in the UK is watching television and video, which has a 99% participation rate across all given sections of the population. Visiting friends and relations is almost as popular with 95% or more of all age ranges socializing on a regular basis.

Next, listening to music is most popular with the two younger age groups, at 98% and 93%, while the figure is approximately one third lower for older people, at 65%. In contrast, gardening is more popular with 60-69 year-olds. Almost twice as many older people enjoy gardening compared with 25-29 year-olds at 35%, and even lower for the youngest age range. Finally, it is evident that DIY appeals most to people in their twenties.

Overall, it can be seen that the figures for the most popular activities are fairly similar across the age groups. However, there are considerable differences when looking at the minority interests.

178 words

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