IELTS Writing Task 1

The chart illustrates the proportion of boys and girls who participated in various sports in New Zealand in 2002.

Overall, it is clear that there were significant differences between the percentage of boys and girls who took part in most of these sports. However, the proportion who played basketball and tennis was similar.

Among girls, 25% played netball and a slightly lower percentage – 22% - enjoyed swimming. Approximately 8% and 7% of girls played tennis and basketball respectively – a figure which was only slightly lower than boys for both sports. While 6% of girls played soccer and 5% took part in athletics, less than 5% of girls participated in martial arts and cricket. Finally, participation in other, unspecified, sports totalled around 10%.

In contrast, among boys, only 1% played netball. The sports with the highest participation figures were soccer, swimming and cricket, with 25%, 13% and 12% respectively. These were followed by martial arts, tennis and basketball whicll all had figures of between 11% and 8%. About 18% of boys played other sports.