The charts below show the percentage of food budget the average Australian family spent on restaurant meals in different years. The graph shows the number of meals eaten in fast food restaurants and sit-down restaurants.
Sample Response
The pie charts elucidate the ratio of food budget average Australian families spent for preparing foods at home and for dining in eateries in four decades. The line graph outlines the number of meals these Australian families ate in two types of restaurants between 1970 and 2010. As is observed, Australians’ budget for outdoor meals increased overwhelmingly over the decades and fast food meals were more popular than that of sit-down restaurants among them. The data suggest that preparing food at home in Australia was the main trend in 1980 and only 15% food fund were spent to dine outside but the spending ratio to have restaurant meals increased to 35% next decades. In 2000, average Australians spent exactly half of their food budget to eat at bistros. Interestingly they spend sixth-tenth of their budget to enjoy restaurant foods in 2010 which was exactly four times higher than that of 1980. The table data indicates that an Australian ate around 40 restaurant meals in 1970 of which 20 was fast food meals. Over the period, people started having more restaurant meals and fast food became highly popular with almost 120 intakes in 2010 against just over 60 sit-down restaurant meals.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use precise measure Original: ratio of food budget Suggested revision: proportion of the food budget Why it matters: Proportion is the appropriate term for the share shown in the pie charts.
- 2. Fix generic subject Original: average Australian families Suggested revision: the average Australian family Why it matters: The task describes one representative family, so the singular generic form is needed.
- 3. Fix spending collocation Original: spent for preparing foods Suggested revision: spent on preparing food Why it matters: Spend takes on here, and food is uncountable in this general sense.
- 4. Describe time points Original: in four decades Suggested revision: in four selected years Why it matters: The pie charts show four specific years rather than continuous data for four decades.
- 5. Use accurate category Original: outdoor Suggested revision: restaurant Why it matters: Outdoor meals can mean eating outside and does not accurately name the chart category.
- 6. Qualify the comparison Original: more popular than that of sit-down restaurants Suggested revision: more popular than sit-down restaurant meals after 1980 Why it matters: Sit-down meals were higher in 1980, while fast food had overtaken them by 1990.
- 7. Fix percentage phrase Original: only 15% food fund were spent Suggested revision: only 15% of the food budget was spent Why it matters: The phrase needs of the, and the singular budget requires was.
- 8. Match chart category Original: to dine outside Suggested revision: on restaurant meals Why it matters: This wording states exactly what the budget share represents.
- 9. Fix time expression Original: 35% next decades Suggested revision: 35% in the next decade Why it matters: The value belongs to 1990, one decade after 1980, and needs a preposition.
- 10. Use representative family Original: average Australians Suggested revision: the average Australian family Why it matters: The charts refer to an average family's budget rather than to average people.
- 11. Describe budget spending Original: to eat at bistros Suggested revision: on restaurant meals Why it matters: The chart measures expenditure and does not identify the restaurants specifically as bistros.
- 12. Fix punctuation and tense Original: Interestingly they spend Suggested revision: Interestingly, they spent Why it matters: The introductory adverb needs a comma and the past-tense report requires spent.
Suggested Rewrites
- ratio of food budget proportion of the food budget
- average Australian families the average Australian family
- spent for preparing foods spent on preparing food
- in four decades in four selected years
- outdoor restaurant
- more popular than that of sit-down restaurants more popular than sit-down restaurant meals after 1980
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response captures both visuals' central trends and selects accurate endpoint figures, especially the steady shift toward restaurant spending and the later dominance of fast food. Its main limitation is that intermediate changes in the line graph receive little attention, while frequent awkward wording and grammatical slips reduce precision. The highest-priority improvement is to group and compare the two restaurant series across key years using conventional data-reporting language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
Both charts are addressed with a clear overall trend and accurate main figures, although the line graph's intermediate pattern is only briefly developed.
Compare the crossover in 1990 and the different rates of growth after that point, rather than relying mainly on endpoints.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report follows a sensible sequence from overview to pie-chart and line-chart details, but its single paragraph limits clear grouping.
Use separate paragraphs for the overview, budget proportions, and restaurant-meal trends.
Lexical Resource
There is a broad attempt at topic vocabulary, but many collocations and labels are unnatural or inaccurate, including outdoor meals, food fund, and table data.
Prefer precise terms such as restaurant spending, food budget, line graph, number of meals, and rose sharply.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied sentence forms are attempted, but errors in agreement, articles, noun phrases, and tense occur frequently while meaning remains clear.
Check each sentence for subject-verb agreement and maintain consistent past-tense reporting throughout the historical description.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The charts below show the percentage of food budget the average Australian family spent on restaurant meals in different years. The graph shows the number of meals eaten in fast food restaurants and sit-down restaurants.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.