The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002. Percentage of national consumer expenditure by category - 2002
Sample Response
The given table illustrates the customer expenditure on goods in five countries in the year 2002. It is clearly shown that the highest expenditure category was on Food/ Drink/ Tobacco, and Turkey had the highest amount of spending among the five countries.
With regard to the consumer spending on food category, Ireland came after Turkey with 28.91%. In contrast, Sweden had the least percentage of expenditure on food category, which was 15.77%. On the other side, Italy dominated the category of clothing and footwear with total spending of 9%, was by other countries such as Spain, Ireland and Sweden’s spending were 6.15%, 6.43% and 5.4% respectively.
Furthermore, the expenditure on leisure and education was the least among all the categories with only 1.985 in Spain and in Turkey that was 4.35%. Other countries like Sweden and Italy had very similar percentages of spending with 3.22% and 3.20% respectively.
In summary, Turkey made more expenses for the given items in 2002 while expenditures in foods/ drinks and tobacco were more than on other given items.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use the correct term Original: customer Suggested revision: consumer Why it matters: The table reports national consumer spending, not expenditure by customers.
- 2. Name the categories Original: goods in five countries Suggested revision: three spending categories in five countries Why it matters: This wording describes the table more precisely because leisure and education are included alongside goods.
- 3. Use the full category Original: consumer spending on food category Suggested revision: consumer spending on food, drinks and tobacco Why it matters: Use the complete category label shown in the table.
- 4. Use natural comparison Original: least Suggested revision: lowest Why it matters: Use 'lowest' when comparing numerical percentages.
- 5. Use a contrast linker Original: On the other side Suggested revision: By contrast Why it matters: This is the natural linking phrase for contrasting Sweden with Italy.
- 6. Correct the figure Original: 1.985 Suggested revision: 1.98% Why it matters: Spain's leisure and education figure is 1.98%, and the percentage sign is required.
- 7. Repair the clause Original: in Turkey that was Suggested revision: Turkey recorded Why it matters: The original wording does not form a grammatical comparison.
- 8. Use a concise phrase Original: percentages of spending with Suggested revision: spending shares of Why it matters: This phrasing expresses the proportions more naturally and concisely.
- 9. Make the date concise Original: in the year 2002 Suggested revision: in 2002 Why it matters: The shorter time phrase is sufficient and more natural in a chart introduction.
- 10. Signal the overview directly Original: It is clearly shown that Suggested revision: Overall, Why it matters: A direct overview marker is clearer and avoids an empty introductory phrase.
- 11. Qualify the comparison Original: highest amount of spending Suggested revision: highest spending shares overall Why it matters: The table presents category percentages rather than absolute amounts of money.
- 12. Use precise ranking language Original: Ireland came after Turkey Suggested revision: Ireland ranked second to Turkey Why it matters: This expresses the ordering more directly and formally.
Suggested Rewrites
- customer consumer
- goods in five countries three spending categories in five countries
- consumer spending on food category consumer spending on food, drinks and tobacco
- least lowest
- On the other side By contrast
- 1.985 1.98%
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response provides a clear overall pattern and selects useful comparisons across all three categories, with most figures accurate. Its main weakness is control: one clothing figure is transposed, Ireland is omitted from leisure and education, and several sentences—especially the clothing comparison—are grammatically tangled; prioritise verifying every percentage and expressing each country comparison in a complete, clean sentence.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The main spending pattern is identified and relevant figures from all categories are compared, although Spain's clothing value is inaccurate and some supporting data are omitted.
Check each percentage against the table, correct Spain's clothing figure to 6.51%, and include Ireland when summarising leisure and education.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is organised by spending category with a clear introduction and summary, but some transitions are mechanical and one long comparison disrupts progression.
Give each category a sequence of short country comparisons instead of combining several figures in one overloaded sentence.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is adequate for describing expenditure, but recurring collocational problems such as "customer expenditure," "came after," and "made more expenses" reduce precision.
Use standard reporting phrases such as "consumer expenditure," "ranked second," and "spent the highest proportion."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mixture of sentence forms is attempted, but frequent agreement, clause, possessive, and preposition errors sometimes make comparisons difficult to follow.
Build each data sentence around one clear subject and verb, then check agreement and comparative structures before adding further countries.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002. Percentage of national consumer expenditure by category - 2002
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.