The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002.
Sample Response
The table shows the figures about the proportion of the money spent on different types of consumptions in five countries in 2002.
There is an obvious fact that Turkey was the first ranked in terms of consumed money for both leisure time and education and eating, drinking and smoking. By contrast, residents in Sweden had spent the least money for food, drinks and tobacco and wearing.
In Turkey, roughly 32 percent of the people’s budget went for food, drinks and smoking. Similarly, Ireland is in the second order, people who lived there spent nearly 29 percent for that. However, these people spent only approximately 2 percent of their money to their education and spare time.
On the other hand, Italian citizens allotted by far the highest rate of their budget (9 %) to the clothing. The Irish, Spanish and Turkish people spent nearly the same proportion of money (6%) on the clothing. Swedish people pay a little less for that.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use precise reporting phrase Original: figures about Suggested revision: data on Why it matters: 'Data on' is a concise academic phrase for introducing table information.
- 2. Name the measure Original: proportion of the money Suggested revision: proportion of national consumer expenditure Why it matters: This wording accurately identifies the percentage measure shown in the table.
- 3. Use correct noun form Original: types of consumptions Suggested revision: categories of consumption Why it matters: 'Consumption' is uncountable here, and the table presents spending categories.
- 4. Use concise overview Original: There is an obvious fact Suggested revision: It is clear Why it matters: The concise reporting phrase introduces the overview more naturally.
- 5. Correct word order Original: was the first ranked Suggested revision: ranked first Why it matters: The passive structure is unnecessary and incorrectly ordered.
- 6. Use spending terminology Original: consumed money Suggested revision: consumer spending Why it matters: Money is spent rather than consumed.
- 7. Match category label Original: leisure time and education Suggested revision: leisure and education Why it matters: This matches the combined category displayed in the table.
- 8. Use simple past Original: residents in Sweden had spent Suggested revision: residents of Sweden spent Why it matters: A completed comparison for 2002 requires the simple past.
- 9. Describe proportions accurately Original: the least money for Suggested revision: the lowest proportion on Why it matters: The table reports percentages of expenditure rather than absolute amounts of money.
- 10. Use category noun Original: wearing Suggested revision: clothing Why it matters: 'Clothing' is the expenditure category, whereas 'wearing' is an activity.
- 11. Match national measure Original: the people’s budget Suggested revision: national consumer expenditure Why it matters: The visual reports a national percentage rather than an individual household budget.
- 12. Correct spending collocation Original: went for food Suggested revision: was spent on food Why it matters: Expenditure is described as being 'spent on' a category.
Suggested Rewrites
- figures about data on
- proportion of the money proportion of national consumer expenditure
- types of consumptions categories of consumption
- There is an obvious fact It is clear
- was the first ranked ranked first
- consumed money consumer spending
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response identifies several useful extremes and supports them with accurate figures, especially for Turkey, Ireland, Italy, and clothing expenditure. Its main limitation is incomplete coverage: it does not state that food, drink, and tobacco dominate spending in every country, and many country-category values are omitted. Prioritise a fuller overview and select comparisons that represent all five countries and all three categories.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview identifies valid national extremes and the selected figures are mostly accurate, but the dominant category across all countries and several important comparisons are omitted.
State that food, drink, and tobacco take the largest share everywhere, then compare representative highs and lows across every category.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically from introduction and overview to food-related and clothing details, though the grouping leaves leisure and education underdeveloped.
Organise one detail paragraph around food expenditure and another around the two smaller categories, including comparisons across countries.
Lexical Resource
The response has adequate vocabulary for percentages and comparisons, but inaccurate collocations such as 'types of consumptions,' 'second order,' and 'spent money to' recur.
Use natural reporting phrases such as 'consumer categories,' 'ranked second,' 'accounted for,' and 'spent on.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of sentence structures communicates the data, but article, preposition, tense, agreement, and sentence-boundary errors are noticeable throughout.
Maintain past tense consistently for 2002 data and check articles, prepositions, and comma splices in comparative sentences.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.