The charts below show degrees granted in different fields at the National University in the years 1990, 2000, 2010.
Sample Response
The three pie chartsThree pie charts provided show proportions of degrees grantedacademic records in 1990, 2000 and 2010 about the degrees that were granted in different fields at the National University. There were four fields shownfour majors given in the three years:those particular years - Computer Science, Medicine, Business and Law. In 1990, Computer Science and Business graduates were equally granted, which were 30% for both programmes. In thatthis year 25% of degrees awarded by the National University were in medicinegraduates from National University were from Medicine and 15% from the field of lawfaculty of Law. In the following years, both in 2000 and 2010, Computer Science graduates increases steadily and their percentage increased to 40% in 2000 and 45% in 2010. By 2000Unfortunately, the share of business degrees fell by 10 percentage pointsbusiness faculty graduates dropped by 10% in 2000 and the fall was 5 percentage pointsthis decline was 5% for Law graduates. However, the share of medicine degrees rose by 5 percentage pointsMedicine faculty graduates increased by 5% in 2000 but again returned to 25%went back to 25% in 2010in the year 2010. As the charts showAs the data depicts, Computer Science became more popular over time and the highest percentage of graduates were granted in the given years from this major. Law and Medicine faculty remained almost the same in terms of granting of graduation degree, but the popularity and percentages of graduation from Business department decreased over time.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response accurately reports the percentages and changes for all four fields, with a useful summary of computer science's rise and business's decline. The main weakness is expression: recurring errors in verb forms, agreement, and collocations make several sentences awkward, while the overview arrives only at the end. Prioritise a clear early overview and describe shares of degrees directly rather than saying graduates or percentages were granted.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All major trends and figures are accurately covered, including the rise in computer science and the decline in business.
Clarify in the overview that computer science was tied with business in 1990 before becoming the largest field in 2000 and 2010.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report follows a coherent chronological sequence and ends with a relevant summary, but all content is compressed into one paragraph.
Place the overview immediately after the introduction and use separate detail paragraphs for rising and stable or declining fields.
Lexical Resource
The response has enough vocabulary to describe changes, but repeated awkward combinations involving graduates, faculties, and degrees reduce precision.
Use forms such as 'degrees in computer science accounted for 40%' and 'business's share fell by 10 percentage points'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The meaning remains understandable, but subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, noun phrases, and relative clauses contain frequent errors.
Correct phrases such as 'the proportion increased', 'both fields accounted for 30%', and 'law and medicine remained broadly stable'.
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 charts below show degrees granted in different fields at the National University in the years 1990, 2000, 2010.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.