The bar graphs below show the Riverdale Public School’s spending per student in a year as well as percentages of students who passed the reading and math tests from 1990 to 2005.
Sample Response
The first bar graph shows yearly spending for each pupil in Riverdale Public SchoolRiverdale public school from 1990 to 2010from 1990 to 2010 while the second graph shows the percentages of students at the same school who passed the reading and math testspercentages of students from the same school who passed in reading and math tests during the same period of time. As can be seen, yearly spending for each pupil in Riverdale School decreased over timedecreased over the time and the percentage of pupils who passed the tests has also dropped. According to the illustration, Riverdale school spent 12 thousand dollars for each student in 1990 and that was higher than the spending per studentspending on per student in any other given year. The spending fell to around ten thousand dollars in 1995in the next year and it further dropped to nearly 9 thousand in 2000. After five years the amount spent fell to exactly $8,000decreased to precisely 8 thousand and finally in 2010, the school's spendingschool authority’s cost for each student was roughly 7 thousand dollarsdollar. The second bar graph shows that the percentages of students in Riverdale school who passed the reading and math test continued to declinekept on declining over the time. In 1990, approximately 87% pupils passed these tests while in 2000 this percentage dropped to 85%. Finally, 82% achieved passing gradessecured their pass score in these tests in 2010 which was a 5% drop from the initial percentage of students who got the pass marks.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The report provides a clear overview of the shared downward trend and supports it with the main figures from both charts. Its chief limitation is that the relationship between spending and pass rates is not made explicit, while a few time references, paragraphing choices, and awkward expressions weaken precision. Prioritise presenting the two series in separate, concise paragraphs and then directly comparing their steady declines across the full period.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The report accurately identifies the downward trend in both spending per pupil and pass rates, and it includes the main approximate figures from 1990 to 2010. It could make the relationship between the two charts clearer and should avoid saying next year when the next data point is five years later.
State that both measures declined steadily, with spending falling from about $12,000 to $7,000 and pass rates from 87% to 82%.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has a clear overview and describes the two bar charts in order. It is coherent but would benefit from clearer paragraphing and more concise comparisons.
Use one paragraph for spending and one for test pass rates, then compare the scale of decline.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is adequate, but some expressions are awkward, including decreased over the time, school authority's cost, and secured their pass score.
Use spending per pupil, fell steadily, pass rate, and achieved passing grades.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
There are recurring article, preposition, and noun-form errors, but the message remains clear.
Check singular and plural nouns after dollar, pupil, test, and percentage.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The bar graphs below show the Riverdale Public School’s spending per student in a year as well as percentages of students who passed the reading and math tests from 1990 to 2005.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.