The diagrams below show UK students’ responses to the question of to what extent would they describ e themselves as financially organised.
Sample Response
The two diagrams show students’ responses to the question of how good they are at managing their finances. The pie chart illustrates the ability of UK students to manage their finances and the table shows the proportion of students, by age, who think they are very organised at managing their finances.
More than three-quarters of students (76%) believe they are either ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ organised financially, while one in five (20%) say they are not very organised in this area. Only 4% of students rate themselves as ‘not at all’ competent.
The ability to manage one’s finances well would seem to develop with age and experience as older students are almost twice as likely to say they are ‘very’ organised than younger ones (31% of students aged 26 or over compared to just 17% for those aged up to 22).
Overall, the findings suggest that students generally manage their finances well.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Match the visual Original: two diagrams show Suggested revision: pie chart shows Why it matters: The attached visual contains one pie chart rather than two diagrams.
- 2. Describe self-perception Original: how good they are at managing their finances Suggested revision: how financially organised they consider themselves Why it matters: The chart reports students’ self-descriptions rather than their objectively measured ability.
- 3. Use precise framing Original: believe they are Suggested revision: describe themselves as Why it matters: This wording more accurately reflects the self-reported categories in the chart.
- 4. Use chart label Original: ‘not at all’ competent Suggested revision: ‘not at all organised’ Why it matters: The chart labels this category as not at all organised, not incompetent.
- 5. Sentence rewrite Original: The pie chart illustrates the ability of UK students to manage their finances and the table shows the proportion of students, by age, who think they are very organised at managing their finances. Suggested revision: The pie chart shows the proportions of UK students who describe themselves as very, fairly, not very or not at all financially organised. Why it matters: The attached visual has no age table, so the sentence should describe only the four pie-chart categories.
- 6. Sentence rewrite Original: The ability to manage one’s finances well would seem to develop with age and experience as older students are almost twice as likely to say they are ‘very’ organised than younger ones (31% of students aged 26 or over compared to just 17% for those aged up to 22). Suggested revision: The largest group was fairly organised at 55%, more than twice the 21% who described themselves as very organised. Why it matters: The age comparison is unsupported by the attached visual and should be replaced with an accurate comparison from the pie chart.
- 7. Sentence rewrite Original: Overall, the findings suggest that students generally manage their finances well. Suggested revision: Overall, most students considered themselves financially organised, with the fairly organised group forming the largest share. Why it matters: The overview should report self-perception and identify the chart’s dominant category.
- 8. Position overview earlier Suggested revision: Move this overview directly after the introduction so the main pattern appears before the detailed figures. Why it matters: Earlier placement would make the report’s progression easier to follow.
Suggested Rewrites
- two diagrams show pie chart shows
- how good they are at managing their finances how financially organised they consider themselves
- believe they are describe themselves as
- ‘not at all’ competent ‘not at all organised’
- The pie chart illustrates the ability of UK students to manage their finances and the table shows the proportion of students, by age, who think they are very organised at managing their finances. The pie chart shows the proportions of UK students who describe themselves as very, fairly, not very or not at all financially organised.
- The ability to manage one’s finances well would seem to develop with age and experience as older students are almost twice as likely to say they are ‘very’ organised than younger ones (31% of students aged 26 or over compared to just 17% for those aged up to 22). The largest group was fairly organised at 55%, more than twice the 21% who described themselves as very organised.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response is concise, fluent, and logically arranged, with accurate reporting of the pie chart's combined 76%, 20%, and 4% proportions. Its main limitation is that a substantial paragraph introduces age-based figures that are not supported by the attached visual, while the 55% and 21% categories are never identified separately. Prioritise describing and comparing only the visible data, with a more specific overview of the dominant and smallest groups.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The visible pie-chart data are broadly accurate and an overview is present, but the age-based comparison is unsupported and the two organised categories are not separately quantified.
Describe the 55% fairly organised and 21% very organised groups explicitly, and remove any detail that cannot be verified from the supplied visual.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report progresses clearly from an introduction through details to a concise overview, with cohesive links used smoothly.
Strengthen the information structure by placing the overview immediately after the introduction and grouping all verified details together.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied, precise, and well suited to reporting proportions and financial organisation, with only a minor label shift from organised to competent.
Retain the chart's exact category wording so that labels such as not at all organised are reported with complete precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately, and nearly all sentences are error-free and easy to follow.
Refine the comparative construction to almost twice as likely as younger students for fully idiomatic accuracy.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The diagrams below show UK students’ responses to the question of to what extent would they describ e themselves as financially organised.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.