The pie chart below shows the main reasons why agricultural land becomes less productive. The table shows how these causes affected three regions of the world during the 1990s.
Sample Response
The provided pie chartcharts have four sections, each illustratingillustrates the causereason of farmland degradation. However, the given table shows the effect of these causes on agricultural lands in three parts of the worldthree parts of world namely NorthAmerica, Europe and Oceania during the 1990s.
As is presented in the pie chart, overgrazing and deforestation are the predominant causes of declining land productivityreasons for losing the productivity of lands which together contribute to 65%. Next, man-made activities such as over-cultivation are account for 28% of degradationresponsible for degradation up to 28% which is four times as large as the share for other factorsalmost 4 times larger than other factors.
According to data given in the table, During the 1990sIn 19990, farmland of Europe degraded to the much extent (23% of land was degraded23 percent land degraded) as compared to other regions, the cause behind this was deforestation. About 10% of land lost productivityAbout 10% land lost productivity because of deforestation which is nearly six times the figure for Oceania5 times greater than Oceania. However, deforestation in North America was observed very less only 0.2percent. Interestingly, During the 1990s, over-cultivationIn 1990, over cultivation had no effect on land in Oceaniaon islands in the South Pacific. Nevertheless, in the other two regions, the percentagein other two parts percentage remained between 3% and 8%between 3 to 8percent. Effect of overgrazing was very less in NorthAmerica. However, it is about 7.5 times as high in Oceaniaalmost 10times larger in Oceania.
In conclusion, in 1990, Europe and Oceania faced the higher problem of land degradation as compared to North America. The main causes behind it were deforestation and overgrazing.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response covers both visuals, identifies the dominant global causes, and accurately compares most regional figures, including Europe's overall lead and Oceania's absence of over-cultivation. Its main limitation is precision: the Oceania-to-North America overgrazing comparison is overstated, and several descriptions are awkward or loosely expressed. Prioritise exact ratios, consistent references to the 1990s, and clearer grouping of each region's principal cause.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response presents a clear overview and selects most key proportions accurately, though it overstates Oceania's overgrazing figure as almost ten times North America's.
Report that 11.3% is about seven and a half times 1.5%, and identify each region's leading cause alongside its total degradation.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response moves logically from the global chart to regional data and a conclusion, with clear paragraphing despite some repetitive contrast markers.
Group the table details by region or by cause consistently and avoid repeating conclusion material already covered by the overview.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient range for causes, proportions, and comparisons, but awkward collocations such as 'reason of,' 'degraded to the much extent,' and 'observed very less' recur.
Use natural forms such as 'cause of degradation,' 'was most severely affected,' 'accounted for,' and 'was considerably lower.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex comparisons are attempted and meaning remains clear, though article, agreement, punctuation, spacing, and sentence-boundary errors occur frequently.
Check complete clauses, articles before percentages and regions, and consistent past-tense forms throughout the report.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The pie chart below shows the main reasons why agricultural land becomes less productive. The table shows how these causes affected three regions of the world during the 1990s.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.