The bar chart below gives information about four countries spending habits of shopping on consumer goods in 2012.
Sample Response
The supplied bar chart compares the expenditure on consumer goods inby the shoppers of four countries, namelyfour different countries namely Belgium, Spain, Austria and Britain in 2012for the year 2012. The chart shows the expenditureexpenses in thousands of pounds for six main consumer goods. As is presented in the graph, British people spent the highest amount while citizens of Belgium seems like spent the least amount in for the given six consumer products.
For console games, citizens of these four countries spentexpended around 150 thousand pounds on averageon an average and British people spent more than other nations. The expenditure for outdoor game accessories was almost similar to the expenditure of console games. For cosmeticsFor the cosmetics, again British people spent more than other nations and average spending was close to that on the two game-related categoriesthe average expense was close to the game devices (console and outdoor). A similar spending patternSimilar expense pattern can be observed for booksfor the books and Belgian consumerspeople of Belgium spent the least amount on books among the four nations. The highest expenditure made by the given four nations was on camerasin camera and the expenses made by British, Austrian, Spanish and Belgian consumersBritish, Austrian, Spain and Belgian were approximately 170, 166, 156 and 145 thousand pounds respectivelyconsecutively. These nations spent a little less on toys, which was the second most expenditure category.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response presents a clear overall comparison, accurately identifying Britain as the highest spender and Belgium as generally the lowest, and it covers all six product categories. The camera figures are particularly useful, but several other comparisons remain general rather than numerically supported, and awkward phrasing reduces precision. The highest-priority improvement is to group the categories and add a few more exact cross-country comparisons using natural expenditure language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview is accurate, all categories are covered and the camera data are reported precisely, though several other comparisons lack specific supporting figures.
Add selected figures for books, toys and one lower-spending category to substantiate the otherwise accurate cross-country patterns.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report moves clearly from the overall national pattern to category-by-category details, with comparisons that are generally easy to follow.
Group categories with similar spending levels rather than listing them sequentially in one long paragraph.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for chart comparison, but recurring collocational problems with expenses, expended and expenditure made reduce naturalness.
Use consistent phrases such as spending on, expenditure on and spent approximately, and use respectively when matching figures to countries.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied comparative structures, but agreement, article and noun-form errors recur and occasionally make clauses awkward.
Check agreement and possessive forms carefully, especially four countries' spending habits, Belgian citizens seem to have spent and the second-highest category.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The bar chart below gives information about four countries spending habits of shopping on consumer goods in 2012.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.