The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002.
Sample Response
The provided table shows the cost percentage of the items that the consumers in five different countries, including Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Turkey, spent on in 2002. In the table, we can see that food, drinks and tobacco accounted for the largest shareheld the highest percentage of consumer expenditure and the figures were allthe numbers are all higher than 15% whereas the percentages for leisure and education were allthe percentage in the leisure/education category are all below 5% in the fiveabove countries. In Ireland and Turkey, the percentages for food, drinks and tobaccothe percentages in food/drinks/tobacco wereare both around 30% and are nearly five times as high asnearly five times higher than the category of clothing and footwear. In comparison, consumers in Spain and Sweden spent only three times more of their expense in food rather than in clothing. Italy, however, is the only country that the percentages between food/drinks/tobacco and clothing/footwear are only one and a half times higher. From the tableIn observation of this table, we can also seegrab the information about how much people spent on leisureleisure time activities and education. There was a similar patternsurprisingly common trend in Ireland, Italy and Spain. Their expenditureexpense in clothing/footwear was roughly three times thattripled over the one in leisure/education. In contrast toOn the contrary of this coherent pattern, the ratiomultiples between these two categories was less than two to oneare less than two times in Sweden and Turkey.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response gives a clear category-wide overview and builds several useful cross-country ratio comparisons, most of which accord with the table. Its main limitation is selective coverage: the national highs and lows are not identified, and Italy’s food-to-clothing relationship is understated. Prioritise a sharper overview naming the leading countries in each category, then support comparisons with exact percentages rather than relying mainly on loosely worded multiples.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The broad hierarchy and most ratio comparisons are accurate, but important country extremes are omitted and the Italian comparison is imprecise.
Highlight Turkey’s highest food and leisure shares, Italy’s highest clothing share, and the relevant lows, using exact percentages for support.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report progresses logically from the overall category pattern to detailed comparisons, but the single paragraph and some abrupt transitions weaken organisation.
Separate the overview from two focused detail paragraphs, grouping food comparisons first and clothing-versus-leisure comparisons second.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient comparative vocabulary, although frequent unnatural collocations such as "grab the information" and "expense tripled over" reduce precision.
Use standard expressions such as "accounted for", "expenditure was three times as high", and "in contrast to this pattern".
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of sentence structures is attempted and meaning remains clear, but agreement, article, preposition, and relative-clause errors recur.
Check subject-verb agreement and rebuild comparative clauses so that countries, percentages, and spending categories are compared in parallel forms.
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 table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.