The chart below shows the amount spent on six consumer goods in four European countries.
Sample Response
The chart provides information on the expenditure on six consumer goods in Britain, France, Italy, and Germany measured in thousands of pounds sterlingin thousand pounds sterling.
Overall, Britain recorded the highest spending on the goodshighest amount of money used on goods while Germany had the lowest overall spendingaccounted for the least expenses on the six consumer items.
Britain spent about ₤172,000almost ₤175,000 on photographic films, almost ₤170,000 on toys, just above ₤160,000 on CDs, and ₤160,000 on perfumes. Also, Britain spentused around ₤155,000 each on tennis racquets and personal stereos. France spent itsFrance expended their smallestleast amounts on perfumes and tennis racquets atwith around ₤145,000 each and almost ₤150,000and also almost ₤150,000 on personal stereos. It spent the same amountThey recorded the same amount used for toys and CDs with just above ₤155,000 and recorded itstheir highest expenditure on photographic films with around ₤165,000.
Italy spentrecorded almost the same amount on photographic films and toys at just above ₤155,000 eachwith amounts just above ₤155,000 each. Its spending on CDsTheir expenses on CDs, perfumes, and tennis racquets were all around ₤155,000 while it spent onlywhile they recorded only ₤150,000 on personal stereos. Germany spentGermany’s expenses were seen to be almost ₤150,000 except for spending on tennis racquetstennis racquet’s expenses which were exactly ₤150,000.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response is well organised by country and reports most expenditure figures with reasonable accuracy, making the main patterns easy to follow. Its principal limitation is that the overview overgeneralises Germany as the lowest spender across all goods, while the body relies heavily on item-by-item listing and some awkward collocations. Prioritise sharper cross-country comparisons and more precise expenditure language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The overview identifies Britain’s dominance and the body accurately covers nearly all values, but Germany is not the lowest spender for every product.
Qualify the overview and add comparisons showing where France or Italy, rather than Germany, records the lowest figure.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is logically grouped by country with clear paragraphing and progression, though the presentation becomes somewhat list-like.
Link selected figures across countries so each paragraph develops comparisons rather than a sequence of separate values.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary range is adequate for describing spending and approximation, but repetitive and awkward collocations occasionally reduce naturalness.
Use precise alternatives such as ‘spent’, ‘expenditure stood at’, and ‘the lowest figure’ while avoiding repeated ‘recorded’ phrases.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A varied mix of complex and simple sentences is generally well controlled, with only occasional agreement and possessive-form errors.
Check country pronouns and avoid unnecessary possessives such as ‘tennis racquet’s expenses’.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart below shows the amount spent on six consumer goods in four European countries.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.