The graph below shows the consumption of fish and some different kinds of meat in a European country between 1979 and 2004.
Sample Response
The line graph illustrates the weekly intake of four food categories in a European countryfour different types of meat in Europe over the 25 years from 1979 to 2004for a period of 25 years starting from the year 1979. Overall, it can be seen that although there was an increasing trend for the consumption of chicken throughout the period given, beef, lamb and fish consumption declined overallthe reverse was true for that of beef, lamb and fish.
Initially, in the year1979, beef consumption was higherthe Europeans were keener on eating beef than that of any other categoryany other types of meat. It was about 220 grammes of beef being consumed every week. The consumption of lamb, chicken and fish waswere much lower than that of beef, atmuch lower than beef that is approximately 150 grams for lamb and 140 grams for chickenapproximately 150 grammes for lamb and chicken and just under 60 grams for fishonly just above 50 grammes of fish in 1979. A similar pattern is evidentcan be seen from the graph for the consumptionintakes of beef, lamb and fish which showed an overall decreasing trend with some fluctuations over the periodin between the years. However, the consumption of beef showed greater fluctuationsa bigger fluctuation from 1979 to 1994 before starting to decline steadily. On the other hand, the consumption of fish had the smallest fluctuations throughout the period.
Turning to the consumption of chicken, this category showedchicken, it had an overall increasing trend, in contrast to the other categoriestrend which contrasts with others. Even though it was consumed only 150 grammes per week by Europeans in 1979, it reached to just below 250 grammes by 2004 which became the most favourable meat in Europe in 2004. Interestingly, fish remained the least favourite meat throughout the time frame, only about 50 grammes of fish consumed per week.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response provides a clear overview, selects accurate starting and ending figures, and effectively contrasts chicken's rise with the declines in beef, lamb, and fish. Its main limitation is language accuracy: awkward passive forms, agreement errors, and imprecise collocations recur even though meaning remains clear. Prioritise concise grammatical descriptions of quantities and changes, and distinguish fish from the three types of meat in the introduction.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The main trends, rankings, fluctuations, and approximate figures are accurately presented across the full period.
Refer to 'fish and three kinds of meat' and give the final fish figure more precisely at about 40 grams per person per week.
Coherence and Cohesion
A clear overview is followed by logically grouped details on declining categories and the contrasting rise in chicken.
Reduce repetition of the overview within the body and use the chicken-beef crossover as a focused comparison.
Lexical Resource
There is a reasonable range of trend vocabulary, but several choices such as 'keener', 'bigger fluctuation', and 'most favourable meat' are imprecise.
Prefer 'most widely consumed', 'larger fluctuations', 'weekly consumption', and 'fell steadily'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response attempts varied sentence structures, but agreement, passive construction, articles, and relative clauses are frequently inaccurate.
Use direct forms such as 'Beef consumption was about 220 grams' and 'Chicken rose to just under 250 grams, making it the most consumed meat'.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The graph below shows the consumption of fish and some different kinds of meat in a European country between 1979 and 2004.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.