The Bar graph below shows the Expenditure in Million Pounds on fast food items by income groups in the UK.

Same questionCompare 3 different answers (Band 6–6.5)

Sample Response

1

The given bar graph compares British consumers’ expenditurethe British expenditure on fast food by income groupbased on the citizens’ income class in 1990. The chart shows thatAs is seen from the given illustration, high-income British consumershigh-income class British spent more on fast food items and the hamburger was their preferred item.

2

As is clear from the given diagram, high-income class British citizens spent more on fast food in 1990 than the average and low-income class citizens. High-income class people spent about 47 million poundsmore than 40% on hamburger which is about 33 million poundsjust over 30% for average income class and about 14 million poundsbelow 15% for low-income class. Interestingly the average-income group spentaverage income class spent more on fish & chips and that shows that it is their favourite fast food item. They spentspend about 25 million poundsone-fourth of their total fast-food expenses on fish & chips while it was just above 15% both for the two other income classes. It is obvious that fish and chips are also popular among the low-income class as they spend their highest percentage on this item. Finally, the high-income class spent the highest amount on the pizza which was about 19 million poundsjust below 20%. The pizza was least popular among the low- and average-income British consumerslow and average income class British.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 6.0

The report has a recognisable introduction, overview, and detail section, and it identifies the broad pattern that higher-income consumers spent more, especially on hamburgers. Its central weakness is that it repeatedly presents spending figures as percentages and gives incomplete coverage of low-income consumers and pizza. The highest priority is to report every value in million pounds and compare the key figures accurately across all three income groups.

Band score breakdown

IELTS Writing Criteria Scores

TA

Task Achievement

5.5
Scoring rule

The response identifies the main pattern that high-income consumers spent most and that hamburgers dominated the higher income groups. However, it repeatedly reports monetary values as percentages, even though the chart is in million pounds, and it gives limited detail on the low-income group and pizza.

Next step

Rewrite all figures as million pounds and include the key contrast that fish and chips were highest only for low-income consumers.

CC

Coherence and Cohesion

6.5
Scoring rule

The report has a clear introduction, overview and detail section. Progression is understandable, but cohesion relies on repeated formulaic openings and one crowded body paragraph.

Next step

Group the details by food item or income group and reduce repeated phrases such as As is clear from the given diagram.

LR

Lexical Resource

6.0
Scoring rule

Vocabulary is adequate for the task, but several phrases are unnatural or imprecise, especially class British, the pizza and percentage language for spending data.

Next step

Use precise chart language such as high-income consumers, average-income group, spent 47 million pounds and lowest expenditure.

GRA

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

6.0
Scoring rule

Most sentences are understandable, but article use, tense and noun-phrase control are inconsistent. The errors reduce accuracy but rarely block meaning.

Next step

Use past tense for 1990 data and proofread articles before income-group labels.

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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1

The Bar graph below shows the Expenditure in Million Pounds on fast food items by income groups in the UK.

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