The graphs show changes in spending habits of people in the UK between 1971 and 2001.
Sample Response
The provided pie charts give information on the spending habits of UK citizens in 1971 and 2001. As is observed from the charts, the expenditure on petrol and furniturepetrol & furniture fellreduced significantly while the amount spent on computers increased in the UK. In 1971, British people spentIn 1971, British spent 36% on petrol, whichpetrol which was the highest percentage among the categories shownthe given expense categories. Spending on furnitureTheir expense on Furniture was second largest (32%), while(32%) while they spent one quarter on restaurant meals. The smallest proportionThe least portion was spent on computerswas spent by them for purchasing computers, which was only 7% that yearonly 7% in this year. Thirty years laterAfter 30 years, the proportions spent on petrol and furniturethe expense to buy petrol and furniture fellreduced to 8% each, significantly lower than the percentages spent in 1971. By contrast, spending on computersBut the expense made on computers increased by five percentage pointsincreased by 5% in 2001. People spent 1% on books that yearon books in this year. Spending on restaurantsThe expenses for restaurant decreased to 14% compared to the 25% in 1971. The highest amount spent in 2001 by the British was on cars and that consisted almost half of the total expenses in this year.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response’s strongest feature is its accurate reporting of nearly every category and the major decline in petrol and furniture spending over the period. Its main limitation is incomplete selection: food, which represented a sizeable share in 2001, is omitted and the rise of cars is not included in the overview; the highest-priority improvement is to summarise all major structural changes before presenting figures.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
Most values are reported accurately and important changes are identified, but the 14% food category is omitted and the new dominance of cars is absent from the overview.
Include cars becoming the largest category and food appearing at 14% as key features of the 2001 distribution.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses clearly from the overview through 1971 and then 2001, though a single block and item-by-item listing limit comparative cohesion.
Separate the overview from details and group categories by major decreases, increases, and newly appearing items.
Lexical Resource
A sufficient range of spending vocabulary is used, but collocations such as “expense to buy petrol” and “expenses for restaurant” are awkward.
Use “spending on petrol,” “restaurant expenditure,” and “accounted for” consistently.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The report communicates clearly with some complex structures, but article use, noun forms, capitalization, and passive constructions are not consistently controlled.
Check determiners and plural forms, especially “Britons spent,” “furniture,” and “restaurant meals.”
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The graphs show changes in spending habits of people in the UK between 1971 and 2001.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.