The pie charts below illustrate the number of journal articles read per week by all students, PhD students, and junior lecturers at an Australian university.
Sample Response
The three pie charts illustrate how many articles from academic journals are read weekly by PhD students and junior lecturers compared with all studentscompared to other students at an Australian university.
DeleteFor example, the overwhelming majority of PhD studentsthose studying doctorates read at least twelve articles per week in comparison with all studentsthe average student. The figures arewere 80 per cent and twelve per cent respectively.
Furthermore, only five per cent of PhD students readof PhD level students read between one and five articles, whereas the figureaverage for all students in this category is 67 per centa hefty 67 per cent.
Meanwhile, for junior lecturers the distribution differspattern appears to be slightly different. Most read six or more articles per week (99 per cent), andbut out of this total 24 per cent read twelve or more, which is almost a third of the corresponding figure for PhD level students.
It is clear that those students who are researching for a PhD read more articles than either junior lecturers or other students.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response identifies the dominant patterns accurately and supports them with well-chosen comparisons, especially the contrast between doctoral students and the wider student body. Its main limitation is selective coverage: the 6–11-article shares are mostly compressed into an aggregate rather than compared directly across all groups. Add one concise comparison of that middle category and present the overview earlier for a more complete, immediately oriented report.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response provides a clear overview and accurate comparisons of the dominant and smallest categories, though the 6–11-article figures receive limited direct coverage.
Add a concise comparison showing that the middle category accounts for 21%, 15%, and 75% across the three groups.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report progresses logically through the groups and uses cohesive links effectively, although the overview arrives only in the final paragraph.
Place the overview immediately after the introduction and group the detailed comparisons by article-frequency category.
Lexical Resource
A wide, flexible vocabulary conveys proportions and comparisons precisely, with only slight informality in hefty and minor awkwardness in PhD level students.
Use consistently formal choices such as substantial and PhD students throughout.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex comparative clauses and percentage structures are consistently accurate, with only very minor awkwardness that does not affect clarity.
Refine noun phrasing such as students studying for doctorates to make the few less-natural constructions fully idiomatic.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The pie charts below illustrate the number of journal articles read per week by all students, PhD students, and junior lecturers at an Australian university.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.