The pie chart below shows the main reasons why agricultural land becomes less productive. The table shows how these causes affected three regions of the world during the 1990s.
Sample Response
The pie chart and table show reasons for worldwide land degradation & causes of land degradation in three different regions respectively in the 1990s. The main cause of land degradation worldwide was over-grazing which caused 35% land degradation, while the highest percentage of land degradation in different regions was due to over-grazing and in Oceania, this was the highest. It can be seenexamined that the second-largest causesecond largest factor of land degradation was deforestation which was 5 percentage points lower thanwhich differentiates by 5% less than over-grazing. Then the third-largest causethird driven-reason of land degradation was over-cultivation , accounting for 28% of land degradationwith 28% effect on land degradation. These three main reasons caused 93% of total land degradation93% total degradation of lands and the remaining 7%and remaining 7% was due to other reasons. The area where highest land degraded occurred was in Europe which was 23%. Oceania Delete(that included Australia and New Zealand and a large part of South Pacific) ranked as the second-highestsecond highest region for land degradationland-degraded area at just over half of Europe's totalby only around a half of European land degradation percentage. North America was the regionis the area with the least land degradation, especially with the lowest figure for deforestationwith least deforestation. Deforestation and over-cultivation contributed to European land degradation more than the other regionsother parts as their figures were highest in Europethey were the highest level of degradation in each region.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response identifies the main global cause and the correct regional ranking, and it reports several important percentages accurately. Its main weakness is incomplete coverage of the table, with most cause-by-region figures omitted and some comparisons expressed ambiguously; the single-block organisation and awkward phrasing also reduce clarity. Prioritise a clear overview followed by grouped, precise comparisons of all three regions, using accurate comparative structures and distinct paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A relevant overview and several accurate headline figures are included, but coverage of the regional breakdown is selective and some comparisons are unclear.
Compare all three causes across the regions, citing representative figures such as Europe's 9.8% deforestation and Oceania's 11.3% over-grazing.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses from global causes to regional totals, but the response forms one dense paragraph and some links are mechanical.
Use separate overview and detail paragraphs, grouping global causes apart from the regional comparisons.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is adequate for describing proportions and rankings, though repetition and awkward combinations such as "third driven-reason" reduce precision.
Use natural data-reporting phrases such as "the third-largest cause", "accounted for", and "the proportion of land degraded".
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the main information, but frequent article, comparison, and sentence-structure errors weaken control.
Practise concise comparative sentences with complete noun phrases, for example "Oceania's total was 13%, compared with 23% in Europe".
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The pie chart below shows the main reasons why agricultural land becomes less productive. The table shows how these causes affected three regions of the world during the 1990s.
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