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 given picture contains two charts, one pie chart and one tableanother table chart. As is observed from the pie chart, the main cause of land degradationmain reason for less productivity is overgrazing of animals which accounts for 35%which constitutes 35%. Another major cause of land degradationAnother big reason of land degradation is deforestation which accounts for 30% of the totalholds 30% of the total. Over-cultivation also affectsOver cultivation also affects the production of land which constitutes 28% while other reasons of land degradation account for the remaining 7%are remaining 7%. OverallAs a result, the largest cause of land degradationthe biggest reason of land degradation is overgrazing of animals onin agricultural land. According to the given table, we will analyse what are main causes of less production of land in different regions and how they affect the lands' production. As it can be seen clearly thatseen clearly, that Europe is the most degraded, at 23%badly degraded by 23%. Europe is degraded by deforestation by 9.8% while 7.7% is degraded by over-cultivationaffected due to over cultivation and finally, 5.5% is degraded5.5% degraded by overgrazing. Europe is affected badly by 23% while North America holds 5% and Oceania by 13%. In conclusion, Europe is badly affected by these factors among the three regionsin all of the regions.
Why this response received Band 5.5
The response accurately identifies the global proportions and Europe's overall degradation, and its movement from the pie chart to the regional table is easy to follow. However, it gives almost no causal detail for North America or Oceania and repeatedly uses awkward or incomplete grammar; the priority is to compare all three regions by their dominant causes while expressing each comparison in a complete, precise sentence.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response accurately reports the pie-chart shares and regional totals, with a valid overview, but omits the cause breakdowns for North America and Oceania.
Compare each region's dominant and absent causes, including Oceania's 11.3% over-grazing and zero over-cultivation.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses from the pie chart to the table, but repetition and presentation as one undeveloped block weaken organisation.
Separate the overview from two focused detail paragraphs and avoid repeating that Europe is the most affected region.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary covers the required degradation categories, but several collocations such as less production of land and holds 30% are unnatural.
Use precise chart language such as land degradation, accounts for, and was affected by throughout the report.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning remains understandable, but article, clause, agreement, and missing-verb errors recur across both simple and complex sentences.
Check every comparison for a complete subject-verb structure and use consistent passive forms when reporting how land was degraded.
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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.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.