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 shows that there are four main causes of farmland degradationfarmland becoming degraded worldwidein the world today. Globally, 65% of degradation is caused by over-grazingtoo much animal grazing and deforestationtree clearance, constituting 35% and 30% respectively. A further 28% of global degradation is due to over-cultivationover-cultivation of crops. Other causes account for only 7% collectively.
These causes affected different regions differently in the 1990s, with Europe having as much as 9.8% of degradation due to deforestation, while the impact of this on Oceania and North America was minimal, with only 1.7% and 0.2% of land affected respectively. Europe, with the highest overall percentage of land degraded (23%), also suffered from over-cultivation (7.7%) and over-grazing (5.5%). In contrast, 13% of Oceania’s farmland was degradedOceania had 13% of degraded farmland and this was mainly due to over-grazing (11.3%). North America had a lower proportion of degraded land at only 5%, and its main causesthe main causes of this were over-cultivation (3.3%) and, to a lesser extent, over-grazing (1.5%).
Overall, it is clear that Europe suffered more from farmland degradation than the other regions and the main causes there were deforestation and over-cultivation.
Why this response received Band 8.5
The response gives a highly accurate, well-selected account of both visuals, supported by clear comparisons and an effective overview of Europe's greater degradation. Its organisation and language are controlled throughout, with only minor scope for greater concision in repeated wording about degradation. Maintain this accuracy while varying a few repeated terms and making the relationship between global causes and regional patterns even more explicit.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
Both visuals are fully addressed through an accurate overview, well-selected figures, and clear comparisons of the principal global causes and regional differences.
Preserve this comprehensive selection while making the contrast between the leading global cause and each region's leading cause even more explicit.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is logically sequenced and paragraphing cleanly separates the global breakdown, regional detail, and overall comparison.
Reduce the small amount of lexical repetition across paragraph openings to make the progression still more seamless.
Lexical Resource
A wide and precise vocabulary conveys proportions, causes, and contrasts fluently, with only slight repetition of degradation and degraded.
Vary repeated terms selectively with expressions such as loss of productivity or affected land without sacrificing precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately, and nearly all sentences are error-free and easy to follow.
Refine occasional slightly compressed phrasing, such as percentages of degradation, to maximise naturalness and precision.
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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.