The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002.
Sample Response
The provided table illustrates the proportions of consumer expenditureconsumer expense's proportion of three different categories in five countriesfive European countries in 2002. In general, food, drinks and tobacco had the highest proportion of total expenditures, followed by clothing and footwearfollowed by garment items. ConsumersAnd the consumers were spent the least onless likely toward the leisure and educationeducational and entertaining expenses. For food, drinks and tobaccoIn food and drink expense, Turkey and Ireland were well abovewell above than other countries, representing 32 per cent and 29 per cent respectively, whereas Italy, Spain and Sweden recorded figures below 20 per centsaw below 20 per cent. By contrast, the gap among the countries spending on clothes and footwear was narrownarrowed. The people in most of the countries allocatedwould estimate about 5.4% to 6.5% of their budgets5 to 6 percent budget on this category. Except for Italy, where has been famous in fashion for centuries, the people would like to spend as high as 9 percent on their fashion. For leisure and educationIn leisure and education expense, Turkey hadremained the highest proportion with 4 percent while other countries were merely between about 2% and 3.2%between 2 to 3 percent. Spain even had the lowest share, at just under 2 per centsaw the lowest proportion to hit below 2 per cent. To sum up, the European consumers had similar spending habits when food and drinks remained the top, garment items were the second, and education and entertainments came to the last. In more detaildetails, Turkish consumers spent a higher sharewere more willing to pay for food and entertainment than others when Italian consumers would spend the most in fashion.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response accurately identifies the category hierarchy and selects useful cross-country comparisons, with rounded figures that remain faithful to the table. Its main limitation is frequent awkward wording and some unnecessary speculation about Italian fashion, which makes otherwise clear comparisons less precise. The highest-priority improvement is to describe only the table's evidence using natural comparative language and exact category labels.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The main patterns and most significant country comparisons are accurately reported, although the comment about Italy's fashion history is unsupported by the table.
Keep the account strictly data-based and include exact figures where rounding obscures smaller differences.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response follows a clear category-by-category progression, but some linking is mechanical and the conclusion largely repeats the overview.
Use distinct paragraphs for the overview and grouped details, and avoid restating the same hierarchy in a final summary.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary range is adequate for comparisons, but frequent unnatural collocations such as "saw below" and "came to the last" reduce precision.
Use conventional data-reporting phrases such as "accounted for," "was the lowest," and "spent the largest proportion on."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of simple and complex forms is attempted, but errors in articles, comparatives, clause structure, and prepositions occur repeatedly.
Practise accurate comparative constructions, replacing forms such as "well above than" with "well above" or "higher than."
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.