The pie charts below show units of electricity production by fuel source in Australia and France in 1980 and 2000.
Sample Response
The pie chartsPie graphs reveal information about the number of electricity units producedinformation about the units of electricity production in two countries - Australia and France in 1980 and 2000. Five fuel sourcesFive kinds of fuel sources namely coal, oil, natural gas, hydropower and nuclear power were used for producing electricity in these two countries.
To begin with, the main source of power in Australia was coal and it produced 50 units of electricity in 1980 which was half of the total production. Natural gas and hydropower were used to generate 40 units of electricity that yearin this year. After 20 years there was a rapid increase in the useusage of coal that generated 130 of the total 170 units130 units among the total 170 units. However, there was a gradual fall on the usages of natural gas and oil as it supplied tiny fractions of the total electricity produced this year in Australia.
By contrast, in France,On the contrary in France coal, natural gas and oil were mainly used to produce necessary electric power while by 2000 the use of nuclear power had increased dramaticallyin later years the use of nuclear power increases tremendously. While only 15 units of electricity were generated using this source in 1980, it increased to 126 in 2000. Use of hydropower and natural gas was being replaced by this new energy source.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response is strongest in its clear country-by-country organisation and its generally accurate reporting of the dominant changes in coal use in Australia and nuclear power in France. Its main limitation is incomplete Task Achievement: it lacks a distinct overview and omits important features, especially Australia's 36 units of hydropower in 2000 and France's continuing coal and oil production. Prioritise a concise overview and fuller comparisons of the largest and smallest categories across both years and countries.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response accurately identifies the dominant coal and nuclear trends, but it lacks a distinct overview and omits several important figures and comparisons.
Add a concise overview of the contrasting national patterns, then cover major omitted features such as Australian hydropower and French coal and oil in 2000.
Coherence and Cohesion
The country-by-country paragraphing creates clear progression, although a few links and references are imprecise or slightly mechanical.
Use contrast markers only where the relationship is genuinely contrasting and make pronoun references unambiguous.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the task, but awkward choices such as "fall on the usages" reduce precision and naturalness.
Use more accurate chart collocations, such as "a fall in the use of" and "accounted for a small proportion".
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the data clearly, despite recurring errors in tense, agreement, articles, and punctuation.
Proofread verb tense and agreement carefully, especially when shifting between the 1980 and 2000 data.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The pie charts below show units of electricity production by fuel source in Australia and France in 1980 and 2000.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.