The chart below shows the value of one country’s exports in various categories during 2015 and 2016. The table shows the percentage change in each category of exports in 2016 compared with 2015.
Sample Response
The bar chartThe given graph and table illustrate the changes in export earnings for a country across five product categoriesacross several industries from 2015 to 2016 measured in billions of dollars. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that earnings rose in all categoriesall earnings experienced rises except for gems and jewellery, which experienced a moderate drop. The majority of earnings came from petroleum and engineered goods, while textiles and engineered goods made the largest percentage increasespercentile jumps. The two highest-value export categoriesThe two main exports were petroleum products, which went from just over $61 billion in 2015 to around $63 billion inby 2016, and engineered goods ($58 billion to $62 billion). That translates to a 3% rise for petroleum and a larger increasea more sizeable increase of 8.5% for engineered products. Compared to these two exports, earnings from the remaining categories were much lowerthe other products were much lower. Gems and jewellery, the only export to decrease, went down 5.18% from $43 billion to $41 billion. Despite this drop, agricultural goods were lower throughout the period at around $31 and just over $31 billion in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Textiles were the lowest in 2015 at around $26 billion but had pulled approximately level with agriculture by 2016.
Why this response received Band 8.0
This is a focused, accurate response with a clear overview and well-chosen comparisons across both the chart and table. Its main limitation is that the smaller categories receive less quantitative coverage, particularly the percentage changes for agriculture and textiles. For an even fuller report, include those figures while retaining the concise grouping and consistently precise language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response accurately identifies the main trends and supports them with well-selected values and percentage changes from both visuals.
Add the 0.81% agricultural increase and 15.24% textile rise to make coverage of the smaller categories more complete.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information progresses logically from a clear overview to grouped comparisons of the leading and lower-value exports.
Make the shift from the two leading exports to the remaining categories slightly more explicit through a clearly signposted comparison.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and precise overall, with effective terms for change and comparison despite the imprecise phrase 'percentile jumps'.
Use 'percentage increases' instead of 'percentile jumps' to maintain exact statistical wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is used accurately and naturally, with strong control of punctuation and agreement.
Continue refining sentence rhythm by varying the placement of parenthetical figures in data-heavy sentences.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The chart below shows the value of one country’s exports in various categories during 2015 and 2016. The table shows the percentage change in each category of exports in 2016 compared with 2015.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.