The Bar graph below shows the Expenditure in Million Pounds on fast food items by income groups in the UK.
Sample Response
The given bar graph shows data on the expenditure by UK consumersexpenses made by the United Kingdom citizens for fast food itemsthe fast food item in 1990. As is observed from the given data, people in the high-income grouppeople with high-income group spent more money on fast foods and the hamburger was the most preferred food among the high and average earning people. According to the bar graph, the people who had high income spent the mostdid the maximum expense on the fast food items. Hamburger was the most preferred fast food itemitems both for the average and high earning group people. More than 40 million pounds was spentexpensed by the high earning people on this single fast food itemin this single fast food items. Two other popular fast food items among the high earning people were pizza and fish and chipsPizza and Fish/ Chips for which the high earners expensed about 18 million and 17 million poundsmore than 15 million pounds in 1990. Among the average earning people, the second most favourite fast food item was fish/ chips for which they made an expense of 25 million pounds in this year. On the other hand, Pizza had the lowest expenditurePizza was the least popular item among the people of low income and they preferred fish/ chips and hamburger over the pizza.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response successfully identifies the broad income-based pattern and the leading foods for the higher-income groups, while remaining generally understandable. However, it provides too few precise figures, does not fully compare all three foods across every group, and repeats ideas in one dense paragraph with awkward wording. Prioritise a clear overview followed by grouped comparisons using accurate approximate values, especially for the low-income group.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response identifies the main pattern that higher income groups spent more overall and that hamburgers led among high- and average-income groups. It gives limited exact data, misses the full low-income comparison, and does not clearly contrast all three foods across all groups.
Add the approximate figures for each income group and state that fish and chips were highest among low-income consumers while pizza was lowest there.
Coherence and Cohesion
The answer is understandable and follows a general-to-detail pattern, but it is one long paragraph with repeated ideas.
Use a short overview paragraph, then one paragraph comparing high/average earners and one for low earners.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is serviceable but repetitive and sometimes unnatural, especially around “expense” and “fast food items”.
Use “spent”, “expenditure”, “amount”, “category”, and food names directly instead of repeating “items”.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
There are frequent article, plural, and passive-form errors, but meaning remains mostly clear.
Revise noun phrases after “income group”, “food item”, and passive expressions such as “was spent”.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The Bar graph below shows the Expenditure in Million Pounds on fast food items by income groups in the UK.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.