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 given information shows the main reasons why land becomes less productivereasons of lands get less productive and also shows the extent of land degradationeffect of land losing its productivity in three different regions of the world during the 1990s. As is presented in the graphs, over-grazing and deforestationover-grazing & deforestation are two main reason for land becoming less productivereasons for lands becoming less productive and these two reasons account for 65%contribute to 65% of this loss of land productivitythis short of less productivity of lands. Another important reasons for land becoming less productivereason for lands are getting less productive is over-cultivationover cultivations which is responsible for 28% of the degradation28% reason for this effect. All other reasons cause 7% of this land degradationthis decreased productivity of lands. The causes of land degradationreasons for which the lands degraded vary from region to regionvary region to region and according to the table data, 23% of European land was degradedEuropean lands are getting less productive by 23% in the 1990s because of deforestation, over-cultivation and over-grazing. Deforestation was the major reason why the European lands got less productive and it was 9.8% while the other two causes accounted for 5.5% and 7.7%two other reasons were around 5% to 7%. In Oceana region which comprised a large portion of South Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand had 13% decrease of land’s procuring capability and over-cultivation was not the reason there. Finally, North American countries were less affected (only 5%) for those man created reasons of land’s decrease in productivity.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response accurately identifies all four global causes and their proportions, and it correctly contrasts Europe as the most affected region with North America as the least affected. Its main limitation is incomplete regional detail, especially the omission of over-grazing as Oceania's dominant cause and over-cultivation as North America's main cause. The highest-priority improvement is to compare the leading cause in each region using exact table figures and clearer language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The global percentages and regional totals are mostly accurate, but key regional comparisons and dominant causes are omitted or only vaguely reported.
State that over-grazing accounts for 11.3% in Oceania, over-cultivation for 3.3% in North America, and deforestation for 9.8% in Europe.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response moves logically from the pie chart to the regional table, but the single-paragraph structure and repeated phrasing make progression less effective.
Use a separate overview and one detail paragraph for each visual, grouping the regional comparisons by highest and lowest figures.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary covers causes, regions, and productivity, but frequent awkward or inaccurate expressions reduce precision and naturalness.
Use concise terms such as 'land degradation', 'accounted for', 'the dominant cause', and 'the proportion of land affected'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning is generally clear, although errors in clause structure, agreement, articles, and noun forms occur throughout the report.
Revise patterns such as 'reasons why land becomes less productive', 'over-cultivation accounts for 28%', and 'causes varied by region'.
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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.
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