The charts below show the proportion of people's total spending on different commodities and services in a particular European country in 1998 and 2008

Proportion of peoples total spending on different commodities and services in 1998 and 2008 - IELTS Writing Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

A student's answer to this task, and the feedback on it

Written by an IELTSX user under exam conditions and published unedited and anonymously. Band 7 · 231 words.

The bar chart compares how people in a European country allocated their total expenditure across various goods and services in 1998 and 2008.

Overall, spending patterns shifted noticeably over the ten-year period, with different categories following contrasting trends. Electronic goods accounted for the largest proportion of expenditure in both years, whereas newspapers and magazines and going to the cinema consistently represented the smallest shares. Spending on clothing and electronic goods increased, while expenditure on holidays, newspapers and magazines, and cinema declined. Spending on eating out remained unchanged.

Turning to the categories that experienced growth or remained stable, electronic goods accounted for the largest proportion of expenditure in both years, rising from 16% in 1998 to 20% in 2008. A similarly upward trend was observed in clothing, which saw a more pronounced increase, from 12% to 18% over the same period. By contrast, the proportion of spending allocated to eating out remained unchanged at 6%, making it the only category to show no variation.

As for the categories that experienced a decline, holidays accounted for 8% of total expenditure in 1998, but this figure fell to 5% by 2008. The downward trend was even more pronounced in newspapers and magazines, as well as going to the cinema, both of which saw their shares drop from 3% to just 1%. Consequently, these two categories represented the smallest proportions of overall spending in 2008.

Examiner feedback

This is a clear, well-organised response that identifies the main trends and supports them with accurate-looking figures for every category, grouped logically by growth and decline. Its main weaknesses are repetition between the overview and the first body paragraph, and an overview that gives no figures. The language is mostly accurate and varied, with only minor clumsiness in phrasing.

Task Achievement - 7

- The overview identifies the main trends: electronic goods and clothing rose, holidays and the two media categories fell, and eating out stayed unchanged. - Body paragraphs group categories by trend (growth/stable vs. decline), which makes the data easy to follow. Figures are given for every category, and the 'only category with no variation' point adds a useful comparison. - The overview repeats the body's point that electronic goods had the largest share in both years, and it gives no figures. Mentioning the overall shift in the two data points would strengthen it. - Note: I could not view the chart image, so I evaluated the figures against the response text only. Please check the cited percentages against the source.

Coherence & Cohesion - 7

- Four clear paragraphs (introduction, overview, two body paragraphs) with logical grouping by trend. - Cohesive devices such as 'whereas', 'by contrast', 'consequently' and 'turning to' are used appropriately, though 'Turning to' and 'As for' are somewhat formulaic. - Progression is clear, but the overview and first body paragraph overlap heavily, which weakens the sense of development.

Lexical Resource - 7

- Good range of trend vocabulary: 'accounted for', 'rising from', 'more pronounced', 'drop', 'fell', 'remained unchanged', 'no variation'. - Appropriate paraphrasing of the task's terms (e.g., 'allocated their total expenditure', 'shares'). - Phrasing such as 'newspapers and magazines and going to the cinema' is slightly clumsy, and there is some repetition of 'accounted for' and 'largest proportion'.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy - 8

- A good mix of simple and complex sentences, including relative clauses ('which saw a more pronounced increase'), participial phrases, and contrastive structures. - Most sentences are error-free, with accurate tense use for past figures and correct use of 'both of which' and 'consequently'. - Punctuation is well controlled, with only minor issues in list-style sentences.

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