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User-written IELTS example

Writing Academic Task 1 Band 7.0 Example

Original task prompt, user essay, band score, and related examples in the same report workspace.

178 words AcademicTask 1Bar Chart
Task 1

Illustrative target band for this original model answer.

Plan your answer

Try your own response before reading the samples.

Ideas to explore

  • Identify the category that dominates throughout: social welfare leads in all three years, reaching its highest figure in 2014.
  • Separate steady increases from fluctuating or recovering patterns: health and wildlife rise each year, whereas social welfare falls before rebounding.
  • Notice categories that finish at or near their starting values: education returns to 8, while environment ends at 7 compared with 8 initially.

Suggested structure

  1. Introduce the chart by naming the measure, the six charity types and the 2012–2014 period.
  2. Give an overview identifying the largest category and the broad direction of change.
  3. Describe social welfare separately because its figures are much higher and fluctuate notably.
  4. Group the remaining categories by pattern, comparing their starting, middle and final figures.
  5. End with a concise comparison of which categories finished higher, level or lower than in 2012.
Useful vocabulary & examples
a steady upward path
A consistent increase across successive years.

Health followed a steady upward path, rising from 6 to 9.

fell before recovering
Decreased at first and then rose again.

Environment fell to 5 before recovering to 7.

returned to its starting figure
Ended at the same value as at the beginning.

Education returned to its starting figure of 8 in 2014.

edged up
Increased by a small amount.

Arts edged up from 3 to 4 in the final year.

Task Prompt

Task 1: The chart below shows the donation given to six different types of charity by one company from 2012 to 2014.
IELTS Writing Task 1 visual

User Essay Analysis

Review the public answer with report-style highlights.

Band 7.0

The bar chart illustrates how much money was funded for 6 kinds of charity, namely social welfare (SW), education, environment, health, wildlife and arts, by a business between 2012 and 2014. Overall, donations increased in all fields, except the environment, which experienced a decline, and education, which remained stable. Additionally, the funding for SW was the largest throughout the period, at approximately 22 in 2012, 16 in 2013 and 24 in 2014. Although its donations dipped sharply in 2013, they recovered and finished above the initial level. Education received around 8 in 2012, fell to 6 in 2013, and returned to 8 in 2014, meaning its final figure matched its starting point. The environment followed a different pattern: its contribution declined from about 8 to 5, before recovering to roughly 7 in 2014. By contrast, health donations rose consistently, from 6 in 2012 to 7 in 2013 and 9 in 2014. Wildlife support increased from 3 to 4 and then 5, while arts funding held at approximately 3 in the first two years and reached 4 in 2014.

Targeted Improvement Tips

1
Before writing the overview, compare each category’s first and final bars, then separately note any mid-period rises or falls; this will prevent describing education as consistently stable.
2
Replace “money was funded” with a natural donation collocation, such as “the company donated” or “donations were made,” and use the same wording accurately throughout.
3
Check each reported value against the three bars in the visual; present the year sequence consistently, especially for social welfare, education and the environment, which fluctuate.

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