User-written IELTS example

Writing Academic Task 1 Band 8.0 Example

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

208 words AcademicTask 1Pie 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

Compare the leading reason across both years: suitable degree courses ranked first, rising slightly from 35% to 37%.
Highlight the largest increase: choosing a university close to the parental home went from 10% to 22%.
Contrast the sharpest decline with the smaller fall: sports and social activities dropped from 19% to 6%, while quality of resources moved from 21% to 17%.

Suggested structure

Paraphrase the chart topic and identify both years.
Give an overview of the top reason and the most notable increases and decreases.
Describe the 1987 figures, grouping the largest and smallest categories.
Compare the 2007 figures with 1987, using exact percentages and clear change language.

Useful vocabulary & examples

accounted for: made up a particular percentage or share
Suitable degree courses accounted for 35% of responses in 1987.
rose slightly: increased by a small amount
The share choosing suitable degree courses rose slightly to 37%.
increased considerably: grew by a noticeable amount
The proportion choosing a university close to home increased considerably, from 10% to 22%.
fell substantially: decreased by a large amount
Good sports and social activities fell substantially, from 19% to 6%.

Task Prompt

The charts below show the main reasons why students chose a particular university in the UK, in 1997 and 2007.

User Essay Analysis

Review the public answer with report-style highlights.

Band 8.0

The two pie charts give information about the major reasons why students chose a particular university in the United Kingdom in 1987 and 2007. Overall, while the suitability of degree courses remained the most significant reason in both years, remarkable changes occurred in other areas. Taking a closer look at the charts, it is obvious that they compare five reasons: quality of resources, suitable degree courses, proximity to parental home, quality of teaching, and sports/social activities. In 1987, suitable degree courses accounted for the largest share, at 35%, followed by quality of resources at 21% and sports and social activities at 19%. Quality of teaching represented 15%, while being close to home was the least common choice, at 10%.

By 2007, degree-course suitability had edged up to 37%, remaining the leading factor. The proportion choosing proximity to home more than doubled to 22%, making it the second most frequently cited reason. Teaching quality also rose slightly, from 15% to 18%. In contrast, the share for resources fell from 21% to 17%, while sports and social activities saw the sharpest decline, dropping from 19% to just 6%. Overall, the distribution shifted toward practical considerations, particularly course suitability and living near family, whereas recreational facilities became much less influential.

Targeted Improvement Tips

Check the year printed on the visual against the year in the task sentence; here the image says 1987 while the written prompt says 1997.

Make the overview name the two clearest movements: proximity to home rose from 10% to 22%, while sports and social activities fell from 19% to 6%.

Group the details by trend and use exact figures in each comparison, as in “teaching quality also rose slightly, from 15% to 18%.”

AI Feedback

Overall Band

8.0

Excellent

Words

208

Type

Pie Chart

Criteria Breakdown

Task Achievement

7.5 Band

The overview identifies the leading factor and notes that other reasons changed, while the completed response reports all five categories and their figures for both years. The comparisons “more than doubled to 22%” and “dropping from 19% to just 6%” highlight meaningful changes. One detail to verify is the year: the chart image labels it 1987, but the task sentence says 1997; your wording follows the chart image.

Coherence & Cohesion

8.0 Band

The answer moves from an overview to the 1987 breakdown and then to the 2007 comparison, making the time-based structure easy to follow. Phrases such as “By 2007” and “In contrast” clearly signal changes. The final sentence synthesises the overall shift. For an optional refinement, make the overview more specific by naming the rise in proximity to home and the fall in sports and social activities.

Lexical Resource

7.5 Band

There is a useful range of chart language, including “accounted for the largest share,” “represented,” and “sharpest decline.” The wording distinguishes the categories and trends without excessive repetition. “Remarkable changes” is somewhat broad, however, and “it is obvious” adds little analytical precision. Replace these with concise statements about the largest increase and decrease, while keeping the accurate category names.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy

8.0 Band

The response uses accurate complex structures, including “while the suitability of degree courses remained…” and the contrast beginning “while being close to home…”. Comparatives and percentage constructions are also controlled in “more than doubled to 22%.” No significant grammatical errors impede meaning. As a final check, keep category labels grammatically parallel—for example, use noun phrases consistently when listing the five reasons.

Topic Band Distribution

Band 9.03 examples

Band 8.03 examples

Band 7.03 examples

Band 6.03 examples

Band 5.03 examples

Band 4.03 examples

Practice this prompt

Use the same topic in Hack Admission AI and compare your answer with this example.

Check your answer on this topic Browse all examples