User-written IELTS example
Writing Academic Task 1 Band 6.0 Example
Original task prompt, user essay, band score, and related examples in the same report workspace.
Illustrative target band for this original model answer.
Plan your answer
Try your own response before reading the samples.
Ideas to explore
- Identify the overall direction of each line separately: margarine and butter fall over the full period, while the low-fat variety rises after it appears and then declines.
- Highlight key turning points: butter peaks in 1986, margarine reaches a plateau around 100 grams in 1991–1996, and the low-fat line surges by 2001.
- Mention crossovers where they change the ranking: Low Fat & Reduced Spreads is highest in 2001, while butter and margarine are no longer the leading series.
Suggested structure
- Introduce the graph, naming all three spreads, the years and the unit.
- Give an overview that accurately summarises the different overall patterns and the late-period ranking.
- Describe butter and margarine together, using their start values, peaks or plateaus and final values.
- Describe the later-starting low-fat series and compare its 2001 peak with the other spreads.
Useful vocabulary & examples
- reached a peak of
- rose to its highest recorded value
Butter reached a peak of approximately 160 grams in 1986.
- remained stable at
- stayed at approximately the same level
Margarine consumption remained stable at around 100 grams from 1991 to 1996.
- overtook both alternatives
- became higher than the other two series
Low Fat & Reduced Spreads overtook both alternatives in 2001.
- eased to
- fell slightly or gradually to a lower value
The low-fat spread eased to about 70 grams by 2007.
Task Prompt
User Essay Analysis
Review the public answer with report-style highlights.
The graph illustrates the rate of consumption of three spreads, which are margarine, low-fat and reduced spreads, and butter, from 1981 to 2007. It is clearly mentioned that margarine and butter are used earlier than low-fat and reduced spreads. The staple spread from the early 1980s till the early 1990s was butter. The consumption of butter fell considerably after its peak, while margarine followed a less consistent pattern. Low-fat and reduced spreads only appear from 1996 onwards.
In 1981, butter stood at about 140 grams, compared with 90 grams for margarine. Butter rose to a high of roughly 160 grams in 1986, then dropped to 100 grams by 1991. It continued to decline, reaching around 70 grams in 1996 and 50 grams in 2007.
Margarine, by contrast, decreased slightly from 90 to 80 grams between 1981 and 1986. It then climbed to 100 grams in 1991, where it remained in 1996. After that, its figure fell to about 80 grams in 2001 and 40 grams at the end of the period. Low-fat and reduced spreads began at only around 10 grams in 1996, but rose sharply to approximately 85 grams in 2001. This figure then slipped to 70 grams by 2007, when it was the most consumed spread of the three.
Targeted Improvement Tips
Related examples for this topic
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