User-written IELTS example
Writing Academic Task 1 Band 5.0 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 line graph illustrates the daily consumption of three different spreads per person between 1981 and 2007 in a country. Overall, butter showed dramatic fall throughout the period, reaching around 50 grams in 2007. Margarine fluctuated between around 90gm and 40gram, while low fat and reduced spreads accounted highest usage, reaching around 70 gram in 2007. In 1981, butter was the most popular spread, at about 140 grams per person daily, compared with 90 grams for margarine. Butter then rose to a peak of approximately 160 grams in 1986, before falling sharply to 100 grams in 1991 and continuing down to about 50 grams by the end. Margarine dipped from 90 to 80 grams during the first five years, then climbed to 100 grams in 1991 and stayed at this level until 1996. After that, its consumption declined to 80 grams in 2001 and 40 grams in 2007. Low-fat and reduced spreads appeared later, at only about 10 grams in 1996. Their figure then increased rapidly to roughly 85 grams in 2001, before dropping to 70 grams in 2007. By the end, this category remained higher than butter and margarine.
Targeted Improvement Tips
Related examples for this topic
Compare different bands on the same IELTS prompt.
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