Writing Academic Task 1 Band 9.0 Example

The line graph illustrates the amount of oil produced and consumed daily in China from 1982 to 2006, measured in millions of barrels day. Overall, it can be seen that both oil production and consumption increased during the period. However, oil consumption rose more sharply and eventually exceeded oil production after the early 1990s. China experienced a gradual but uneven change in these two measures. At the beginning, production stood at about 2 million barrels per day, slightly above consumption, at just under 2 million. Production then climbed to around 3 million and remained close to this level for several observations, before edging up to approximately 3.5 million by the end.

Consumption, by contrast, changed little during the early part of the period, rising only slightly to about 2 million barrels per day. It then increased considerably: by the middle of the period, it had caught up with and overtaken production, at a little over 3 million. Thereafter, the upward trend continued, with consumption reaching roughly 4 million and then 5 million before finishing at just above 6 million barrels per day. Thus, the gap between the two measures widened substantially in the later years, even though production also rose modestly.