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
- Highlight the main crossover: Japan leads in the earlier years, while China overtakes it between 2005 and 2010.
- Contrast China’s steep late increase with Japan’s gradual decline.
- Note that the smaller series do not follow one pattern: the US fluctuates, whereas India rises to a peak and then falls.
Suggested structure
- Paraphrase what the graph measures and give the years covered.
- Summarise the overall ranking change and the main trends without listing every figure.
- Compare Japan and the US, using starting points, changes and final values.
- Describe China and India together, emphasising China’s sharp late rise and India’s smaller peak and decline.
Useful vocabulary & examples
- accounted for
- formed a particular percentage or share of the total
Japan accounted for about 26% of Australian exports in 1990.
- rose sharply
- increased quickly and substantially
China’s share rose sharply after 2005.
- fluctuated
- went up and down rather than changing steadily in one direction
The percentage for the US fluctuated over the period.
- peaked at
- reached its highest point at a particular value
India’s share peaked at about 7% in 2010.
Task Prompt
User Essay Analysis
Review the public answer with report-style highlights.
The given graph illustrates the rate of Australian trade with the US, Japan, China and India. Overall, China had a striking upward trend in the period and experienced the highest variation in the percentage. Whereas, some slight changes occurred for the other countries in the years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2012. In 1990, Japan was the largest destination, at about 26%, while the US accounted for roughly 11%. China and India were much lower, at around 2% and 1% respectively. Japan’s share then fell to 20% in 1995 and 18% in 2000, remaining at approximately 18% in 2005 before declining to 17% in 2010, where it stayed in 2012. The US figure moved unevenly: it dropped from 11% to 8% in 1995, rose to 11% in 2000, and then fell to 8% in 2005 and 5% in 2010, before recovering to 7% at the end. By contrast, China climbed gradually from 2% in 1990 to 5% in 2000, then increased to 11% by 2005. Its growth accelerated afterwards, reaching 25% in 2010 and about 28% in 2012. India rose from around 1% to 7% in 2010, then dipped to 5% in 2012.
Targeted Improvement Tips
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