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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.

180 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

  • Renewables rose from 15.0% in 2014 to 26.2% in 2018, the most notable increase.
  • Coal fell from 28.4% to 18.1%, while nuclear declined slightly from 22.5% to 21.6%.
  • Gas remained the largest category at 30.1% in both years; Oil and Other stayed at 4.0%.

Suggested structure

  1. Introduce the two pie charts, the UK, the years and the percentage measure.
  2. Give an overview highlighting the main increase, the main decrease and stable categories.
  3. Compare the 2014 shares, grouping the larger sources before the smaller ones.
  4. Describe the 2018 figures and directly compare them with 2014.
Useful vocabulary & examples
accounted for
made up a particular proportion of the total

Gas accounted for 30.1% of energy generation in both years.

remained unchanged
stayed at the same level

The share for Oil and Other remained unchanged at 4.0%.

recorded the largest increase
showed the biggest rise in the figures

Renewables recorded the largest increase between 2014 and 2018.

fell by 10.3 percentage points
decreased by the difference between two percentage values

Coal fell by 10.3 percentage points, from 28.4% to 18.1%.

Task Prompt

The pie chart below shows the energy generation by fuel type in the UK over two years. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant
IELTS Writing Task 1 visual

User Essay Analysis

Review the public answer with report-style highlights.

Band 8.0

The pie chart illustrates the proportions of energy generation using different fuel sources in the UK over two separate years, 2014 and 2018. Overall, while nuclear energy and coal recorded a decline in the production of energy over the 2014-2018 period, renewable energy followed an upward trajectory; however, oil & other and gas stood out for remaining unchanged in share. In 2014, gas was the largest source, at 30.1%, followed by coal at 28.4%. Nuclear energy accounted for 22.5%, while renewables made up 15.0%; oil and other sources were the smallest category, at 4.0%. By 2018, renewables had risen to 26.2%, an increase of 11.2 percentage points, and became the second-largest source, overtaking both coal and nuclear. Coal experienced the sharpest fall, dropping 10.3 percentage points to 18.1%. Nuclear's share edged down by 0.9 points to 21.6%, whereas gas remained at 30.1%. Oil and other fuels also stayed constant at 4.0%. Thus, the mix shifted away from coal towards renewables, while gas continued to be the leading source.

Targeted Improvement Tips

1
Make the overview cover all major patterns: renewables rose, coal and nuclear fell, and gas and oil and other stayed level.
2
Use the chart’s category name consistently, writing “oil and other” rather than switching to “oil & other” or “oil and other fuels.”
3
When comparing years, state the percentage-point change as well as the final share, as in coal falling by 10.3 percentage points to 18.1%.

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