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User-written IELTS example

Writing Academic Task 1 Band 9.0 Example

Original task prompt, user essay, band score, and related examples in the same report workspace.

190 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 9.0

The pie charts compare the proportions of energy generated from five different sources in the UK in 2014 and 2018. Overall, coal and nuclear experienced downward trends, albeit to varying degrees, over the four-year period. In contrast, energy production from renewable sources increased significantly, while gas and oil/other sources remained stable. Notably, gas continued to be the largest single source, accounting for 30.1% in both years.

In 2014, coal was the second-largest source, at 28.4%, followed by nuclear energy at 22.5%. Renewables contributed 15.0% of generation, while oil and other sources accounted for the remaining 4.0%.

By 2018, renewables had risen to 26.2%, an increase of 11.2 percentage points, making them the second-largest source. In contrast, coal’s share fell by 10.3 percentage points to 18.1%. Nuclear energy also declined slightly, from 22.5% to 21.6%. Gas remained unchanged at 30.1%, while oil and other sources accounted for 4.0% in both years. Overall, the most marked changes were the substantial rise in renewables and the fall in coal, while the other categories changed little or not at all.

Targeted Improvement Tips

1
Include the key figures in the overview when they make the main pattern especially clear, such as gas staying at 30.1% in both years.
2
Compare each category across the two years and calculate changes in percentage points: renewables rose by 11.2 points, while coal fell by 10.3.
3
Use the detail paragraphs to distinguish the largest shifts from the small or zero changes, rather than giving every figure equal emphasis.

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