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User-written IELTS example

Writing Academic Task 1 Band 7.0 Example

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

191 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 7.0

The pie charts compare the energy production categorized by different fuel types in the UK between 2014 and 2018. In general, the percentage of renewable energy in generation increased considerably, while the figure for coal and nuclear power declined slightly over the period. Notably, the gas generation remained a stable proportion accounting for the largest share in both years. In 2014, gas was the largest source, at 30.1%, closely followed by coal at 28.4%, while nuclear contributed 22.5%. Renewables accounted for 15%, and oil and other sources made up the remaining 4%. By 2018, the mix had shifted notably. Gas still represented 30.1%, retaining its leading position, whereas renewables rose to 26.2%, becoming the second-largest source. Coal fell to 18.1%, a decline of 10.3 percentage points, and nuclear edged down to 21.6%. The proportion from oil and other sources was unchanged at 4%. This was an increase of 11.2 percentage points for renewables, while coal's share fell by 10.3 points. Consequently, the gap between gas and renewables narrowed from 15.1 percentage points in 2014 to just 3.9 in 2018.

Targeted Improvement Tips

1
Revise the overview so it distinguishes the 10.3-percentage-point fall in coal from the 0.9-point decrease in nuclear.
2
Group the key movements by comparison: renewable energy rose by 11.2 points, coal fell by 10.3, and gas and oil/other remained unchanged.
3
Replace “the gas generation remained a stable proportion” with a direct subject-and-verb construction, such as “gas remained stable at 30.1%.”

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