Back to Writing Hub

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.

185 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

  • Compare the largest category in each direction: aircraft parts are $72 million from the US to Vietnam, while coffee is $23 million from Vietnam to the US.
  • Highlight the gap between the leading and smaller categories: US exports include other goods at $35 million and machinery at $30.5 million, while Vietnam’s garments and other exports are both $2 million.
  • Point out close values where they help summarise the data: Vietnam’s seafood ($4.4 million) and rice ($4.3 million) are almost equal.

Suggested structure

  1. Paraphrase what the charts compare and state that values are in millions of dollars.
  2. Give an overview naming the leading category in each direction and any notable tie or overall contrast.
  3. Describe US-to-Vietnam exports from the largest value to the smallest.
  4. Describe Vietnam-to-US exports in descending order, grouping the close seafood and rice figures and the tied lowest figures.
Useful vocabulary & examples
account for
to make up or represent a stated amount or share

Aircraft parts account for $72 million of exports to Vietnam.

be valued at
to have a stated monetary value

Machinery is valued at $30.5 million.

be tied at
to have the same value as another category

Garments and other exports are tied at $2 million.

followed by
used to introduce the next item in a ranking

Coffee leads at $23 million, followed by fruit and vegetables at $16 million.

Task Prompt

The pie charts below shows exports between the US and Vietnam
IELTS Writing Task 1 visual

User Essay Analysis

Review the public answer with report-style highlights.

Band 7.0

The pie charts compare the export figures of the US and Vietnam. Units are in million US dollars. Overall, while the most exported item from Vietnam to the US is coffee, the US primarily exports aircraft parts to Vietnam. Notably, the volume of US exports to Vietnam far exceeds that of Vietnam exports to the US, at 172 million dollars compared with Vietnam's 51.7 million. The charts show that aircraft parts alone account for 72 million dollars, the largest figure overall, while coffee is Vietnam's leading export, at 23 million.

For Vietnam's exports, fruit and vegetables are second, at 16 million. The remaining categories are much smaller: seafood and rice bring in 4.4 and 4.3 million dollars, respectively, while garments and other products each account for 2 million.

On the US side, after aircraft parts, other goods total 35 million and machinery 30.5 million. Fertiliser contributes 16.5 million, followed by cotton at 12 million; cars are the smallest category, at 6 million. Overall, the US total is more than three times Vietnam's, and the two countries' leading categories differ substantially.

Targeted Improvement Tips

1
Revise the overview so it states both the leading category for each country and the large difference between their total export values.
2
Check possessives and number agreement, especially in phrases such as “Vietnam's exports” and “millions of US dollars.”
3
Group the figures by country and compare the smaller categories within each group, keeping the chart's category labels consistent.

Related examples for this topic

Compare different bands on the same IELTS prompt.

Browse all