IELTS Writing Task 1: table Several people have asked me for help with the following task from Cambridge IELTS book 10. The tables below give information about sales of Fairtrade*-labelled coffee and bananas in 1999 and 2004 in five European countries. The tables show the amount of money spent on Fairtrade coffee and bananas in two separate years in the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium and Sweden. It is clear that sales of Fairtrade coffee rose in all five European countries from 1999 to 2004, but sales of Fairtrade bananas only went up in three out of the five countries. Overall, the UK saw by far the highest levels of spending on the two products. In 1999, Switzerland had the highest sales of Fairtrade coffee, at €3 million, while revenue from Fairtrade bananas was highest in the UK, at €15 million. By 2004, however, sales of Fairtrade coffee in the UK had risen to €20 million, and this was over three times higher than Switzerland’s sales figure for Fairtrade coffee in that year. The year 2004 also saw dramatic increases in the money spent on Fairtrade bananas in the UK and Switzerland, with revenues rising by €32 million and €4.5 million respectively. Sales of the two Fairtrade products were far lower in Denmark, Belgium and Sweden. Small increases in sales of Fairtrade coffee can be seen, but revenue remained at €2 million or below in all three countries in both years. Finally, it is noticeable that the money spent on Fairtrade bananas actually fell in Belgium and Sweden. Note: This report is a bit longer (216 words) than necessary, but I think it's a useful model answer in terms of its structure and the language used. IELTS Writing Task 1: 'school buildings' answer Here's my full answer for the task below. The diagrams below show the site of a school in 2004 and the plan for changes to the school site in 2024. (Source: Official IELTS Practice Materials 2) The two pictures compare the layout of a school as it was in the year 2004 with a proposed site design for the year 2024. It is clear that the main change for 2024 involves the addition of a new school building. The school will then be able to accommodate a considerably larger number of students. In 2004, there were 600 pupils attending the school, and the two school buildings were separated by a path running from the main entrance to the sports field. By 2024, it is expected that there will be 1000 pupils, and a third building will have been constructed. Furthermore, the plan is to join the two original buildings together, creating a shorter path that links the buildings only. As the third building and a second car park will be built on the site of the original sports field, a new, smaller sports field will need to be laid. A new road will also be built from the main entrance to the second car park. Finally, no changes will be made to the main entrance and original car park. (183 words, band 9) IELTS Writing Task 1: 'age distribution' answer Here's my full report for the question below. I found this one difficult, so don't worry if you did too! The charts below compare the age structure of the populations of France and India in 1984. mm mm The two charts compare the populations of France and India in terms of age distribution by gender in the year 1984. It is clear that the population of India was younger than that of France in 1984, with a noticeably larger proportion of people aged under 20. France, on the other hand, had a significantly larger percentage of elderly inhabitants. In India, close to 14% of people were aged 5 or under, and each five-year age bracket above this contained an increasingly smaller proportion of the population. France’s population, by contrast, was more evenly distributed across the age ranges, with similar figures (around 7% to 8% of all people) for each five-year cohort between the ages of 0 and 40. Somewhere between 10% and 15% of all French people were aged 70 or older, but the equivalent figure for India was only 2%. Looking more closely at gender, there was a noticeably higher proportion of French women than men in every cohort from age 50 upwards. For example, almost 3% of French 70- to 75-year- olds were women, while just under 2% were men. No significant gender differences can be seen on the Indian population chart. (199 words, band 9) Note: Can you see how I grouped the information in paragraphs 3 and 4? IELTS Writing Task 1: pie chart answer A few people asked me to put the 'waste' pie chart paragraphs together in one place. So here's the full report that my students and I wrote. You can see the pie charts by clicking here. The pie charts below show how dangerous waste products are dealt with in three countries. The charts compare Korea, Sweden and the UK in terms of the methods used in each country to dispose of harmful waste. It is clear that in both the UK and Sweden, the majority of dangerous waste products are buried underground. By contrast, most hazardous materials in the Republic of Korea are recycled. Looking at the information in more detail, we can see that 82% of the UK’s dangerous waste is put into landfill sites. This disposal technique is used for 55% of the harmful waste in Sweden and only 22% of similar waste in Korea. The latter country recycles 69% of hazardous materials, which is far more than the other two nations. While 25% of Sweden's dangerous waste is recycled, the UK does not recycle at all. Instead, it dumps waste at sea or treats it chemically. These two methods are not employed in Korea or Sweden, which favour incineration for 9% and 20% of dangerous waste respectively. (159 words, band 9) The map shows the growth of a village called Chorleywood between 1868 and 1994. It is clear that the village grew as the transport infrastructure was improved. Four periods of development are shown on the map, and each of the populated areas is near to the main roads, the railway or the motorway. From 1868 to 1883, Chorleywood covered a small area next to one of the main roads. Chorleywood Park and Golf Course is now located next to this original village area. The village grew along the main road to the south between 1883 and 1922, and in 1909 a railway line was built crossing this area from west to east. Chorleywood station is in this part of the village. The expansion of Chorleywood continued to the east and west alongside the railway line until 1970. At that time, a motorway was built to the east of the village, and from 1970 to 1994, further development of the village took place around motorway intersections with the railway and one of the main roads. IELTS Writing Task 1: two different charts I'm in the process of making a video lesson about the question below. It should be ready today or tomorrow. The bar chart below shows the numbers of men and women attending various evening courses at an adult education centre in the year 2009. The pie chart gives information about the ages of these course participants. Task: Last week I recommended that you aim to write 9 sentences for your task 1 report. Think about the 9-sentence structure for the question above. IELTS Writing Task 1: the 'selecting' skill One of the key skills when describing a graph, chart or table is selecting. In the table below, for example, which 2 main points would you select for your summary? And how many of the 20 numbers would you manage to include in your 'details' paragraphs? Note: I'm making a video lesson about the table above. It will be ready tomorrow. IELTS Writing Task 1: pie chart video I've just published my latest video lesson at the bottom of this page. In the lesson, I explain my approach to describing pie charts, and I work through this question: The charts below show household spending patterns in two countries between 1980 and 2008. For this question, a key decision to make is how to divide the information into two 'details' paragraphs. You have three choices: 1. Write one paragraph about each year 2. Write one paragraph about each country 3. Group the information according to category (e.g. food and drink with utility bills in paragraph 3, and the other categories in paragraph 4) Which way would you do it? The chart below shows global sales of the top five mobile phone brands between 2009 and 2013. ... ... A few things to consider if you try writing a report for this question: 1. What alternative words could you use instead of global sales, mobile phones, and brands? 2. What do you think is the most noticeable feature on the chart? 3. How would you group the information into two 'details' paragraphs? You can see how I deal with these issues in the video lesson, or you could share your own ideas in the 'comments' area below. IELTS Writing Task 1: 'flood diagram' answer The diagrams below show how houses can be protected in areas which are prone to flooding. ... ... Here's my full band 9 report: The diagrams compare two different methods of defence for homes which are at risk of being flooded. The key difference between the diagrams is that they show flood protection with and without a stopbank. In either case, the at-risk home is raised on stilts above ground level. The first diagram shows how a stopbank acts as a flood barrier to stop river water from flooding homes. The stopbank is a small mound of land next to the river that is higher than the 100-year flood level, and prevents the river from bursting its banks. Nearby houses can be built on stilts to prevent flooding from rainwater, and a floodgate beneath the stopbank can be opened to allow this ‘ponding’ to drain off into the river. When there is no stopbank, as shown in the second diagram, there will be nothing to stop the river from flooding. In this case, the solution is to put buildings on stilts. The height of the stilts is measured so that the floor of the house is 300mm above the 100-year flood level. This measurement is called the ‘freeboard’. IELTS Writing Task 1: 'waste table' essay The table below shows the amount of waste production (in millions of tonnes) in six different countries over a twenty-year period. The chart compares the amounts of waste that were produced in six countries in the years 1980, 1990 and 2000. In each of these years, the US produced more waste than Ireland, Japan, Korea, Poland and Portugal combined. It is also noticeable that Korea was the only country that managed to reduce its waste output by the year 2000. Between 1980 and 2000, waste production in the US rose from 131 to 192 million tonnes, and rising trends were also seen in Japan, Poland and Portugal. Japan’s waste output increased from 28 to 53 million tonnes, while Poland and Portugal saw waste totals increase from 4 to 6.6 and from 2 to 5 million tonnes respectively. The trends for Ireland and Korea were noticeably different from those described above. In Ireland, waste production increased more than eightfold, from only 0.6 million tonnes in 1980 to 5 million tonnes in 2000. Korea, by contrast, cut its waste output by 12 million tonnes between 1990 and 2000.