IELTS 7 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 1 Task 1 Question

The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Test 1 Task 1 Model Essay by an Expert

The table compares the percentage of national spending on particular goods across five European countries in 2002. All five countries show the same pattern, regarding which categories comprised the largest and smallest percentages of consumer spending. In all countries on the table, the highest percentage was spent on consumable products (food, drink and tobacco), followed by clothing and footwear. Leisure and education received the lowest proportion of consumer expenditure across all of the countries.

The citizens of Turkey spent the highest percentage on consumable products: at 32.14% of national expenditure, this is more than double the percentage expenditure than in Sweden, in which national expenditure was only 15.77% on this category. All countries except Spain spent a relatively similar percentage on clothing and footwear: around 5-6%. National expenditure on this category in Spain, however, was a staggering 9% of total expenditure. Percentage expenditure on leisure and education ranged from 1.98% to 4.35%, with Turkey spending the most in this category, and Spain spending the least.

(165 words)

IELTS 6 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 4 Task 1 Question

The charts below give information about USA marriage and divorce rates between 1970 and 2000, and the marital status of adult Americans in two of the years.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Test 4 Task 1 Model Essay by an Expert

The first graph displays the number of marriages and divorces in America between 1970 and 2000. The second compares the marital statuses of Americans in 1970 and in 2000. Between 1970 and 2000, rates of marriage remained consistently significantly higher than divorce rates. This concurs with the second graph, which shows that being married was by far the most common marital status amongst adult Americans in both 1970 and 2000, at 70% and 60% respectively. Whilst marriage rates remained at 2.5 million between 1970 and 1980, there was then a steady decline in the number of marriages, with 2 million in the year 2000. This is consistent with the second graph, which shows that a lower percentage of American adults were married in 2000 than in 1970.

Divorce rates reached a peak of 1.4 million in 1980, before declining back to the 1970 rate of 1 million in 2000. In 1970, being divorced was the least common marital status. In 2000, however, being widowed was slightly less common than being divorced, with a percentage difference of roughly 3%.

(178 words)

IELTS 6 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 2 Task 1 Question

The table below gives information about changes in modes of travel in England between 1985 and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons when relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Test 2 Task 1 Model Essay by an Expert

The table compares how many miles an average English person travelled by different modes of transport in the years 1985 and 2000. In total, the average person travelled around 1,700 more miles in 2000 than in 1985. The mode of transport with the greatest difference between the two years is the car, which covered 1,607 more miles per year in 2000 than in 1985. In both years, however, the car was the mode of transport by which the average person travelled the furthest. In 1985, taxi was the mode of transport by which the average person travelled the smallest distance; in 2000, it was the bicycle, by a very small margin compared to the also unpopular taxi.

In the year 2000, people travelled less far by foot, by bike and significantly less by local bus than in 1985. Since these are modes of transport usually used to cover small distances, this is consistent with the overall trend of people travelling a further total distance on average in the year 2000. Concurrently, distances travelled by long distance bus and train increased significantly from the year 1985 to 2000.

(187 words)

IELTS  6 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 1 Task 2 Question

Test 1 Task 2 Model Essay by an Expert Two

In today’s consumerist society, sales of popular goods are through the roof. Arguably, powerful advertising has influenced this trend of buying unnecessary items. However, the idea of what is a ‘real need’ is very dependent on context.

Advertising is big business, and is now designed to be highly influential on consumers. Advertising agencies employ psychologists to come up with increasingly creative and powerful ways to persuade the public that certain products will make them happier, healthier, even better looking. One technique that advertisers use is to suggest that certain products or brands would make you belong to an exclusive group. This is a powerful psychological drive, and can make consumers buy particular products or brands that they may not truly need.

Indeed, many popular consumer goods are arguably completely unnecessary, suggesting that it is advertising that prompts people to buy them. For example, most people update their smart-phones every couple of years. Is this really necessary? More likely, it is a result of powerful advertising suggesting that it is uncool and old-fashioned to have anything other than the latest model of their branded product.

On the other hand, though, what can be defined as the ‘real needs’ of a society is very dependent on the context. Do we really need virtual maps in our pockets, to direct us whenever we are lost? Do we even need ovens and hobs, when an open fire would cook our food? Technically no, but both products are extremely useful. Thus, it is easy to push the idea of a society’s ‘real needs’ too far. The ‘needs’ of a society change and develop along with the technology it uses.

Advertising is undoubtedly a powerful force in modern society. However, it is worth remembering that often, high sales of consumer goods, whilst prompted by advertising, may be a reflection of high-quality, convenient products that people do actually need in the modern world.

(316 words)