Academic Task 1
IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Household spending (bar chart)
Question type: Academic Task 1: bar chart
The question
The bar chart below shows the percentage of household income spent on five categories in two countries in 2022.
- Country A
- Country B
View the data as a table
| Country A | Country B | |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | 34 | 18 |
| Food | 14 | 36 |
| Transport | 13 | 9 |
| Leisure | 12 | 4 |
| Clothing | 5 | 6 |
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
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Answer this questionSee a sample report to find out what you get. Marking is paid: from $0.40 a check on the monthly plan, or 5 checks for $15.
How to approach it
- Find the biggest bar for each country first: housing in Country A and food in Country B.
- Overview: the two countries had different main expenses, and clothing was small in both.
- Pair housing with food, where the countries are opposite, then group the three smaller categories.
Model answer
183 words (minimum 150). Written to show the features of a Band 8-level answer.
The bar chart compares the share of household income that families in two countries spent on five types of goods and services in 2022.
Overall, the two countries had very different priorities. Housing was the largest expense in Country A, while food took the biggest share in Country B. In both countries, clothing was among the smallest of the five categories.
Households in Country A spent 34% of their income on housing, almost twice the figure for Country B, which was 18%. The situation was the opposite for food. This accounted for 36% of income in Country B, the highest figure on the chart, but only 14% in Country A.
Country A spent more on the next two categories. Transport made up 13% of household income there, compared with 9% in Country B, and the difference was even greater for leisure, at 12% and 4% respectively. In other words, families in Country A spent three times as much of their income on leisure. Clothing was the only category where the figures were similar, at 5% in Country A and 6% in Country B.
Useful language from this answer
- took the biggest share
- the largest percentage of a total
- almost twice the figure for
- comparing two percentages
- the situation was the opposite for
- introducing a reversed pattern
- made up
- an alternative to 'accounted for'
- three times as much
- a comparison in words instead of numbers
Common mistakes with this question
- Missing the overview. A report without a clear summary of the main features cannot score above Band 5 for Task Achievement.
- Saying families in Country B spent more money on food. The chart shows shares of income, not amounts of money.
- Guessing that one country is richer than the other. That is an explanation, and Task 1 asks only for a description.
Now write your own answer
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This model answer was written by TestWise Prep to show the features of a high-scoring answer. It is not official IELTS material. Use it for ideas and language, not to memorise.