CD IELTS Prep
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Task 1 Academic · Bar chart · Environment

Electricity sources in three countries

A bar chart in which three countries lean on three different sources, showing how the band 9 answer finds the pattern the 6.5 answer reads straight off the page.

The question

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

The chart below shows the percentage of electricity generated from four different sources in three countries in one year.

Share of electricity generation by source, three countries, one year
SourceNorlandKestriaTalvia
Coal84630
Natural gas122715
Nuclear15545
Renewables652210

A 150-word factual summary of a graph, chart, table, process or map. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.

What separates the three answers

The 6.5 answer describes each country in turn, the 7.5 notices that each has a different dominant source, and the 9 notices that Norland and Kestria are near-exact mirror images of one another.

The three answers

Band 6.5

157 words (the task asks for at least 150)

The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.

The answer

The bar chart gives information about the electricity which was produced from the four different sources in three countries in one year.

In Norland, the renewables was the biggest source with 65 per cent4, and the coal was the smallest with only 8 per cent. The natural gas was 12 per cent and the nuclear was 15 per cent in this country.

On the other hand, in Kestria the coal was the highest with 46 per cent.3 The natural gas was 27 per cent, the renewables was 22 per cent and the nuclear was only 5 per cent.1 In Talvia the nuclear was 45 per cent, the coal was 30 per cent, the natural gas was 15 per cent and the renewables was 10 per cent, which is the lowest number for the renewables in all three countries.

Overall, Norland used more renewables, Kestria used more coal and Talvia used more nuclear2 than the other two countries.

What an examiner notices

  1. 1. Task achievement

    “The natural gas was 27 per cent, the renewables was 22 per cent and the nuclear was only 5 per cent.”

    Three figures transcribed in sequence. Selecting would mean noting that coal and gas together give Kestria 73 per cent from fossil fuels — one number that replaces two.

  2. 2. Task achievement

    “Overall, Norland used more renewables, Kestria used more coal and Talvia used more nuclear”

    A true overview, but a shallow one: it names the highest bar in each country without saying anything about how the three profiles relate.

  3. 3. Coherence and cohesion

    “On the other hand, in Kestria the coal was the highest with 46 per cent.”

    'On the other hand' signals contrast and then simply changes country. The link is decorative rather than logical.

  4. 4. Grammatical range and accuracy

    “the renewables was the biggest source with 65 per cent”

    Unnecessary article plus a plural subject with a singular verb — and the same pairing recurs six more times, which is what makes it a band feature rather than a slip.

One honest caveat

Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.

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