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Task 1: Pie Charts

The question

The charts below show how an average household in one country divided its spending in 1995 and 2025. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

199528%32%14%10%16%202541%22%17%13%7%HousingFoodTransportLeisureOther
Household spending by category (%), 1995 and 2025

Proportions, not amounts

The most common pie chart error is a claim the chart cannot support.

A pie chart shows how a whole is divided. It says nothing about the size of that whole. If spending on food fell from 32% to 22%, you may say the share of spending on food fell - you may not say households spent less on food. Total spending may have doubled, in which case they spent considerably more.

This distinction is worth marks under Task Achievement, and getting it wrong is a real error rather than a stylistic slip. Safe wording: accounted for, made up, represented, the share of, the proportion spent on.

One useful check: every pie totals 100%. If your figures do not add up, you have misread a segment.

Compare the pies, do not describe them one at a time

The single most common structural mistake is a paragraph about 1995 followed by a paragraph about 2025. That is two descriptions, not a comparison, and it forces the reader to do the work of connecting them.

Group by category instead: the categories that grew in one paragraph, the categories that shrank in the other. Each sentence then naturally carries both dates - Housing rose from 28% to 41% - which is comparison built into the grammar.

Language for proportions

  • Verbs: accounted for, made up, represented, comprised, constituted
  • The largest slice: the largest share, the greatest proportion, the single biggest category, dominated
  • The smallest: the smallest share, the least significant category, accounted for the smallest proportion
  • Fractions: just under a third (32%), roughly a fifth (22%), two fifths (41%), close to a sixth (16%)
  • Change in share: its share rose from, grew as a proportion of, fell as a share of, gained ground on, lost ground to
  • Rank change: overtook, displaced, replaced X as the largest category, fell from first to second place

The same question at band 6, 7 and 8

These are our own model answers, written to illustrate each band. They are not real candidate scripts, and the bands are our assessment rather than an official score.

Band 6One pie at a time, and it treats shares as amounts

The pie charts show how much money a household spent on different things in 1995 and 2025.

In 1995, food was the biggest category at 32%. Housing was 28%. Other was 16%, transport was 14% and leisure was 10%.

In 2025, housing was the biggest category at 41%. Food was 22%, transport was 17%, leisure was 13% and other was 7%.

So households spent more money on housing in 2025 and they spent less money on food.

Task AchievementFigures are accurate, but there is no overview, and the final sentence makes a claim the charts cannot support - these are shares, not amounts.
Coherence and CohesionOne paragraph per pie. The reader has to do the comparing, because the answer never puts the two dates in the same sentence.
Lexical ResourceWas is used seven times. No proportion language at all - no accounted for, no share, no fractions.
GrammarCorrect but very simple, with almost no subordination.

What would lift this: Restructure around categories rather than years, so each sentence carries both dates. Replace was with proportion verbs. And change spent more money to its share of spending rose - the current wording is an accuracy error, not just plain style.

Band 7Grouped by category, with correct proportion language

The two pie charts compare the way an average household divided its spending across five categories in 1995 and 2025.

Overall, housing replaced food as the largest single item of expenditure over the thirty-year period. The categories moved in opposite directions, with housing, transport and leisure all taking a larger share by 2025 while food and other spending fell back.

Housing showed the biggest change, rising from 28% to 41% of the total and becoming comfortably the largest category. Transport and leisure grew more modestly, from 14% to 17% and from 10% to 13% respectively.

Food moved in the opposite direction, falling from just under a third of all spending to roughly a fifth. The other category fell furthest in relative terms, dropping from 16% to just 7%.

Task AchievementA clear overview naming the replacement at the top, and the grouping by direction is exactly what these charts invite. Shares are described as shares throughout.
Coherence and CohesionTwo body paragraphs split by direction of change, linked by moved in the opposite direction.
Lexical ResourceSolid range: expenditure, taking a larger share, fell back, in relative terms, plus fractions used correctly.
GrammarVaried sentence length with accurate use of respectively and a participle clause.

What would lift this: Quantify the two biggest movements against each other - housing gained thirteen percentage points while other lost nine. And other falling from 16% to 7% is more than a halving; naming that proportionally would sharpen the final sentence.

Band 8The overview names a concentration, not just a swap at the top

The two pie charts compare how an average household distributed its spending across five categories in 1995 and 2025.

Overall, spending became markedly more concentrated over the period. Housing displaced food as the dominant category and, by 2025, absorbed more than twice the share of any other item, while the residual other category shrank to less than half its former size. Every category apart from food and other took a larger share by the end.

The shift at the top was pronounced. Housing climbed thirteen percentage points, from 28% to 41%, whereas food - previously the largest item at just under a third - fell to roughly a fifth. Between them these two categories accounted for the whole of the reordering.

The remaining categories moved far less. Transport edged up from 14% to 17% and leisure from 10% to 13%, gains of three percentage points each. The other category fell furthest in proportional terms, more than halving from 16% to 7%.

Task AchievementThe overview identifies concentration - a structural claim about the whole distribution - rather than simply reporting which slice grew. Every figure below is chosen to evidence it.
Coherence and CohesionThe body splits by size of movement rather than direction, which is the sharper cut here, and the reader is told so explicitly.
Lexical ResourcePrecise and unpadded: concentrated, displaced, absorbed, residual, the reordering, in proportional terms.
GrammarSustained control - a whereas clause, a dash-embedded aside, and percentage points used accurately throughout.

What would lift this: Almost nothing. Watch that absorbed does not imply the household spent more in cash terms; the sentence is defensible because share is named, but it sits close to the line these charts cannot cross.

Pie chart mistakes specifically

  • Treating shares as amounts. A falling share does not mean falling spending. This is the error that separates a careful answer from a careless one.
  • One paragraph per pie. It reads as two descriptions rather than a comparison, and it wastes the natural sentence structure that carries both dates.
  • Describing all five slices twice. Ten figures is too many. Group them.
  • Missing the rank change. If the largest slice changes identity, that is your overview.
  • Figures that do not total 100%. Always worth a ten-second check.

Now you try

The charts below show the main reason students gave for choosing their university in 2010 and 2024. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words in 20 minutes.

201034%22%18%14%12%202428%17%33%15%7%Course reputationLocationCostFacilitiesFamily advice
Main reason for choosing a university (%), 2010 and 2024

Before you check your answer

  • Does your overview name the change at the top? Cost replaced course reputation as the leading reason.
  • Have you grouped by direction - cost and facilities up, everything else down - rather than taking one pie then the other?
  • Did you avoid saying university became more expensive? The chart shows why students chose, not what anything cost.
  • Family advice nearly halved, from 12% to 7%. Did you find the largest proportional fall?
  • Do your figures total 100% in each chart?

Where to go next

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