The chart shows the percentage of households with different electronic goods in a European country in 2004 and 2008.

Percentage of households with different electronic goods in a European country - IELTS Writing Task 1

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.

A student's answer to this task, and the feedback on it

Written by an IELTSX user under exam conditions and published unedited and anonymously. Band 8 · 207 words.

The bar chart gives information about the proportions of households with technological tools used in a European territory between 2004 and 2008. Overall, all the goods experienced rising trends, with the exception of telephones. Notably, the shares of mobile phones and home computers grew significantly, with the figure for the former almost tripling, while TVs dominated the chart in both years.

Starting at around 28% and 30%, the percentages of mobile phones and home computers rose substantially, with the share of the latter reaching about 70%, and that of the former peaking at approximately 83%. In contrast, telephones' share dropped by around three percentage points, going down to about 90%.

As for the electronic items which saw relatively noticeable increases, microwaves and CD players followed similar rising patterns. The former rose to around 73% from about 68%, while the latter climbed from around 73% to about 77%. Similarly, there was approximately a five percent increase in the share of dish washers, rising from around 26% to about 31%. Clothes dryers, meanwhile, experienced a comparatively smaller increase, growing from about 60% to around 63%. TVs had the biggest percentages in both years, with their share being around 95% in the first year and 100% in the final year.

Examiner feedback

This is a very strong response that accurately describes all trends and data points. The overview is clear, and the grouping of information is logical, leading to a high level of coherence. The grammatical range is impressive with very few minor errors.

Task Achievement - 8

- The response covers all requirements of the task and presents a very clear overview of the main trends. - Key features are skillfully selected and highlighted, with accurate data support for each electronic item. - The comparison between 2004 and 2008 is consistent and covers all items shown in the chart.

Coherence & Cohesion - 8

- Information and ideas are logically sequenced with a clear overall progression from the general overview to specific data groups. - Cohesive devices like 'the former/the latter' and 'meanwhile' are used accurately and effectively. - Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different categories of electronic goods.

Lexical Resource - 8

- A wide resource is used to convey precise meanings, with varied synonyms for 'increase' (rose, climbed, grew, peaking). - Uncommon lexical items like 'dominated' and 'relatively noticeable' are used appropriately. - Occasional slight awkwardness in phrasing ('technological tools') but otherwise very natural.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy - 8

- A wide range of structures is used with flexibility, including complex comparisons and participle clauses. - The majority of sentences are error-free, with accurate use of tenses to describe past data. - Punctuation is well-managed throughout the response.

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