This is an IELTS Writing Task 1 sample answer of a pie graph/chart related to water usage in various regions.

It features 3 pie charts and is straightforward.

If you need to learn more about pie charts, you can read about them here.

You can also get my exclusive IELTS Ebooks by signing up for my Patreon here.

Dave

IELTS Writing Task 1 Sample Answer: Water Usage

The pie charts below compare water usage in San Diego, California and the rest of the world.

The pie charts compare water usage in San Diego County and California as a whole to worldwide figures. Looking from an overall perspective it is readily apparent that while in San Diego and California the majority of water was used for homes (followed by industry and agriculture), worldwide use focused overwhelmingly on agriculture over industry and finally residential use.

Water usage in San Diego County and California displayed broadly similar patterns. In San Diego, 60% of water was used by households, compared to 39% for all of California. The sector with the second most usage for San Diego and California was industrial with 23% and 33%, respectively. In the final position was agricultural usage at 17% (San Diego) and 28% (California). 

In contrast, worldwide usage was dominated by agriculture at 69%, followed by industry and residential at 23% and 8% in turn.

Words: 143

Analysis

1. The pie charts compare water usage in San Diego County and California as a whole to worldwide figures. 2. Looking from an overall perspective it is readily apparent that while in San Diego and California the majority of water was used for homes (followed by industry and agriculture), worldwide use focused overwhelmingly on agriculture over industry and finally residential use.

  1. The first sentence simply paraphrases the sentence above the graph. Don’t waste time making this sentence perfect, it isn’t that important compared to other sentences in your writing.
  2. My next sentence is the general overview and it is the most important sentence in all of your task 1 writing. It must include the trend, speed and ranking for all charts to get above band 6 for task achievement (learn more about overviews here).

1. Water usage in San Diego County and California displayed broadly similar patterns. 2. In San Diego, 60% of water was used by households, compared to 39% for all of California. 3. The sector with the second most usage for San Diego and California was industrial with 23% and 33%, respectively. 4. In the final position was agricultural usage at 17% (San Diego) and 28% (California). 

  1. The first sentence is a topic sentence comparing San Diego and California in general. You don’t always need topic sentences for task 1 writing but they do help your cohesion and coherence score.
  2. My second sentence begins to compare and describe the data. Always compare, always include the data.
  3. The next sentence continues to the compare the data.
  4. The final sentence finishes the comparison and data. Include all the data.

1. In contrast, worldwide usage was dominated by agriculture at 69%, followed by industry and residential at 23% and 8% in turn.

  1. This last sentence includes all the data for the final pie chart. It is ok to have a one sentence paragraph if you can include all the data in a single sentence.

Words: 143

(You should write between 150 and 200 but technically anything over 141 is fine).

Vocabulary

Try to write a synonym or think of a definition for the words in bold below:

The pie charts compare water usage in San Diego County and California as a whole to worldwide figures. Looking from an overall perspective it is readily apparent that while in San Diego and California the majority of water was used for homes (followed by industry and agriculture), worldwide use focused overwhelmingly on agriculture over industry and finally residential use.

Water usage in San Diego County and California displayed broadly similar patterns. In San Diego, 60% of water was used by households, compared to 39% for all of California. The sector with the second most usage for San Diego and California was industrial with 23% and 33%, respectively. In the final position was agricultural usage at 17% (San Diego) and 28% (California). 

In contrast, worldwide usage was dominated by agriculture at 69%, followed by industry and residential at 23% and 8% in turn.

Answers

as a whole taken all together

figures numbers

looking from an overall perspective it is readily apparent that in general

majority most of

overwhelmingly strongly

displayed broadly similar patterns almost the same trend

sector area

in contrast to compare

dominated was much larger

in turn respectively

Pronunciation

æz ə həʊl 
ˈfɪgəz
ˈlʊkɪŋ frɒm ən ˈəʊvərɔːl pəˈspɛktɪv ɪt ɪz ˈrɛdɪli əˈpærənt ðæt 
məˈʤɒrɪti 
ˌəʊvəˈwɛlmɪŋli
dɪsˈpleɪd ˈbrɔːdli ˈsɪmɪlə ˈpætənz
ˈsɛktə 
ɪn ˈkɒntrɑːst
ˈdɒmɪneɪtɪd 
ɪn tɜːn

Listen and repeat:

Vocabulary Practice

The pie charts compare water usage in San Diego County and California __________________ to worldwide __________________. __________________ while in San Diego and California the __________________ of water was used for homes (followed by industry and agriculture), worldwide use focused __________________ on agriculture over industry and finally residential use.

Water usage in San Diego County and California __________________. In San Diego, 60% of water was used by households, compared to 39% for all of California. The __________________ with the second most usage for San Diego and California was industrial with 23% and 33%, respectively. In the final position was agricultural usage at 17% (San Diego) and 28% (California). 

__________________, worldwide usage was __________________ by agriculture at 69%, followed by industry and residential at 23% and 8% __________________.

Listen and check:

Listening Practice

Watch the video below to review about the topic in general. It may come up on other parts of IELTS so it makes sense to put in some extra practice now.

You can use some of the ideas here to practice.

Reading Practice

Read the article to further review about water in case it comes up on the test somewhere. You can use this post for some ideas about reading the news and improving your IELTS score.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/03/world-water-day-water-crisis-explained/

Student Corrections

Read the corrections on a student sample below to get some idea of your own score.

The pie charts demonstrate how much water is consumed in for the purposes of residential, industrialy and agricultural purposese in San Diego County, California, and throughout the world.

What stands out from the three pie charts is that the percentage of water is used in homes is higher than that of industry and agriculture in the two regions of the US. Another striking feature is that agriculture accounts for the highest proportion of water, compared to residential and industry globally.[G1] 

It can be clearly seen that while residential water consumption of residential in San Diego and California was the highest, at 60% and 39 % respectively, water used in homes which is used across the globe is the least, atonly stood at 8%. In contrast, the opposite trend can be witnessed in the domain of aAgriculture, which makes up the highest percentage at 69% of water worldwide is used for this purpose, but it accounts for only 17% and 28 % of water usage in San Diego and California.

Regarding industrial usey, there are no massive changes in the usage of water[G2] the disparity between the charts is smaller. The same proportions are seen in the water consumption of industry in San Diego and around the world, with the figure being twenty three percent(23%), but it occupies the higher percentage at 33% in California.while the number for California is slightly higher at 33%.


 [G1]The overview must touch on all areas if possible. There is no mention at all of industry and agriculture in san diego and California so it is a maximum band 5 for task achievement.

 [G2]This graph does not show change at all – just disparity

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