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IELTS Writing Samples

IELTS essay samples (writing task 2), report and letter samples (writing task 1) with Band Scores, marked by IELTS teachers, including comments and suggestions on how to increase your score

IELTS Report, topic: Bar chart and pie chart describing Australian water consumption (from IELTS High Scorer’s Choice series, Academic Set 1)

This is a model response to a Writing Task 1 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is close to IELTS Band 9.

Set 1 Academic book, Practice Test 4

Writing Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The bar chart below shows the average Australian water consumption in selected cities for last year. The pie chart shows the distribution of Australian water consumption for last year.


Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

You should write at least 150 words.

Bar chart and pie chart describing Australian water consumption (from IELTS High Scorer's Choice series, Academic Set 1 book)

Sample Band 9 Report

The bar chart shows the average Australian water consumption in selected cities for last year, while the pie chart shows how water was used in Australia for last year.

It can clearly be seen that water supply affected most of the key parts of Australian life and industry, but the most severely affected sector in a shortage would be agriculture.

The highest water consumer was the city of Perth with 300 kilolitres per property as an annual average. It was followed by Brisbane and Adelaide, where properties used 250 and about 240 kilolitres a year on average. In Sydney households consumed 200 kilolitres of water annually, and the smallest yearly average consumption was recorded in Melbourne and Canberra, about 150 and 140 kilolitres per property respectively.

Among industries, the largest water user in Australia last year was agriculture, which took up over two thirds of usage at 67%. The next largest usage was by households (9%), water supply, sewage and drainage (7%) and water used for electricity and gas supply (7%). The rest was used by manufacturing (4%), other industries (4%) and mining (2%).

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IELTS essay, topic: The majority of former prisoners commit further crime after their release (reasons and solutions)

This is a model response to a Writing Task 2 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is close to IELTS Band 9.

Set 5 Academic book, Practice Test 22

Writing Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

It is a fact that the majority of people who are sent to prison commit further crime after their release.

What is causing this? What can be done to change this?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Band 9 Essay

It is a sad fact that criminals who leave prison go on to commit further crime. There are various reasons for this, but there are also some things that can be done to prevent it from happening.

One reason for this recidivism is due to a lack of legitimate income. Many people turn to crime as they cannot find an alternative to earn money. When such person comes out of prison, it is very often the case that they have the same few opportunities for a legitimate income. In fact, these opportunities will even be reduced, as employers are often less willing to give an ex-prisoner a job. Some people also return to crime, as they spend all the time of their prison sentence with other criminals. This is not a great environment for rehabilitation, and sometimes even a network of contacts can be made to help develop criminal activities on release.

One important way to help address this problem is education. Criminals who have turned to illegal activities because of no alternatives to earn a living need to learn a way to earn a wage, such as a trade or vocational skills. Computer skills, for example, are in high demand and someone trained in these could very possibly find work. In addition, governments can offer incentives to employers to attract them to give jobs to newly-released prisoners. This would help people who don’t really want to return to crime achieve a fresh start. As keeping people in prison is an expensive business, governments might find it cheaper to pay these incentives.

To sum up, people returning to crime is a tragedy that should be avoided if at all possible in today’s society. Education and incentives can directly address the reasons for it and could make society a happier and safer place.

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