IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: School Spending Pie Charts (Band 9 Sample)
This Academic Task 1 asks you to describe three pie charts showing how a school spent its budget across five categories in 1981, 1991 and 2001. A band-9 response gives an overview of the main trends over the twenty years, then reports the key figures with comparisons. Below is a model answer of roughly 190 words, followed by why it scores 9 on all four criteria.
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01 · The task
The three pie charts below show the breakdown of a particular school's total spending across five categories in 1981, 1991 and 2001. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
02 · Band 9 sample answer
191 words · Band 9The three pie charts illustrate how one school allocated its total spending across five categories at ten-year intervals in 1981, 1991 and 2001.
Overall, teachers' salaries consistently made up the largest share of the budget throughout the period. The clearest long-term trends were a steady fall in spending on other workers' salaries and a steady rise in insurance costs.
Teachers' salaries dominated in all three years, rising from 40% in 1981 to a peak of 50% in 1991 before easing back to 45% in 2001. The proportion spent on other workers' salaries, by contrast, declined without interruption, from 28% to 22% and then to just 15%. Insurance, though always the smallest category, quadrupled over the period, climbing from 2% to 3% and finally to 8%.
The remaining two categories fluctuated markedly. Spending on furniture and equipment dropped from 15% to just 5% in 1991, only to surge to 23% by 2001, its highest level. Resources such as books followed the opposite path, rising from 15% to 20% before falling back to 9%.
03 · Why this scores Band 9
The response covers all five categories across all three years, opens with an overview capturing the stable dominance of teachers' salaries and the two clear long-term trends, and then reports the figures with comparisons. It separates the steady trends from the fluctuating categories rather than listing every value.
The report is logically organised — overview, then a paragraph on the categories with clear directional trends and one on the fluctuating categories. Cohesion is smooth and varied — "dominated in all three years", "by contrast, declined without interruption", "though always the smallest category", "followed the opposite path".
Data vocabulary is precise and varied — "allocated its spending", "made up the largest share", "easing back to", "declined without interruption", "quadrupled", "surge to", "followed the opposite path" — describing rises, falls and fluctuations without repetition.
A range of structures presents the figures accurately: a participle phrase ("rising from 40%... before easing back to 45%"), an "only to" result structure ("dropped to just 5%..., only to surge to 23%"), and a concessive ("though always the smallest category, quadrupled over the period"). The percentages are reported without error.
04 · Useful collocations for this task
Tap a phrase to see what it means and how to use it. Natural collocations like these lift your Lexical Resource score.
05 · Frequently asked questions
How do I handle three pie charts spanning different years?
Treat them as a time series: in your overview, name what stays dominant and the clearest long-term trends. Then group the categories by whether they rose, fell or fluctuated. This reads far better than describing each pie in isolation.
Which figures should I report?
The dominant category in each year and the biggest movements — the steady fall in other workers' salaries, the rise in insurance, the swings in furniture and resources. You do not need every number for every year.
What tense should I use?
The past simple, because all three years are in the past ("teachers' salaries dominated", "insurance quadrupled"). Keep it consistent throughout.
How long should a Task 1 answer be?
At least 150 words; a band-9 answer is usually 170–200. This model is 191 words, enough for an overview and the key trends across all three charts. Spend about 20 minutes on Task 1.
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