Writing Task 1: Bar Chart: Question 5
Syllabus W.task1
The chart below shows the percentage of household waste that was recycled, by material type, in Astencia in 2015 and 2024. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
| Material | 2015 (%) | 2024 (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Paper & cardboard | 61 | 74 |
| Glass | 55 | 68 |
| Metal | 48 | 71 |
| Plastic | 19 | 33 |
| Organic/food waste | 12 | 41 |
The bar chart is a grouped bar chart with the five material types on the horizontal axis and one bar per year for each material, with the percentage of household waste recycled shown on the vertical axis.
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Worked solution
Examiner notes: why this is a band 9 response
Task Achievement
The overview correctly identifies both required elements of a change-over-time report: a universal rise across all materials, and the one standout exception to the general pattern (organic/food waste’s far steeper rise). Every material and both years are covered, and the response goes beyond simple description to note a genuine structural change, which material was lowest in each year, showing full engagement with the data rather than a single-year snapshot.
Coherence & Cohesion
Materials are grouped by the shape of their change (the standout riser, the two slowest risers, and the two remaining materials) rather than listed in table order, giving the response a clear logical path. The phrase “together, paper and cardboard and glass recorded the smallest percentage-point increases” explicitly links two separately introduced figures back into a single grouped comparison, which is a more sophisticated cohesive move than a simple connector.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a precise range of change vocabulary (“more than tripled”, “rose more steeply”, “nearly closing the gap”, “a moderate increase”) rather than repeating “increased” throughout, and distinguishes clearly between percentage figures and percentage-point differences, which is essential lexical precision at this level.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Past and past perfect forms are used with full control to sequence the two time points accurately (“had more than tripled”, “had held in 2015”), and complex sentences with semicolons and subordinate clauses (“since both already had well-established recycling systems in 2015”) are handled without error. There are no lapses into present tense despite the historical, two-year comparison required by the task.
Common pitfalls specific to this task
See commonMistakes above: the most damaging is assuming the material lowest in 2015 must still be lowest in 2024, band 9 responses re-check the full ranking at each time point rather than carrying an old ranking forward.