Writing Task 1: Pie Chart & Table: Question 1

Worked solution

Examiner notes: why this is a band 9 response

Task Achievement

The overview sentence identifies the two most reportable features, the fall in coal and the rise in wind/solar, before any supporting detail is given, and every later figure is drawn accurately from the table. All six categories across both years are covered, but minor, stable categories (nuclear, hydropower) are grouped together rather than over-described, and there is no opinion or explanation of cause anywhere in the response.

Coherence & Cohesion

The report is organised chronologically by chart (2005, then 2025), with each paragraph opening with a clear time reference. Cohesion is built through comparative reference back to the earlier figures (“its 2005 share”, “its earlier figure”) rather than repeated linking words, and the final paragraph closes the report with a one-sentence restatement of the overall pattern.

Lexical Resource

A wide range of precise report language is used without repetition: “supplying”, “eased to”, “climbed more modestly”, “near-total substitution”. Multiplier comparisons (“more than four times”, “over eleven times”) are used accurately and are far more sophisticated than repeatedly writing “increased” or “decreased”.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy

Comparative and superlative structures are handled with full control (“by far the dominant source”, “the smallest source of all”), alongside accurate use of the past perfect for the 2025 state (“had become”, “had eased”) to mark the shift from the 2005 baseline. There are no errors of number agreement or article use with the percentage figures.

Common pitfalls specific to this task

See commonMistakes above: the most damaging is treating a “more than four times” difference as if it were merely a “42 minus 9” gap. Task 1 responses that confuse proportional and absolute comparisons cannot access the top Task Achievement band even when every individual figure is copied correctly.