IELTS Writing Task 1

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D. Comparison and Contrast Linkers
Transitions

Over 90% of exports were fruits; however, industrial exports contributed none.
Almost all female students were interested in art activities. In contrast, the figure for male
students was a mere 15%.
Most of the farmland in Europe was damaged by overgrazing. On the other hand, the most
significant cause of damage in Asia was wind erosion.

Subordinating Conjunctions
Over 90% of exports were fruits, whereas / while industrial exports contributed none.
Whereas / While over 90% of exports were fruits, industrial exports contributed none.
Although almost all girls were interested in art activities, only 15% of boys took part in them.

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The bar shows the difference between the percentage of females and males in different post-
school qualifications in Australia in 1999.

Overall, women had the highest share in two qualifications, while men ranked first in three.
The highest figures for women and men were reported in undergraduate diploma and skilled
vocational diploma, respectively.

There was a significant difference between the proportions of males and females in skilled
vocational diploma, with the former standing first with 90%.
The disparity between the two figures was almost the same in undergraduate diploma and
postgraduate diploma. However, while in the former women had the highest share with 70%,
men accounted for the largest percentage in the latter with 70%.
Women also ranked first in bachelor’s degree, whereas the share of men was lower by a
narrow margin (55% and 45%, respectively). In contrast, in master’s degree, the contribution
of females was 2/3 as high as that of males, as the latter was responsible for the largest share
with 60%.

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The pie charts compare the shares of four major items in global expenditure, as well as how
global population is distributed.
Overall, the largest proportion of money in the world is allocated to food, while transport,
housing and clothing are other significant items. Moreover, the population of Asia is
responsible for the largest group of humans.
According to the first chart, the most significant amounts are paid for food (almost a quarter
of global expenditure) and transport (almost 20%), while housing also accounts for a
considerable proportion. The least among the four is spent on clothing (merely 6 percent) and
the remaining 40% is spent on a variety of other items.
The second chart shows that there is a significant difference between the population of Asia
and that of other continents since approximately 3 out of every 5 human beings live in Asia.
Europe and the Americas share similar proportions and together are host to roughly one-third
of the world’s population, while the inhabitants of Africa form a mere one-tenth.
(170 words)

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The charts compare three countries in terms of the methods they use to treat hazardous
waste products.
Overall, recycling is the most widely-used approach to treating hazardous waste in Korea, in
contrast to Sweden and the UK which rely mainly on landfills. Furthermore, the United
Kingdom employs a more varied set of waste handling schemes.
In Korea, the most significant share of dangerous waste (70%) is recycled. The second highest
proportion, 22%, is buried underground while less than half this figure is incinerated.
Sweden, on the other hand, favors landfills over the other two approaches since more than
half of all dangerous waste is buried underground. There is little difference between the
shares of recycling and burning, as the former accounts for 25% whereas the share of the
latter is lower by a margin of 5%.
The most popular method in the United Kingdom, like in Sweden, is burying which contributes
82%. The UK also dumps 8% of its waste at sea while treating a similar proportion with
chemicals to render it harmless. Incineration is responsible for a mere 2%. (180 words)
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The diagram illustrates how gold sales in Dubai changed from January to December 2002.
Overall, the figure fluctuated widely before returning to its original level at the end of the year.
Besides, gold sales were at their highest in March, while the weakest figures could be
observed in July and September.
In the first month of 2002, the figure stood at 200 million dirhams and rose slightly to reach
about 225 million in February. This was followed by another increase, although much steeper,
in March when sales hit 350 million. However, this upward trend was suddenly broken and
sales declined dramatically over the next 4 months to reach a little over 100 million in July.
August sales saw a significant rise back to January levels as the figure nearly doubled, but it
dropped again in September to the same level as it was in July. There was a small increase of
about 100 million dirhams in October, after which the figure levelled off and remained
relatively unchanged over the last two months of 2002.
(174 words)

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The diagram compares changes in consumption figures for different kinds of meat and fish in a
country in Europe from 1979 to 2004. Overall, although beef was initially the most popular
type of meat, it was overtaken by chicken towards the end of the survey. In contrast, the
figure for fish remained the least significant throughout the period.
In the first year, beef had a consumption of about 225 grams per person per week, after which
it experienced a sudden drop of 50 before increasing to about 230 in 1984. There were small
fluctuations until 1989, which was followed by a dramatic decrease to around half as high as
its original level in 2004.
The figure for lamb was initially almost as high as that for chicken (around 150 grams).
However, while the former declined gradually as it reached approximately 60 in the last year,
the latter saw a considerable growth and outstripped beef consumption in 1989, peaking at
250 in 2004. Fish consumption was originally approximately 60 grams and experienced a small
fall of about 10 over the period.
(180 words)

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