Pick out the main features of this bar chart for your overview, write your report on a 20-minute timer, then compare it with a band-8 model answer.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The chart below shows the average number of daily portions of fruit and vegetables eaten per person in six countries.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Fruit | Vegetables |
|---|---|---|
| Greece | 3.1 | 3.4 |
| Spain | 2.8 | 2.6 |
| Kazakhstan | 1.5 | 2.3 |
| Poland | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| UK | 1.6 | 2.4 |
| USA | 1.1 | 1.9 |
GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.
An overview names the main trends or differences in one or two sentences, without numbers. These are the features a strong answer picks out:
Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.
0 words of 150 minimum
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Write your own answer first, then compare: how it answers the exact question, what each paragraph does, and which phrases you could borrow.
The bar chart compares the average daily portions of fruit and vegetables eaten per person in six countries.
Overall, Greece had the highest consumption of both, whereas the USA had the lowest. In most countries people ate more vegetables than fruit.
Greek people consumed an average of 3.1 portions of fruit and 3.4 portions of vegetables each day, the highest figures for both categories. Spain came second, with 2.8 portions of fruit and 2.6 portions of vegetables. Spain was the only country in which fruit consumption exceeded vegetable consumption.
The remaining four countries ate considerably less. In Kazakhstan, people ate 1.5 portions of fruit and 2.3 portions of vegetables, while in Poland the figures were 1.9 and 2.1 respectively. The UK recorded 1.6 portions of fruit and 2.4 portions of vegetables, so the average Briton ate less fruit than the average Pole despite eating slightly more vegetables.
The USA had the lowest consumption in both categories, with only 1.1 portions of fruit and 1.9 portions of vegetables, meaning that the average American ate about one third as much fruit as the average Greek.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| daily portions | servings eaten each day |
| consume | eat or drink |
| the highest intake | the greatest amount eaten |
| the lowest figure | the smallest amount |
| exceed | be greater than |
| a clear difference | a noticeable gap |
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