Pick out the main features of this pie 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 pie chart below shows the percentage of greenhouse gas emissions produced by each sector in one country.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Share of emissions |
|---|---|
| Energy | 42% |
| Industry | 20% |
| Agriculture | 17% |
| Transport | 16% |
| Waste | 5% |
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 pie chart shows the percentage of greenhouse gas emissions produced by each of five sectors in one country.
Overall, the energy sector was by far the largest source of emissions, whereas waste contributed only a small fraction of the total. The three sectors in the middle accounted for similar shares.
Energy produced 42% of all emissions, more than twice the share of industry, which was the second-largest contributor at 20%. Together, these two sectors were responsible for 62% of the total, almost two-thirds of emissions.
Agriculture and transport had very similar figures, at 17% and 16% respectively, so each accounted for roughly one-sixth of emissions. These two sectors combined produced 33%, which was still clearly less than the contribution of the energy sector on its own.
Waste was the smallest source, at just 5%. This was around one-eighth of the energy figure and less than a third of the share produced by transport. Each of the other four sectors therefore generated at least three times as much as waste.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| greenhouse gas emissions | gases that trap heat |
| sector | part of the economy |
| by a wide margin | by a lot |
| contribute | add to a total |
| similar shares | almost equal proportions |
| the smallest | the lowest |
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