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 charts below show how land was used in a rural region in 1960 and 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | 1960 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Crops | 45% | 38% |
| Pasture | 30% | 22% |
| Forest | 20% | 18% |
| Housing | 2% | 14% |
| Other | 3% | 8% |
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 charts compare how land was used in a rural region in 1960 and 2020.
Overall, the proportion of land used for crops, pasture and forest decreased, while the area devoted to housing and other uses increased. Crops remained the largest category in both years.
In 1960 crops covered 45% of the land, followed by pasture with 30% and forest with 20%. Housing took up just 2% and other uses 3%. By 2020 the share of crops had fallen to 38%, and that of pasture had dropped more sharply, to 22%. Forest declined only slightly, from 20% to 18%.
The loss of agricultural land was mirrored by a very large increase in housing, which rose from 2% to 14%, seven times its original share. The remaining category also grew, from 3% to 8%.
In total, crops and pasture together accounted for 75% of the land in 1960 but only 60% in 2020, a reduction of 15 percentage points, while housing and other uses together grew from 5% to 22%.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| land use | how land is used |
| pasture | grass land for animals |
| sevenfold | seven times |
| expand | grow larger |
| shrink | get smaller |
| remain the biggest | stay largest |
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