Write at least 150 words · 20 minutes
The line graph below shows the share of energy produced from wind, solar and hydroelectric power in one country between 2005 and 2025. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
See the figures (%)
| Wind | Solar | Hydroelectric | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
| 2010 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 2015 | 11 | 4 | 8 |
| 2020 | 18 | 9 | 8 |
| 2025 | 24 | 16 | 7 |
How to structure your report
- Introduction: paraphrase what the line graph shows.
- Overview: two or three main features or trends, with no numbers. This is the most important sentence for your band.
- Two body paragraphs: group the details logically and compare them, quoting the key figures.
- No opinion and no conclusion of your own: describe only what is shown.
A plan for this chart
- Introduction: paraphrase the graph: the share of energy from wind, solar and hydroelectric power in one country, 2005 to 2025.
- Overview: wind and solar grew dramatically, hydroelectric fell slightly, and wind ended as the largest source. No numbers here.
- Body 1: hydroelectric, the leader in 2005 (9%), stable and then slowly falling to 7%.
- Body 2: wind and solar: their rise, and when each one overtook hydroelectric power.
Model report
193 words
The line graph illustrates the proportion of energy produced from three renewable sources, namely wind, solar and hydroelectric power, in one country over the twenty years from 2005 to 2025.
Overall, the shares of wind and solar power grew dramatically over the period, whereas the share of hydroelectric power declined slightly. By 2025, wind had become the largest of the three sources by a considerable margin.
In 2005, hydroelectric power was the main renewable source, providing 9% of the country's energy, compared with just 2% from wind and none at all from solar. The figure for hydroelectric power remained unchanged in 2010 and then fell gradually, reaching 7% by the end of the period.
Wind power, in contrast, rose steadily throughout. It overtook hydroelectric power between 2010 and 2015, when it reached 11%, and continued to climb to 24% in 2025, twelve times its original level. Solar power started from zero and grew at an increasing rate, from 1% in 2010 to 9% in 2020, when it overtook hydroelectric power, and 16% in 2025. As a result, the three sources together supplied 47% of energy in 2025, compared with only 11% in 2005.
Written by Acedmi to show what a high-band report looks like. It is not an official IELTS sample, and your own ideas can be different.
Useful vocabulary
- proportion / share
- A part of the total, often given as a percentage.
- “The share of solar power rose to 16%.”
- overtake
- Become higher than something that was higher before.
- “Wind overtook hydroelectric power between 2010 and 2015.”
- rise steadily
- Increase at a regular rate.
- “Wind power rose steadily throughout the period.”
- dramatically
- By a very large amount.
- “The use of solar power grew dramatically.”
- remain unchanged
- Stay at the same level.
- “Hydroelectric power remained unchanged at 9% in 2010.”
- by a considerable margin
- By a large difference.
- “Wind was the largest source by a considerable margin.”
- at an increasing rate
- Faster and faster.
- “Solar power grew at an increasing rate after 2010.”
- percentage point
- The difference between two percentages: 9% to 16% is a rise of 7 percentage points.
- “Wind rose by 22 percentage points over the period.”
Common mistakes
- Putting numbers in the overview. The overview gives the main trends only: two sources grew sharply and one fell slightly.
- Describing each year one by one. Group the lines by trend: the one that fell, and the two that grew.
- Writing "wind rose by 22%" when it went from 2% to 24%. That is a rise of 22 percentage points; the percentage increase is far larger.