Write at least 150 words · 20 minutes
The pie chart below shows how energy is used in a typical household in a European country. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
- Heating48%
- Hot water20%
- Cooking7%
- Lighting5%
- Appliances20%
How to structure your report
- Introduction: paraphrase what the pie chart 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 chart: how energy is used in a typical household in a European country, in five categories.
- Overview: heating is by far the biggest use, almost half the total; cooking and lighting use only small shares.
- Body 1: the large categories: heating (48%), then hot water and appliances (20% each).
- Body 2: the small categories: cooking (7%) and lighting (5%), with one comparison that groups the data.
Model report
166 words
The pie chart shows how energy is consumed in a typical household in a European country, divided into five categories of use.
Overall, heating is by far the largest use of household energy, accounting for almost half of the total, while cooking and lighting use only a small share.
Heating alone makes up 48% of the energy used in the home, almost as much as the other four categories combined. Hot water and appliances are the next largest categories, each accounting for a fifth of consumption, so together they represent 40% of the total, which is still less than the figure for heating alone.
By contrast, cooking and lighting account for much smaller proportions. Cooking uses 7% of household energy, and lighting is the smallest category at only 5%, roughly a tenth of the figure for heating. It is also worth noting that heating and hot water, both of which involve producing heat, together account for more than two-thirds of all the energy a household uses.
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
- account for
- Form a part of a total.
- “Heating accounts for 48% of energy use.”
- make up
- Form a part of something.
- “Lighting makes up only 5% of the total.”
- consumption
- The amount of something that is used.
- “Appliances represent a fifth of energy consumption.”
- by far
- By a very large amount.
- “Heating is by far the largest category.”
- a fifth / two-thirds
- Fractions that make figures easier to read: 20% is a fifth, about 67% is two-thirds.
- “Hot water uses a fifth of household energy.”
- combined
- Added together.
- “Cooking and lighting combined use 12%.”
- respectively
- In the same order as the things just mentioned.
- “Cooking and lighting use 7% and 5% respectively.”
- the smallest proportion
- The smallest part of the whole.
- “Lighting represents the smallest proportion of energy use.”
Common mistakes
- An overview that only names the biggest slice. Also say what is smallest, or how the slices group.
- Explaining causes, such as "because winters are cold". Task 1 reports only what the chart shows, with no reasons or opinions.
- Mixing up "percent" and "percentage": write "48 percent" or "48%", but "a large percentage of the energy".