📊 IELTS Writing Task 1 – Topic 5

🎯 Question

The stacked bar chart below shows the value of exports of five product categories (machinery, vehicles, textiles, food, and chemicals) from Country Y in 2010 and 2020.

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📝 Model Answer (Band 8–9, ~190 words)

The stacked bar chart compares the value of exports in five product categories from Country Y in 2010 and 2020.

Overall, machinery and vehicles remained the dominant exports, while textiles declined. Chemicals and food saw moderate growth over the decade.

In 2010, machinery was the largest export sector, worth around $50 billion, followed closely by vehicles at about $45 billion. Both increased over the period, with machinery rising to approximately $60 billion and vehicles to $55 billion in 2020. Together, they continued to account for more than half of all exports.

Textile exports, by contrast, fell significantly, from roughly $30 billion in 2010 to just $20 billion in 2020. Food exports grew steadily, climbing from $25 billion to $35 billion, overtaking textiles. Chemicals also showed growth, increasing from $20 billion to $30 billion during the same period.

In summary, while machinery and vehicles continued to dominate Country Y’s exports, the most notable changes were the decline of textiles and the rise of food and chemicals.

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🔑 Useful Vocabulary

• Dominant exports / accounted for / represented

• Rose steadily / increased significantly / declined sharply

• By contrast / overtook / continued to dominate

• Worth around / valued at / reached approximately

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🔗 Linking Words

• Addition: in addition, furthermore, together, combined

• Contrast: whereas, by contrast, on the other hand

• Trends: over the decade, during the period, continued to

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✍️ Guidelines for Writing This Essay

1. Plan (2–3 minutes)

   • Identify dominant categories (machinery, vehicles).

   • Identify decline (textiles).

   • Identify growth (food, chemicals).

2. Structure

   • Intro: paraphrase question.

   • Overview: key trends (machinery & vehicles dominant, textiles decline).

   • Body 1: machinery, vehicles.

   • Body 2: textiles, food, chemicals.

   • Conclusion: summarise.

3. Topic Sentences

   • “Machinery and vehicles remained the largest contributors to exports.”

   • “By contrast, textiles declined, while food and chemicals increased steadily.”

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💡 Language Focus

• Verb vs. Noun phrases:

  • Textiles fell sharply / There was a sharp fall in textiles.

  • Food exports rose steadily / There was a steady rise in food exports.

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🔟 Practice Exercises

A. Fill-in

1. Machinery exports ______ from $50bn to $60bn.

2. Textiles ______ sharply to $20bn in 2020.

B. Rewrite with noun phrases

1. “Food exports increased steadily.” → …

2. “Textiles declined significantly.” → …

C. Choose overview
a) Machinery $50→60bn, Vehicles $45→55bn, Textiles $30→20bn, Food $25→35bn, Chemicals $20→30bn.
b) Machinery and vehicles dominated, textiles declined, and food/chemicals grew steadily.

D. Comparisons

1. Machinery in 2020 was ______ as high as chemicals in 2010.

2. Food exports in 2020 ______ textiles exports in 2020.

E. Spot the error
“Vehicles export increased steadily between 2010 and 2020.”

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✅ Suggested Answers

A: 1. rose / increased 2. fell / dropped
B: 1. There was a steady increase in food exports. 2. There was a significant decline in textiles.
C: b)
D: 1. three times 2. overtook / surpassed
E: Wrong form → should be “Vehicle exports…”