Task 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The chart below shows the percentage of adults who were classified as obese in six countries in 1990, 2005 and 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
| United States | Mexico | United Kingdom | Hungary | Brazil | Japan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 23 | 18 | 14 | 20 | 9 | 3 |
| 2005 | 33 | 26 | 23 | 27 | 16 | 4 |
| 2020 | 42 | 35 | 28 | 26 | 23 | 4 |
Write at least 150 words.
Task 2
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
The amount of electronic waste – discarded mobile phones, computers and household appliances – is growing faster than any other kind of waste, and only a small proportion of it is currently recycled.
What problems does this cause? What solutions can you suggest?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
What a Band 8–9 response must demonstrate
Measured against the four official assessment criteria — specific to this test's two tasks.
Task Achievement
- Gives a clear overview that states the two headline features: obesity rose in almost every country across the period, and the gap between the highest (United States) and lowest (Japan) widened considerably — while noting that Hungary is the exception, dipping slightly after 2005.
- Groups the countries sensibly (e.g. the high and rapidly rising group of the US, Mexico and the UK; Brazil starting low but nearly tripling; Japan and Hungary as the anomalies) rather than writing a sentence for each of the 18 bars.
- Supports the main features with accurate, selected figures (US 23% → 42%; Brazil 9% → 23%; Hungary 27% → 26%; Japan flat at 3–4%) and uses them to compare across countries and across years.
- Stays descriptive: no speculation about diet, income or health policy, which belongs nowhere in a Task 1 report.
Coherence & Cohesion
- Organises the report by pattern (steep risers / moderate risers / exceptions) rather than by country order on the x-axis, so that paragraphs carry a clear idea.
- Uses referencing ("the former", "this country", "the same period", "its 1990 level") to avoid repeating country names and years in every clause.
- Linking language is varied and purposeful ("by contrast", "a similar pattern", "the only country to"), not a mechanical "Firstly… Secondly… Finally" list.
Lexical Resource
- Controls the vocabulary of change across three snapshots: nearly doubled, almost tripled, edged down, remained negligible, the proportion stood at — with the strength of the verb matching the size of the change.
- Varies expressions of proportion: share, percentage, proportion, one in four adults, the figure for, compared with.
- Uses the correct noun and adjective forms (obesity / obese) and keeps the register academic — "obese adults", not "fat people".
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Uses comparative and superlative structures accurately ("more than ten times the Japanese figure", "the highest of the six", "twice as high as in 1990").
- Handles past simple for the three dated years alongside "by 2020" and "between 1990 and 2005" time frames without tense drift.
- Builds complex sentences with "while/whereas/although" and participle phrases ("having risen to 27% in 2005, the Hungarian figure…"), with most sentences error-free.
Task Response
- Answers both questions in full: identifies specific problems (toxic leaching into soil and water, informal dismantling in developing countries, loss of scarce metals, landfill volume) and proposes solutions that are matched to those problems, not generic "governments should raise awareness".
- Keeps the focus on electronic waste — discarded phones, computers and appliances — rather than sliding into a general essay on pollution or plastic.
- Develops each problem and solution with a concrete illustration (e.g. extended-producer-responsibility schemes, right-to-repair laws, deposit-return for devices, regulated recycling plants) rather than listing five ideas in one sentence each.
- Includes a clear position on which solutions matter most, even though the question does not explicitly ask for an opinion — this is what separates Band 8 from a competent Band 7 list.
Coherence & Cohesion
- Uses a logical two-body structure (problems, then solutions) or a paired structure (problem A + solution A; problem B + solution B), with each paragraph controlled by a topic sentence.
- Links solutions back to the problems they solve ("This would directly tackle the informal dismantling described above") so the essay reads as an argument rather than two unrelated lists.
- Cohesion comes from referencing and sequencing ("such schemes", "this approach", "the second issue") rather than from stacking connectives at the start of every sentence.
Lexical Resource
- Uses precise topic vocabulary: e-waste, obsolescence, heavy metals, leaching, landfill, informal recycling, extended producer responsibility, right to repair, take-back schemes, refurbishment, circular economy.
- Paraphrases the prompt effectively in the introduction ("discarded mobile phones, computers and household appliances" → "obsolete consumer electronics") rather than copying it.
- Collocations are natural and accurate ("pose a serious threat to", "recover valuable materials", "incentivise manufacturers", "phase out"), with only occasional imprecision in less common words.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Deploys modal and conditional structures appropriate to proposing solutions ("If manufacturers were required to…", "Governments could…", "This would…") with the right degree of certainty.
- Uses passive constructions where the agent is unimportant or obvious ("is shipped to", "are dismantled by hand") and active voice where responsibility matters.
- Shows a range of complex sentences — relative clauses, concession, cause-and-effect chains ("because… which in turn…") — with accurate punctuation and rare, non-impeding errors.
Common traps for this specific test
The mistakes most likely to cost marks on these two questions.
Hungary is the only country whose figure fell between 2005 and 2020 (27% → 26%). It is a small change, but it is the single exception to the upward pattern, and an overview that says "obesity rose in all six countries" is factually wrong and loses Task Achievement marks.
Japan moved from 3% to 4% and then stayed at 4%. Calling this a "rise" misrepresents a figure that is essentially flat and negligible; the point worth making is how far it sits below every other country.
Six countries across three years gives 18 values. Reporting each one produces a long, flat catalogue with no selection. Pick the biggest riser, the highest and lowest, the exception, and one or two comparisons.
Writing about the US, then Mexico, then the UK simply because that is the order on the chart gives paragraphs with no controlling idea. Group by pattern: the steep risers, the moderate risers, the outliers.
Sentences about fast food, sedentary lifestyles or national diets are irrelevant in Task 1 and use up words that should go on comparisons. Save the analysis for Task 2.
The prompt is specifically about discarded electronics. Problems such as toxic heavy metals, lost rare earths and informal dismantling are on-topic; plastic bags, factory emissions and traffic are not.
If the problems paragraph is about toxic leaching and informal recycling, a solutions paragraph about "educating children to use less technology" is disconnected. Each solution should answer a problem you have already named.
This task type asks two direct questions. Four paragraphs on problems and a single sentence of solutions (or vice versa) caps Task Response at Band 6 regardless of the quality of the language.