Task 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The graph below shows the amount of fresh water used per year by three sectors in one region between 1980 and 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
| 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | 42 | 45 | 49 | 52 | 55 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 |
| Industry | 18 | 21 | 24 | 27 | 30 | 27 | 23 | 20 | 17 |
| Domestic | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 22 | 26 |
Write at least 150 words.
Task 2
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some people think that the most important factor in a person's career success is natural talent. Others believe that hard work and persistence matter more than any ability a person is born with.
Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
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 captures the three stories: agriculture was by far the largest user and grew steadily; industry rose until 2000 and then fell back below its starting point; domestic use grew continuously and overtook industry after 2010.
- Selects the key turning points (industry peaking at 30 billion cubic metres in 2000; domestic use passing industry between 2010 and 2015) rather than narrating all 27 data points.
- Supports main features with accurate figures and uses them to compare — e.g. agriculture used seven times as much water as households in 1980 but only just over twice as much by 2020.
- Stays purely descriptive: no reasons for the changes, no comment on water scarcity or policy.
Coherence & Cohesion
- Organises logically — typically an introduction, an overview, then one paragraph on agriculture and domestic use (the two rising lines) and one on industry (the line that reverses), rather than one paragraph per five-year interval.
- Uses referencing ("the latter", "this sector", "over the same period") so that sentences connect without repeating the three sector names every time.
- Cohesive devices appear where they do work ("in contrast", "thereafter", "by 2020", "whereas") and are not stacked mechanically.
Lexical Resource
- Uses precise trend language with the right strength: agriculture rose steadily and levelled off after 2010; industry climbed, peaked and then declined; domestic use more than quadrupled.
- Varies the vocabulary of quantity and use: consumption, usage, volume, drew on, accounted for — and avoids repeating "used" throughout.
- Handles the unit accurately (billion cubic metres) without converting it into percentages or shares.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Controls a range of structures: comparative clauses ("more than three times as much as"), participle phrases ("having peaked at 30 billion cubic metres in 2000, industrial use…"), and complex sentences with "while/whereas".
- Uses past tenses consistently for the dated period, with "by 2020" and "between 2000 and 2020" constructions handled accurately.
- Writes figures and units consistently; the majority of sentences are error-free.
Task Response
- Addresses both views fully — the case that innate ability sets the ceiling on achievement and the case that effort and persistence matter more — before giving a clear personal position.
- States a position that is explicit in the introduction and sustained, e.g. that talent opens doors but persistence determines how far a person walks through them, rather than a vague "both are important".
- Develops each view with specific, relevant support: fields where talent appears decisive (elite sport, mathematics, music), fields where sustained effort dominates (most professions), and the role of opportunity and luck.
- Engages with career success as framed — long-term professional achievement — rather than drifting into school exams or happiness.
Coherence & Cohesion
- A clear four- or five-paragraph structure in which each body paragraph has one controlling idea and a topic sentence that signals it.
- Ideas progress: the essay moves from the strongest argument for each view to a reasoned judgement, rather than listing points in random order.
- Cohesion is achieved through referencing and logical sequencing, not a linker at the start of every sentence.
Lexical Resource
- Uses precise, topic-appropriate vocabulary: aptitude, innate, perseverance, diligence, deliberate practice, mentorship, meritocratic, late developer.
- Paraphrases the prompt in the introduction instead of copying it ("natural talent" → "the abilities a person is born with"; "hard work and persistence" → "sustained effort").
- Uses less common collocations naturally ("a head start", "plateau early", "put in the hours", "squander one's gifts") without forcing in rare words.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- A mix of complex structures under control: concession ("Although raw ability may accelerate early progress…"), conditionals ("Had she not persisted…"), and relative clauses.
- Accurate handling of modals and hedging ("tends to", "is more likely to", "can") for claims about human achievement, where absolutes are easy to disprove.
- Punctuation supports complex sentences — commas around subordinate clauses, no comma splices — and errors are rare and never impede meaning.
Common traps for this specific test
The mistakes most likely to cost marks on these two questions.
Industry is the only sector that rises and then falls, peaking at 30 billion cubic metres in 2000 before dropping to 17, below its 1980 level. Describing it simply as "fluctuating" or "increasing" misreads the data; the peak and the fall are the key feature.
Domestic use overtakes industry between 2010 and 2015 (18 versus 23 in 2010; 22 versus 20 in 2015). A Band 8 answer reports this change in ranking explicitly rather than leaving the reader to infer it.
Opening with "The graph shows water use by three sectors" and going straight to figures earns no overview credit. State the main trends in general terms — agriculture largest and rising, domestic growing fastest, industry peaking then falling — before any numbers.
Nine dates and three lines give 27 data points. Listing them produces a long, flat report with no selection. Choose the start, the end, the 2000 peak and the crossover.
The unit is billion cubic metres, an absolute quantity. Writing that "agriculture's share fell" is not supported by the data: all three sectors' totals are given, but no percentages are, and agriculture's volume actually rose.
Adding reasons ("because factories became more efficient" or "because of population growth") is irrelevant to Task 1 and wastes words. Describe and compare; do not account for the changes.
A discussion essay requires balanced treatment of both positions before your own view. Three paragraphs praising hard work and one sentence conceding that talent exists caps Task Response at Band 6.
"Both talent and hard work are important" is not an opinion; it restates the debate. Say which matters more, or under what conditions each dominates, and defend that view from the introduction onward.