Task
The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Candidate’s Answer
This is an answer written by a candidate who achieved a Band 5.5 score.
Different countries’ consumer spendings are quite different. The table shows the vary consumer spending on a series of items in the five countries, namely, the Ireland, Italy, Span, Sweden and Turkey in 2002.
Food, drinks and tobacco were in the most important position on consumer spending in all of the five countries, and in a different percentage. In Ireland and Turkey, they were near 30%, while in the other three countries they are under 20%.
Clothing and footwear were the second important consumer spending in these countries. In Italy, they got 9%, and in Sweden, they were 5.4%. In the other three countries, the figure were very similar, all were near 6.5%.
The last consumer spending were leisure and education. In Turkey, they were 4.35%, and in the other four countries the figure were under 4%.
In conclusion, it can be said that in 2002, food, drinks and tobacco were the most important consumer spending in the five countries, and the different countries’ consumer spending were quite different.
Examiner’s Comment
This answer focuses on the key features of the information, clearly grouping the countries, using supporting figures and presenting an overview. However, there is no clear reference to what the percentages represent and key comparisons need more expansion.
Information is organised with clear signalling and some effective referencing and linking, although not all ideas are clearly linked and the overall progression is achieved by repetition in the final section.
The range of vocabulary is rather narrow and just sufficient for the task. The attempt to paraphrase the rubric shows limited flexibility. There are several spelling and word and quite a lot of repetition. Similarly, the range of sentence forms is not wide, with few examples of complex structures. However, apart from one or two errors in basic grammar, simple structures are accurate and easily understood.
