Task 1 Academic · Mixed charts · Housing
House prices, earnings and who owns their home
A line graph of prices and earnings beside a bar chart of housing tenure, and three answers that differ in whether — and how carefully — they connect the two.
The question
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
The graph below shows average house prices and average annual earnings in one city between 2000 and 2025. The bar chart shows the percentage of households in the city by type of housing tenure in 2000 and 2025.
| Measure | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average house price ($ thousands) | 120 | 165 | 170 | 210 | 265 | 312 |
| Average annual earnings ($ thousands) | 24 | 28 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 39 |
| Owner-occupied (% of households) | 68 | – | – | – | – | 54 |
| Privately rented (% of households) | 14 | – | – | – | – | 31 |
| Socially rented (% of households) | 18 | – | – | – | – | 15 |
A 150-word factual summary of a graph, chart, table, process or map. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.
What separates the three answers
A house cost five years' earnings in 2000 and eight in 2025, while private renting took up every point the other tenures lost; the 6.5 answer reports the two charts separately, the 7.5 connects them too confidently, and the 9 connects them exactly as far as the data allows.
The three answers
Band 6.5
163 words (the task asks for at least 150)The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.
The answer
The line graph shows the average house prices and the average earnings in one city from 2000 to 2025, and the bar chart shows the percentage of households by the type of tenure in 2000 and 2025.
In 2000 the average house price was $120,000 and it increased to $165,000 in 2005. Then it stayed almost same until 20104, when it was $170,000. After that it increased quickly to $210,000 in 2015, $265,000 in 2020 and $312,000 in 2025.
The earnings also increased, but more slowly than the house prices.3 They were $24,000 in 2000 and they increased every year until $39,000 in 2025.
In the bar chart, the owner-occupied households decreased from 68 per cent to 54 per cent.2 The private rented households increased from 14 per cent to 31 per cent, and the social rented decreased a little from 18 per cent to 15 per cent.
Overall, the house prices increased very much and more people rented their home in 2025.1
What an examiner notices
1. Task achievement
“Overall, the house prices increased very much and more people rented their home in 2025.”
One fact from each chart, placed side by side and not connected. The overview of a mixed task should say how the two datasets relate — here, that ownership fell as homes became less affordable relative to pay.
2. Coherence and cohesion
“In the bar chart, the owner-occupied households decreased from 68 per cent to 54 per cent.”
'In the bar chart' is a heading, not a link. It tells the reader the answer has switched charts but not why the second chart matters to the first.
3. Task achievement
“The earnings also increased, but more slowly than the house prices.”
The key comparison of the whole task, made without a single figure. Prices rose by $192,000 and earnings by $15,000; even that simple subtraction would have given the claim weight.
4. Grammatical range and accuracy
“Then it stayed almost same until 2010”
'The same' needs its article. A small slip, but typical of the article errors found throughout the answer.
One honest caveat
Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.
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