WRITING TASK 1: Pie Chart

The three pie charts below show the changes in annual spending by a particular UK school in 1981, 1991 and 2001.

This essay question is from Cambridge IELTS 8 Test 2 Writing Task 1.

Sample Essay

The pie charts display yearly expenditure by a certain school in the UK  in 1981, 1991 and 2002.

Overall, while teachers’ salaries remained the school’s greatest cost, furniture and equipment overtook other workers’ salaries as the second-largest expenditure by 2002.

Teachers’ salaries were what cost the school the most in all three years, accounting for 40%, 50%, and 45% of total spending respectively. The school spent the second largest proportion of its expenditure on other workers’ salaries in both 1981 and 1991, at 28% and 22% respectively. However, this proportion decreased to only 15% in 2001. Although spending on furniture and equipment dropped from 15% to 5% between 1981 and 1991, it went up sharply in 2001 and replaced other workers’ salaries as the second greatest expenditure that year, at 23%.

15% of the school’s expenditure was on resources in 1981. After a small growth in 1991, the figure decreased to only 9% in 2001. Despite increases, insurance received the smallest share of expenditure in all three years, at 2%, 3%, and 8% respectively.