192 words, written by us as a teaching example — not a verified exam script. Read it, then attempt the question yourself.
“The bar chart shows forest area as a percentage of total land area in five countries in 1990 and 2020.”Model answer
192 wordsP1The bar chart compares forest area as a percentage of land area in five countries in 1990 and 2020.
P2Overall, all five countries recorded changes in forest cover over the three decades, with Brazil and Indonesia suffering the most significant declines. India and China, by contrast, bucked the trend by increasing their forest share.
P3Brazil had the highest forest coverage in 1990 at 70.5%, but this fell to 59.4% by 2020, a reduction of 11.1 percentage points. Indonesia saw a similarly steep decline, from 65.4% to 49.1%, losing more than 16 percentage points over the period. Nigeria also recorded a notable decrease, from 30% to 23.7%.
P4India and China showed the opposite pattern. India's forest share rose from 21.5% to 24.3%, while China's increased from 16.7% to 23.4%, almost matching India's 2020 figure. By 2020, China and India had similar forest coverage at around 23 to 24% of land area, whereas in 1990 China had been noticeably below India. Despite these modest gains, Brazil remained the most forested country in both years, though its lead over Indonesia narrowed from around five percentage points in 1990 to approximately ten percentage points in 2020.
Write your answer in the exam workspace and see how your four marks compare to the model’s.
Good use of contrast language: 'bucked the trend', 'opposite pattern', 'whereas'.
Final sentence rounds off the body with a cross-year comparison of the top two countries.
Now you
Reading a model ≠ writing one. Attempt the same question now, while the moves are fresh — then compare your grading side by side.
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What keeps it from higher
The final sentence contains a slight inconsistency on Brazil's lead over Indonesia; re-checking that calculation against the exact data would sharpen it.