A decade of arrivals, and the cost of cheap clothes
A Task 1 pair of charts (a bar chart and a pie chart) and a Task 2 causes-and-effects essay, written, self-assessed, and shown beside the Band 7.5+ models, with the moves that earn the marks.
How to use this. Write both tasks in the boxes below, Task 1 in twenty minutes, Task 2 in forty, as in the real test. When you have finished, open Self-assessment to mark your own work against the four criteria, then compare it with the Band 7.5+ models and the notes on exactly what lifts a response up a band. You can download a copy of everything to keep. For a person to mark your writing against the criteria, the first lesson includes one marked Task 2.
Describe the charts.
Recommended 20 minutes · at least 150 words
The bar chart shows the total number of international students enrolled at universities in Australia between 2010 and 2024. The pie chart shows the breakdown of international students by region of origin in 2024.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write the essay.
Recommended 40 minutes · at least 250 words · carries twice the marks
In recent years, the so-called ‘fast fashion’ industry, clothing produced cheaply and rapidly to follow short-lived trends, has expanded enormously, particularly through online retailers. Although such garments are inexpensive and widely accessible, environmental campaigners and labour organisations have raised significant concerns about the way they are produced and consumed.
What are the main causes of this trend, and what effects is it having on society and the environment?
Mark your own work.
Be honest with yourself against the four criteria, the same four an examiner uses. Then read the model answers and the notes on exactly what moves a response up a band.
Task Response
Coherence & Cohesion
Lexical Resource
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
The Band 7.5+ models, and what earns the marks
What the task wants. Two charts of different kinds, one a trend over time, the other a snapshot breakdown. The single biggest trap is writing about only one, or about each in isolation with no overview. A Band 7.5 opens with an overview that captures both (a steep rise in numbers, dominated by a few Asian countries), then takes each chart in turn. The two are not directly comparable, so the skill is selecting the headline from each and reporting them in one coherent answer.
The target · Band 7.5+ · modelThe bar chart shows the total number of international students at Australian universities from 2010 to 2024, while the pie chart breaks the 2024 figure down by region of origin. Overall, enrolments rose substantially across the period, almost tripling, and by 2024 the great majority of these students came from Asia, with two countries alone accounting for half. Looking first at the trend, numbers climbed steadily from 200,000 in 2010 to 540,000 in 2024. The rise was gradual at first but accelerated noticeably from 2018 onwards, which saw the steepest growth of the whole period. As for origin, the 2024 intake was heavily concentrated: students from China made up the largest single share at 28%, followed by India at 22%, so that these two countries together supplied exactly half of all enrolments. A further 30% came from elsewhere in Asia, meaning Asian students represented fully 80% of the cohort. The remaining fifth was split between Europe (8%), Africa (6%) and the rest of the world (6%).
Why it scores. A single overview that captures both charts (steep rise; Asia-dominated); each chart then given a clear paragraph with the right register (trend verbs for the bar, proportion language for the pie); accurate figures used selectively as evidence; and signposting (Looking first at; As for origin) that holds the two halves together.
Where weaker responses lose marks. Describing only one chart, or both with no overview; trying to compare the two charts directly when they measure different things; reading out every bar and every slice with equal weight; and figure slips, rised, the number raised to, 50 percentages, that quietly cap accuracy.
What the task wants. Two halves: the causes of fast fashion’s growth, and its effects on society and the environment. Both must be answered to a similar depth, and the strongest essays make the effects follow from the causes rather than treating them as two unrelated lists. The cleanest structure gives one body paragraph to causes and one to effects, with an introduction that paraphrases the prompt and a conclusion that draws the threads together.
The target · Band 7.5+ · model paragraphsIntroduction. The rapid rise of fast fashion, cheap, trend-driven clothing sold largely online, has transformed how people buy and discard garments. This essay will examine the principal reasons behind its growth before turning to the consequences it carries for society and the natural world.
Causes. Several forces have driven the trend. The most obvious is price: advances in manufacturing and the use of low-cost overseas labour have made clothes cheaper in real terms than ever before, putting constant newness within reach of ordinary shoppers. This has been amplified by social media and online retail, which expose consumers to fresh styles daily and allow an impulse purchase to be completed in seconds. Underlying both is a broader culture of disposable consumerism, in which clothing is treated as almost single-use.
Effects. The consequences are serious and run in two directions. Environmentally, the industry generates enormous textile waste, as barely worn garments are discarded, and consumes vast quantities of water and energy while polluting rivers with dyes. Socially, the low prices often rest on the exploitation of garment workers in developing countries, who endure poor conditions and minimal pay. There is a cultural cost too, as the pressure to keep up with disposable trends fuels overconsumption and dissatisfaction.
Conclusion. In conclusion, fast fashion has grown chiefly because falling prices, online retail and a throwaway culture have combined to make cheap clothing irresistible. Its effects, however, including environmental damage and the mistreatment of workers, are grave, and addressing them will require both better regulation and a shift in how consumers value what they wear.
Why it scores. Both halves answered with comparable weight; the effects clearly flow from the causes named earlier (cheap labour → worker exploitation; throwaway culture → textile waste); each point developed with explanation and example rather than listed; and precise topic lexis (disposable consumerism, textile waste, exploitation, overconsumption) used accurately.
Where weaker responses lose marks. Diagnosing causes thoroughly but rushing the effects, or the reverse; listing causes and effects with no link between them; vague generalisation with no concrete example; and the recurring Task 2 ceiling, comma splices joining two full sentences with only a comma, which holds an otherwise strong essay at 6.5 on accuracy.
These are model answers I wrote for this paper, shown with the criterion marks they would earn and the reasons. The first lesson includes one of your own Task 2s, marked the same way against the four criteria and returned annotated, line by line.
Take your work with you.
Download your two answers alongside the target models, so you can revise them later or bring them to a lesson.
Earlier, online: Paper 06, a data table and an outweigh essay · Paper 05, a map comparison and a two-part essay · Paper 04, a process diagram and an advantages essay · Paper 01.
Send a task. Get it back marked.
A paper tells you the question. It can’t tell you why your answer sits at 6.5.
Write your response to the Task 2 above and send it to me. I’ll mark it in detail against the four assessment criteria and return it to you annotated, line by line, so you can see exactly where the band is sitting and what is holding it down. Written work is handled this way around the lessons, sent over and returned marked between sessions, which keeps the fifty minutes themselves free for speaking. The first lesson is a full assessment. Regular lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English.