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The three pie charts compare the percentage of yearly spending on insurance, teacher’s salaries, furniture and equipment, resources e.g books, other workers' salaries by a specific UK school. The given years are 1981,1991 and 2001.

Overall, in all three years, the biggest expenditure was on teacher’s salaries, whereas insurance constituted the smallest cost, less than 10%. Additionally, the cost of other staff’s salaries decreased over those years.

In 1981, the cost of teachers’ pay was 40%, which was 20 times higher than that of insurance, and after that 10-20 years, though the cost of insurance did rise slightly, the situation still did not change, the percentages of teacher’s salaries were still higher than that of insurance by a large margin; 50% and 45% compared to 3% and 8%.

Initially, spending on resources and furniture & equipment were equal, standing at 15%. By 1991, the proportion of resources had increased to 20% after showing a significant drop to 9% by the end of the period. An opposite trend to this can be witnessed in that of furniture and equipment, with 5% in 1991 and 23% in 2001.

The cost of other staffs’ salaries declined gradually over those three years, from being the second greatest cost, 28% in 1981 to the third largest, 15% in 2001.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

The three pie charts compare the percentage of yearly spending on insurance, teacher’s salaries, furniture and equipment, resources e.g books, other workers' salaries by a specific UK school. The given years are 1981,1991 and 2001.

(You need to connect the three years more tightly to the three charts. This is easy to do in the first sente

(You need to connect the three years more tightly to the three charts. This is easy to do in the first sentence. Consider this opening sentence:

The three pie charts, dated 1981, 1991 and 2001,  compare the percentage of yearly spending in one UK school on five budget categories. These are  teacher’s salaries, other salaries, furniture and equipment, resources (e.g books), and  insurance.

Note how the relationship between the three pie charts and the three years is very very clear.

Next, to simplify the sentence and make it clearer for the reader, I do not list all the different categories in the same sentence. That makes the sentence ungainly and awkward. I just mention "five categories". I introduce a word that I will use later in the essay, "budget."

The second sentence details the budget categories. The order of the list is critical, because it introduces the structure of the essay to follow.

I deliberately put the two salary categories next to each other first in the list, because I plan to group them together and compare them in the first body paragraph.

I also list furniture and equipment next to resources because these budget items are discretionary. "Discretionary" is a fantastic vocabulary word to know in the context of budgeting. For example, insurance is non-discretionary and so are salaries. These items must be spent to operate the school every month.

I put insurance last in the list, because I will discuss it last in the essay.

I devote most of the words in this essay to the employees, because it is the most significant proportion of the spending. It is very very impressive to the examiners if you group similar categories together, rather than categories that are completely unrelated like insurance and salaries. Here teachers and other workers are employees of the school.

Overall, in all three years, the biggest expenditure was on teacher’s salaries, whereas insurance constituted the smallest cost, less than 10%. Additionally, the cost of other ~~staff’s~~ salaries decreased over those years.

In 1981, the cost of teachers’ pay was 40%, which was 20 times higher than that of insurance, and after that 10-20 years, though the cost of insurance did rise slightly, (Slightly is not the word to use, because the allocation of budget to insurance increased by a factor of four, the largest increase, in relative terms.) the situation still did not change, the percentages of teacher’s salaries were still higher than that of insurance by a large margin; 50% and 45% compared to 3% and 8%. (It really is not very logical to compare teachers' salaries to insurance.)

Initially, spending on resources and furniture & equipment were equal, standing at 15%. (By using "and" the reader expects a sum, or 30%. Your phrasing is ambiguous. The reader is confused if 15% is the total or individual values. You must add the word "each" for separate numbers.

Spending on resources and furniture & equipment were equal,  amounting to 30% of the total budget.

"And" means a sum of the two categories. Reinforce that summation by the phrase "amounting to".

Spending on resources and furniture & equipment were equal, 15% each of total spending.

"each" means that one was 15% and the other was 15%.

By 1991, the proportion of resources had increased to 20% after (wrong usage - you say that 1991 is after 2001.) showing a significant drop to 9% by the end of the period. An opposite trend to this can be seen ~~witnessed~~ (Witness is used mostly for criminal activity.) in that of furniture and equipment, with 5% in 1991 and 23% in 2001.

The cost of other ~~staffs~~’ workers' salaries declined gradually over those three years, from being the second greatest cost, 28% in 1981 to the third largest, 15% in 2001.

Example essay: (215 words)

Note that I have structured this essay a little differently than my usual model. The salaries were a very important budget group, so the second paragraph just describes this one combined category. The third paragraph is for non-discretionary categories, and the last deals with insurance.

The three pie charts, dated 1981, 1991 and 2001, compare the percentage of yearly spending in one UK school on five budget categories. These are teacher’s salaries, other workers' salaries, furniture and equipment, resources (e.g books), and insurance.

(The first body paragraph discusses the salaries as one super-category. Look at the different phrases for "other workers' salaries")

The greatest proportion of the school's budget went to paying employees. In 1991, salaries made up just over two-thirds of the school's budget (68%), with teachers taking 40% and other staff 28%. This had risen slightly to 72% by 1991, with the 10% rise in the teacher's salaries offset by a 6% decline in that of the other workers. In that year, teachers' salaries took up half of the budget, the largest proportion of all three years. In 2001, the total percentage devoted to salaries had dropped to 60%, 45% for teachers and 15% for non-teaching staff.

(The next paragraph considers the two non-discretionary budget items as a super-category.)

The two categories representing discretionary items, furniture and equipment and resources, had the large variation individually, i.e. ranging between 5% to 23% for the former and 9% to 20% for the latter. But when taken together, the sum was relatively consistent, 30% in 1981, 25% in 1991 and 32% in 2001.

(The last paragraph is quite brief, but covers the fifth category. Note the very useful vocabulary word "relative." The opposite of "relative" is "absolute." These are extremely useful for task 1 essays if you learn to use them correctly. The words "double" "triple" and "quadruple" are also useful words. )

The relative cost of insurance, the last category, increased more than any of the others. It required only 2% of spending in 1981, and that quadrupled to 8% in 2001.

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