Numbers in Task 1: what households spend on food
You can write a table's figures as accurate percentages, fractions and approximations, and choose which ones to report.
Thirty-two per cent can go into a report as 32%, almost a third or nearly one in three. All three are accurate. About a quarter is not, and the examiner has the table in front of them.
At band 7, the Task 1 descriptors say the content is relevant and accurate. We work on the accurate part here: putting figures into words without changing what they say.
Warm-up
Which fraction?
A category takes 34% of a budget. Choose the phrase that describes it accurately.
34% is ______.
How it works
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The table below shows the share of household food spending that went on five categories in one country in 2005 and 2025.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
| Category | 2005 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Meat and fish | 34% | 26% |
| Eating out and takeaways | 16% | 32% |
| Fruit and vegetables | 20% | 20% |
| Dairy and eggs | 15% | 12% |
| Bread, rice and cereals | 15% | 10% |
| Total | 100% | 100% |
Write at least 150 words.
Fractions to know
Words that say how close
A little above the fraction. 34% is just over a third.
A little below it. 32% is almost a third.
Close, on either side. 24% or 26% could each be about a quarter.
Only when the figure is exact. 20% is exactly a fifth.
From figure to words
- 1Find the nearest simple fraction
Compare the figure with the fractions above. 26% is close to 25%, a quarter.
- 2Say which side of it the figure falls
26% is above 25%, so just over a quarter.
- 3Give the figure as well
Put the exact figure in brackets the first time, so the reader can check it: just over a quarter (26%).
- 4Compare two figures
Link them with a relationship: 34% is more than twice 16%, and 32% is double 16%.
Choose the numbers you report
Not every figure needs a sentence. At band 5, the descriptors say there may be a tendency to focus on details (without referring to the bigger picture). Give figures for the largest categories and the biggest changes, and group the rest.
Watch me do one
I'll write the sentence about eating out and takeaway food: 16% in 2005, 32% in 2025.
First the relationship. 32 is exactly twice 16, so the share doubled.
Then a fraction for 2025. A third is 33.3%, and 32% is a little below it, so almost a third.
I could write rose by 16%, but that would be wrong. The rise is 16 percentage points, and measured against 16% it is a rise of 100%.
My sentence: The share spent on eating out and takeaway food doubled, from 16% to 32%, reaching almost a third of the food budget.
A model answer
The table compares how households in one country divided their spending on food between five categories in 2005 and in 2025. Overall, the share spent on eating out and takeaways doubled, making it the largest category by 2025. Every other category took a smaller share, apart from fruit and vegetables, which stayed the same. In 2005, meat and fish took just over a third of the food budget (34%), more than twice the share that went on restaurant and takeaway meals (16%). Twenty years later, the positions of these two categories had reversed. Eating out and takeaways accounted for almost a third of spending (32%), while meat and fish had fallen to just over a quarter (26%). The remaining three categories changed much less. Fruit and vegetables made up exactly a fifth of spending in both years. The share for dairy and eggs dipped from 15% to 12%, and bread, rice and cereals fell by a third, from 15% to 10%, so that by 2025 these staples took only a tenth of the budget.
- TaskThe overview, a summary of the main features, opens with the biggest change and no figures.
- VocabularyFraction, approximation and figure together, so the reader can check.
- VocabularyCompares two figures as a relationship: 34% is more than twice 16%.
- GrammarPast perfect: by 2025 the change was already complete.
- Vocabulary32% is just under 33.3%, so the word is almost.
- Vocabulary20% is precisely a fifth, which is the only reason to write exactly.
- VocabularyA fall of 5 points from 15 is a fall of a third, and both figures are given.
Coloured text shows what the examiner is looking for.
Practice with Elita6 questions
Five questions on fractions and on this table, then a few sentences of your own about new figures.
Percentages and fractions
Match each percentage to the fraction it equals.
Meat and fish in 2025
Meat and fish took 26% of food spending in 2025. Choose the accurate description.
In 2025, meat and fish took ______ of food spending.
The size of a fall
Complete the sentence with one word. Work out what fraction of 15 the fall is.
The share for bread, rice and cereals fell by a , from 15% to 10%.
Write no more than 1 word.
Accurate or not?
Check this sentence against the table, where meat and fish went from 34% to 26%.
The share for meat and fish fell by 8% between 2005 and 2025.
One figure wrong
Check each sentence against the table. One of them describes a figure inaccurately. Choose it.
Which sentence contains the error?
New figures
Write two or three sentences about the figures below. Use at least one fraction, one word that says how close, and one comparison.
In one city, 49% of households cooked dinner at home every day in 2010, compared with 38% in 2020. Over the same period, the proportion ordering a takeaway at least once a week rose from 12% to 26%.
0 / 40 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Words to keep
Form a part of a total. Meat and fish accounted for just over a third of spending.
A part of a total, often given as a percentage. The share spent on eating out doubled.
The unit for the gap between two percentages: from 16% to 32% is a rise of 16 points. The share for cereals fell by five percentage points.
Fall a little. Spending on dairy dipped from 15% to 12%.
Change to the opposite position or order. By 2025 the positions of meat and eating out had reversed.
The money a household plans to spend on food. Eating out took almost a third of the food budget.
Before you go
Turn a figure into a fraction only when it is close, and say which side of the fraction it falls: just over, almost, about.
Give the exact figure in brackets the first time, so the reader can check it.
A change from 16% to 32% is 16 percentage points. Write rose from 16% to 32%, or doubled.
Report the largest figures and the biggest changes, and group the rest.
Next: That completes Unit 11. Unit 12 is about society, and it begins with this, these and such, which link a sentence back to an idea you have just written.