Sample Essay

The pie charts illustrate how a school in the UK allocated its annual expenditure in 1981, 1991 and 2001.

Overall, teachers’ salaries consistently represented the largest proportion of spending throughout the period, while insurance, despite showing a steady increase, remained the smallest category. Notably, furniture and equipment overtook other workers’ salaries to become the second-largest expense by 2001.

In 1981, teachers’ salaries accounted for 40% of the budget, rising to exactly half in 1991 before declining slightly to 45% in 2001. Other workers’ salaries ranked second in the first two years, at 28% and 22%, but this figure dropped significantly to just 15% in 2001. In contrast, expenditure on furniture and equipment fell from 15% in 1981 to only 5% a decade later, yet it more than quadrupled to 23% in 2001, surpassing other workers’ salaries.

Spending on resources such as books comprised 15% in 1981 and rose marginally to 20% in 1991, before declining to 9% in 2001. Meanwhile, insurance, although the smallest category, increased steadily from 2% in 1981 to 3% in 1991, and then saw a sharp rise to 8% in 2001.

Vocabulary for Pie Charts (Proportions & Comparisons)

🔹 Describing Proportions

• Accounted for / represented / comprised / made up
• Constituted / was responsible for / occupied
• The largest share / the smallest fraction / the dominant category

🔹 Describing Changes

• Rose / increased / climbed / went up
• Declined / fell / dropped / decreased
• Remained stable / stayed constant / fluctuated slightly
• Grew steadily / dropped sharply / surged / plummeted

🔹 Comparisons

• Overtook / replaced / surpassed / exceeded
• Was higher than / was lower than / was the second-largest
• By contrast / whereas / while / compared with

🔹 Useful Phrases

• “X consistently remained the largest expenditure…”
• “Y fell dramatically, whereas Z rose significantly…”
• “Although A was the smallest item, it grew steadily over the years…”
• “The proportion of B more than doubled / halved / quadrupled…”