Dominic Cole’s IELTS and Beyond

Okay these notes aren’t perfect. They are not meant to be. They just help
me write better. That’s the purpose of making notes in an exam.

Did this take 5 minutes? Yes. I spent a lot of that time thinking. The
noting bit was about 2 mins max.

Thinking is a really important part of this process.

1. Basics

Time based - trend vocab

Expenditure - spend - expense (possible prob here)

past tenses + year language

no precise numbers shown

what was the total for each year?

2. The big picture

everything goes up (one exception)

all 5 items must be in

all 3 years

3. Extremes and changes

the biggest  rent

utility bills and entertainment smallest (include the change)

Key details

utility - biggest rise in 2010

transport - biggest rise in 2000

rent - steady

entertainment - no change then fall

 Dominic Cole’s IELTS and Beyond
groceries - small change but steady up

4. Comparisons

similarities

entertainment/groceries - both steady

utilities and transport - similar pattern

rent - much the highest

contrasts

difference of 2010 and 200 for utilities and transport

entertainment fell fell while groceries rose

5 Organisation

One body para - top to bottom - may repeat too much

? if do each year in different para

? if one para on changes and one para one comparisons