Top Five Imports and Exports of Vietnam in 2024 (% of Total Trade)
A complete IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 question with a model answer of 214 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 20 minutes. Write at least 150 words.
The table below shows the top five categories of goods imported into and exported out of Vietnam in 2024, each expressed as a percentage of the country's total trade. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words. [Table — Vietnam's top five imports and exports in 2024, as a percentage of total trade] Rank | Top Imports (% of total imports) | Top Exports (% of total exports) 1 | Electronic components — 28 | Smartphones and parts — 22 2 | Industrial machinery — 17 | Computers and electronics — 18 3 | Crude oil and fuels — 11 | Textiles and garments — 14 4 | Steel and metals — 9 | Footwear — 8 5 | Plastics and chemicals — 7 | Agricultural produce — 6
How to approach it
- 01Group similar categories before describing each row — imports are clearly raw materials, exports are finished goods
- 02Identify a high-level pattern (component-in, product-out) and lead with it in the overview
- 03Use percentage language precisely: 'accounted for', 'made up', 'represented'
- 04Add up the top categories ('together, the top five account for…') to add analytical depth
- 05Avoid listing every row in order — compare the dominant categories on each side
Model answer
214 words in 4 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
The table compares Vietnam's top five imported and exported categories in 2024, with each item given as a percentage of total trade in its respective direction.
Overall, electronics dominate both sides of Vietnam's trade profile, but the country exports finished consumer goods while importing the components used to make them. Together, the top five categories account for roughly seven in every ten dollars of trade in either direction.
Grouping the imports, electronic components alone made up 28 per cent of incoming goods, more than the next two categories combined. Industrial machinery followed at 17 per cent, suggesting heavy investment in manufacturing capacity. Crude oil and fuels accounted for 11 per cent of imports, while steel and metals (9 per cent) and plastics and chemicals (7 per cent) completed the top five — all of them industrial inputs rather than finished products.
The export picture mirrors this pattern in reverse. Smartphones and parts led at 22 per cent, with computers and electronics close behind at 18 per cent — together representing 40 per cent of all exports. Textiles and garments contributed a further 14 per cent, followed by footwear at 8 per cent and agricultural produce at 6 per cent. Vietnam therefore emerges as a country that imports raw materials and components and exports assembled consumer goods.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 38 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
6.5 more than the median answer for this task type
8 words at the shortest, 38 at the longest
the same as the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 21.4 words and vary by 7.8 words either side of that, running from 8 words to 38. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 3 of the 10 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
5 in total, spread across 4 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
while
therefore
next
overall
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 70 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 57 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 6 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Achievement
Identify key features on both sides of the table and make meaningful comparisons
Coherence & Cohesion
Organise by theme (imports vs exports, raw vs finished) with clear paragraphing
Lexical Resource
Use precise vocabulary for trade, manufacturing and proportions
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Use comparative and complex structures accurately when describing relative shares
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