Sample answers by Simon Corcoran

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The diagram illustrates the stages in the life of the salmon, from birth to maturity. 
It is clear that there are six* main stages as the salmon develops from egg to mature 
adult. We can also see that salmon spend time in three distinct locations during the 
cycle, moving from river to estuary to ocean and then back upstream. 
Salmon begin their lives in rivers where the adult fish lay and incubate their eggs. After 
emerging from eggs, the young salmon spend the next stage of their lives being reared 
in freshwater areas. Then, at some point in their development, the fish swim 
downstream to river estuaries where rearing continues. 
Following the estuary rearing period, the maturing salmon migrate to the ocean, where 
they eventually become fully grown adults. Finally, the adult fish travel back upstream 
to spawning areas of rivers; here they reproduce and lay their eggs, and the life cycle 
begins anew. 
(154 words, band 9) 
* 
I wrote "six" main stages because these are the stages that I describe in paragraphs 3 and 4. 

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6 
Four types of tourist attractions in Britain (pie chart) 
The chart below shows the results of a survey of people who visited four types of tourist attr
actions in Britain in the year 1999. 
The pie chart compares figures for visitors to four categories of tourist attraction and to 
five different theme parks in Britain in 1999. 
It is clear that theme parks and museums / galleries were the two most popular types of 
tourist attraction in that year. Blackpool Pleasure Beach received by far the highest 
proportion of visitors in the theme park sector. 
Looking at the information in more detail, we can see that 38% of the surveyed visitors 
went to a theme park, and 37% of them went to a museum or gallery. By contrast, 
historic houses and monuments were visited by only 16% of the sample, while wildlife 
parks and zoos were the least popular of the four types of tourist attraction, with only 
9% of visitors. 
In the theme park sector, almost half of the people surveyed (47%) had been to 
Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Alton Towers was the second most popular amusement park, 
with 17% of the sample, followed by Pleasureland in Southport, with 16%. Finally, 
Chessington World of Adventures and Legoland Windsor had each welcomed 10% of 
the surveyed visitors.