Band 7+: You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The bar chart shows the monthly spending in dollars of a family in the USA on three items in 2010. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

The bar chart depicts the monthly expenditure on food, gas and clothing of a family living in the USA in 2010. Overall, it can be seen that levels of expenditure fluctuated over the period.

To begin, in January the most money was spent on food, at approximately $500 per month. Although expenditure on food increased slightly the following month, it then fell to account for the lowest expenditure of all the items at the end of the period at just over $300.

Gas appeared to follow the opposite pattern to food spending. It started lower at about $350 per month, falling in the following month, and then increasing significantly to finish at just under $600 in April.

Clothing, which at just over $200 accounted for the lowest expenditure at the beginning of the period, fluctuated dramatically over the time frame. After reaching around the same levels as food in February (nearly $600), it dropped markedly in March, then jumped to just under $700 in the final month.

With the exception of an increase in March, average spending decreased slightly over the four months.