The Ultimate Guide to IELTS Academic Writing Task 1

pie charts line graphs bar charts tables maps  and diagrams in your IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 you'll be required to describe one of them  today we're going to look at some sample answers for each type of task and discuss how to score  higher in the four criteria examiners use to assess your answers it's Asiya let's get started let's take an example from Cambridge IELTS 16 the charts below show the changes in ownership of  electrical appliances and amount of time spent doing housework in hous

eholds in one country  between 1920 and 2019 summarize the information by selecting and Reporting the main features and  make comparisons where relevant write at least 150 words task one assesses our ability to write  a report summarizing data presented in a number of possible ways the question never varies never  the idea then is for you to find the key elements in the information above all ask yourself what  is this really all about is there a key factor or some part to your answer to this que

stion is  absolutely essential if you want to get a high score in task achievement the first of the four  criteria examiners assess you can find it in the is band descriptors the document that lists  all the requirements for each Criterion and each band score these band descriptors can be  a bit of a mystery sometimes for example you'd have to be an I's examiner to know what a ban  nine in task achievement really means when it says fully satisfies all the requirements of the  task but for lower

band notice the word overview band seven presents a clear overview of the main  Trends differences or stages Ben six presents an overview with information appropriately selected  B five presents detail mechanically with no clear overview B five tells us where some test takers  go wrong they jump in too fast and just describe what they see there is very little to no attempt  to interpret it have a good look at the task again what overview could we give here what's the  main thing you've learned t

here is a fairly obvious connection between the two charts can  you see it the more appliances at home the less time spent cooking washing and cleaning so in the  report our first sentence presents the task you can do this by paraphrasing the task sentence  our second sentence is our overview here is a possible version the two charts provide data on  the percentage of families in an unnamed country that possessed labor saving devices together with  the average time spent weekly on domestic chore

s over a 100e period the data reveals a clear  relationship between the growth in ownership of such devices and the decreasing amount of time  devoted to household tasks remember how important it is to also summarize what we see and read using  synonyms three things stand out here the first is yes the synonyms to achieve a high score not only  in task achievement but also lexical resource you need to paraphrase so households become families  electrical appliances are labor saving devices time sp

ent can be time devoted it ownership  changes to the verb possessed and the charts no longer show they provide data wrong secondly  notice in this first part how General everything is no figures no raw data yet that's an important  point to keep in mind wait until the second and third paragraph to give out the details the  third point is the overview sentence two it shows that you have understood what the graphic  data is essentially all about right let's move on to another task descriptor and l

ook at lexical  resource or your vacabulary The Examiner wants to see how well you can use words to express  very precise meanings The Examiner is also on the lookout for uncommon words words that are  perfectly appropriate in the context but not the usual common words this shows your range  of vacabulary how wide and deep it is another important aspect is how you can combine words  together in a natural accurate way we call this cation how words go together such as do your best  or make a mess

and errors well in the descriptors it does point to inaccurate spelling and errors  in word formation that would not help you obtain a really high band score but then again at band  seven and eight and to some extent even nine some inaccuracies are tolerated we also have of course  synonyms to vary our vocabulary and now let's try and write some sentences I want to be very precise  to show my range and depth of vocabulary and to use some uncommon words if possible let's go back  to our first dom

estic appliances chart what do you notice the percentage of homes possessing  refrigerators grew dramatically after they were first introduced in 1920 climbing to 50%  ownership in just 20 years and to 90% by 1960 by the Year 1980 the peak of 100% was reached a  figure that has been maintained throughout the remainder of the periods Sur Aid vacuum cleaners  were also found in every home but from the year 2000 onwards after having risen steadily from 30%  in 1920 to 90% in 1980 however by 2020 on

ly 3 qus of all homes possessed a washing machine ownership  of this Appliance arose gradually from 40% in 1920 to 70% in 1960 and despite suffering a slight  fall over the following 20 years have maintained a steady growth since a lot lot of increases and  decreases so we need to offer a range of synonyms we have the verbs grow climb rise they collocate  with adverbs dramatically steadily gradually and the nouns Peak fall growth which ccate with  to reach a peak a slight fall steady growth if t

here is no change neither up nor down you  can use the verb maintain remember to that you must be accurate with data and Vary how you refer  to it whenever possible here we see for example not only percentages but also fractions as in 3/4  of all homes instead of 75% similarly 25% is one4 1/4 or 1 and four for example one and four people  33% is 1/3 of 1 and three 50% is half 66% is 2/3 or two in three I know that task one requires a  lot of specific words to describe the charts and Maps which w

e don't use every day that's why for  my courses I even created a vocabulary for task one where you can learn the essential words  words and see examples of how to use them in task one answers so if you have some time before  your exam know that learning vocabulary for task one definitely helps and now let's change the  topic and the type of task as well most of us think of grammar when we learn another language we  want to get it right and the examiner is looking at our range of structures how

complex they are  as well as noticing errors if our sentences are pretty much error free and complex we're looking  at band8 or n a band seven will include some minor errors but also show a good control of grammar  and punctuation so let's look at this in the context of a task one showing maps of plans these  are interesting because above all they clearly illustrate change and in the example we're going  to look at compare the point in the past with one in the future so first take a good look wi

th me  at the question the diagrams below show the site of a school in 2004 and the plan for changes to  the school site in 2024 and we see two maps 2004 and 2024 what what are the major changes you  see here have these changes already happened no they're planned for the future and when the  task was written 2024 was still future so you need to show different ways of describing future  events student numbers are predicted to rise to over 60% from 600 in 2004 to 1,000 by the year  2024 to accommo

date this increase the path that joins the main entrance to the sports field will  be shortened allowing the two existing school buildings to be linked additionally on the site  where the sports field currently stands a third School building is to be constructed together  with a second car park to the right of this new teaching area connecting this car park to the main  entrance will be a new road which will pass along this south side of the existing school buildings  meanwhile the sports field

will be relocated to the other side of this new road directly south of  the second car park we can use several verb forms to talk about the future the future simple  will be will pass along there are also a lot of passive structures because we are emphasizing  changes that will be made and it's not important who will make them we'll be shortened we  be relocated the passive voice but there are also verbs in the present when we know that  something has already been planned our predicted to rise i

s to be constructed Ed onto our final  Criterion coherence and cohesion your answer is coherent if it's logically organized that's your  structure your paragraphs your answer is cohesive if your sentences are linked together and there  is a smooth transition from one idea to the next let's have a look at a diagram from Cambridge  I 16 the diagram below shows the process for recycling plastic bottoms one issue here perhaps  is our overview with this type of question it's important to point out th

e overall purpose of the  process and the key stages the diagram illustrates a recycling process describing a series of nine  stages through which used plastic bottles are remanufactured as brand new plastic item items  such as pens bags and containers which eventually in turn will likely be recycled themselves  describing the steps involved can be simply sequential using words like first then and so on  but it's also good to show how the steps in the process are linked in terms of consequence f

irst  plastic bottles are placed in specified recycling bins from which they collected and then send to  recycling senters for sorting this sentence covers the first two stages in the beginning of the third  simply linked by first from which and then to show the reason behind the Sorting process stage three  and how that leads to stages four and five we have this once the bottles suitable for recycling have  been selected they compressed and converted into large blocks that are subsequently sent

through  crushing machines this sentence explains why stage five crushing is necessary the crushing process is  necessary to produce pieces that are sufficiently small to be later turned into plastic pellets  so this one connects what happens after crushing to the making of the plastic pallets before that  however the crushed plastic is Thoroughly washed as you might have noticed we have no conclusion  although it's really important to include an overview near the start of the answer to show th

at  you really understand what it's all about and no opinion or revealing Insider or previous knowledge  so we're never going to find in task one something like after 2024 this school will be a better place  to study because of the extra space a better place to study is your opinion that shouldn't be there  so just say this school will be extended so one3 of your writing score depends on how well you can  meet all the requirements with touched on today for in depth preparation you should learn h

ow to  analyze the data and select what we call the key features what to write about in each paragraph of  your report and how to address different types of tasks you can learn all these step by step in my  online courses which can help you prepare in less time and achieve a higher score I'll link them  in the description and if you'd like a taster watch this in-depth lesson on how to write an  introduction to your task one report this is a free preview from my paid calls and don't forget  to do

wnload the slides for that video too and thank you so much for watching me today good  luck with your preparation and your exam bye