The task 1 of the IELTS writing module holds 33% marks, half as many as held by the task 2. You are required to write no less than 150 words, adapting to a somewhat a formal style of writing. You should be able to complete task 1 in about 20 minutes, leaving ample time for task 2 as well as revision.
Task 1 comprises of a graphic, which is usually a compilation of data, different stages of a process, an account of how something functions, or a description of an event or an object.
The question in this part can be presented to you in a variety of forms, which include the following:
Line Graph
Bar Graph
Pie Chart
Tabular Chart
Process Chart
Map
Multiple Graphs
The question you will encounter in task 1 will be a compilation of three elements:
A short description of the graphic
The instructions to attempt the task
The graphic
The advantage of this part of the writing module is that it is always structured in the same manner, making it significantly scoring. Talking about the marking criterion allocated for task 1, you will be examined on the basis of four parameters, each carrying 25% weightage.
Task Achievement – correct response to the given task
Coherence & Cohesion – appropriate structuring of essay
Lexical Resource – subtle integration of diverse vocabulary
Grammatical Accuracy & Range – accurate usage of grammar and its forms
There are significant commonalities in almost all types of task 1 questions, some of which are listed below:
You should identify the units of measurement used in the graphic, whether it is a line graph, bar graph, or pie chart
Notice carefully if the graphic involves time periods. Observe developments in the graphic with respect to time
Extract maximum information from the question and also the labels used
While interpreting the graphic, carefully observe the most common/vital trend
Look for similarities and differences, as they will make your essay more descriptive and elaborate
Line Graph
Line graphs are common questions in IELTS Writing task 1. It represents a set of data set between the x and y axes to represent a set of data through lines. Although they may boggle the mind of someone who does not have a way for data representations, they are easier to attempt than they might appear.
The correct way to crack your task 1 is to practice each type of line graph beforehand, to practice the techniques of interpreting a line graph appropriately.
Here are some points to note while preparing for the line graph questions:
Different people might interpret the same line graph in different ways. So, there are mostly multiple ways of attempting a question
It is imperative to draft your task 1 essay in a very logical way
Paraphrase the brief introduction presented to you in the question, and turn it into an expressive topic sentence
Observe the similarities and differences, and group the information smartly
Make sure you create continuity in your descriptions, such that the reader can easily understand and visualize what you are trying to explain in words
Example:
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.The graph below shows the number of tourists visting a particular Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017.Summaries the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where revelant.Write at least 150 words.
The given line graph illustrates the total number of tourists as well as the places where they stayed in a particular Caribbean Island between 2010-2017.
Overall, total tourists visiting the Caribbean island rose considerably by the time and those staying in cruise ships increased in particular and even those staying on island itself underwent a moderate increase.
In 2010, visitors staying on the island starts at about 0.75 million. Then it keeps growing till 2013 after which there was a marginal decline and then rose again in 2016. On the other hand, no. of tourists staying on cruise ships started at 0.3 million in 2010. After two years of fluctuations, the figure rose steadily surpassing the no. of tourist staying on island in 2015 and reaching the pinnacle in 2017.
There was a substantial gain for overall visitors which started at just 1 million in 2010 and grew to 3.5 million by the end of 2017. There was a marginal decline in 2015 but after that there was a sharp growth.
Bar Graph
If you remember mathematics vividly, you can remember how bar graphs look like. A bar graph is a visual representation of data done through rectangles of equal width, placed parallelly to display the levels or values of a data set.
Follow these tips to efficiently attempt bar graph questions in IELTS task 2:
Read the question thoroughly to extract important information
Rewrite the information given in the question to a well-structured topic sentence
While interpreting data on the bar graph, move from left to right and refer to the change in values
Enrich your answer with key information surrounding the constants and variables
Make sure you include numerical figures to make your answer more elaborate
Use words like while, along with, compared to, etc.
Example:
The chart below shows the results of a survey about people’s coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities. Summaries the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
The given bar graph provides the information about people’s coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities namely Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart.
Overall, it is clear that the maximum percentage of citizens from Hobart went to the cafe for tea or coffee in last 4 weeks and in all the cities, people like to buy instant coffee rather than fresh coffee.
In Sydney and Melbourne, more than 60% of people went to cafe for tea or coffee. Around 47% of Melbourne people had bought instant coffee and figure for the same in Sydney was around 43%. Almost equal proportion (40%) of people in both these cities were interested in purchasing fresh coffee.
Furthermore, 50%-53% of people from remaining 3 cities bought instant coffee which is 15% more than the percentage of people who bought fresh coffee.
Pie Chart
The first advantage with pie charts is that they appear pretty, and might have an easing effect on your mind. Pie Charts are the circular form of graphical interpretations, where a circle is divided into multiple proportions to represent elements of data.
Stumble upon these useful tips to befriend pie charts in your IELTSexamination:
Observe the pie chart, identify the most notable features, and then go on to adding more details
Simply paraphrase the question to write an effective introduction by using synonyms and changed sentence structures
Move on to mentioning the general details of the pie chart and start making visible comparisons
Further, start including more detailed information about the data and don’t miss out on giving evidence to support your observations
Since you have a limitation on the number of words you can write, include only main detail in your answer, rather than detailing out too much
Example:
The pie chart shows the amount of money that a children’s charity located in the USA spent and received in one year. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
The pie chart illustrates the revenue and expenditure of a child charity situated in USA in a year.
Overall,the most prominent revenue source is donated food and the least prominent are government grants and investment income. most of the income is spend on program services and the least on management and general.
Total revenue generated in a year is $53,561,580 and majority of it come from donated food which is 86.6%. community contributed 10.4% in revenue and programe revenue is 2.2%. other income sources contributed 0.4% to charity revenue.
Both government grants and investment made upto only 0.2% of childs charity income. Total expenditure of charity is $52,224,896. Majority of income is spend on program services provided by charity to children which is 95.8%.charity spend 2.6%of its income on fund rasing and 1.6% on management and general which is where the least money is spent.
Tabular Chart
Tables might trick you into believing that they are difficult to interpret as they are plain numbers without any kind of visual representation. However, the good news is that tabular charts are not really complicated. Afterall, the IELTS examination is not conducted to test your mathematical aptitude, but your knowledge and understanding of the English language.Go through these insightful tips to crack tabular chart questions in the writing task 1:
Analyze the question meticulously and identify the main characteristics of the tabular chart
The ideal way to comprehend this type of question is to examine the title, headings of rows and columns of the table, and the units of measurements specified
In the introduction, simply paraphrase the question as always
Start by stating the general information you observe in the table, and later on elaborate the details
Make relevant comparisons wherever necessary and state evidence to support your statements
Don’t stuff your answer with too much detail; pick up the main features and explain them coherently
Example:
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The Table below shows the results of a survey that asked 6800 Scottish adults (aged 16 years and over) whether they had taken part in different cultural activities in the past 12 months.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
The table illustrates the survey results of 6800 Scottish adults (aged 16 years and over) on either they had participated in any cultural activities in last one year or not.
Overall, maximum percentage of people participated in performances such as dancing, singing, playing instrument and acting and minimum percentage participated in computer based activities.
Age group 16-24 had 35% participation in any performance which was maximum of that age group and 10% in computer based activities which was minimum. Adults of this age group participated 11% in crafts and cultural purchases. 30% participants were in visual arts and 17% in writing activity. Age group 25-44 had most of the intrest in performances and least intrest in writing which were 22% and 6%. Cultural purchases and crafts had same participation of 17%. Computer based activity had 9% participants and visual arts had 16%.
Most participants in crafts were of age group 45-74 which was 22%. A few of them participated in writing and computer based activity 5% each. Performance and cultural purchases had 17% and 18% participation. 11% showed intrest in visual arts. All aged 16 and over showed maximum intrest in performance and least in computer based activity whoch were 22% and 6%. Visual arts and cultural purchases had 15% and 16% participants respectively. 19% and 7% took part in crafts and writing.
Process Chart
Process Charts are comparatively less frequent to appear in your writing module than the other types of visual representations. As the name suggests, process charts are pictorial representations of a process, which can range from the manufacturing process of a product to natural phenomena like the water cycle.
Following are some important questions to answer when you have your question in front of you:
Does the diagram represent a linear or cyclic process?
Linear processes have different starting and end points. They usually display the manufacturing process of a product, starting from the raw materials and ending at the final product.
On the other hand, cyclic processes have the same starting and ending points. It can portray the life cycle of an organism or a process that constantly repeats itself.
What is the starting and ending point of the process?
While you may easily identify this for a linear process, it might be harder to do that for a cyclic process. So, get your brains running!
Can the entire process be divided into different stages?
What is the end product of the process?
Remember these important points while curating essays for process charts:
Begin with rewriting the details entailed in your question into the topic sentence
The, give a general brief about the process- what it is all about and what are the components of the process?
Add details to your answer by elaborating the process and stating the significant facts illustrated in the visual
Always remember that you do not have to stuff all details into your answer. Since you have to finish in 150 words, you are advised to include the most important details and shed light on them while subtly explaining the process shown
Example:
The diagram shows the process by which milk and related products are produced. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Write at least 150 words.
The process charts illustrates the production process of milk and its related dairy products.Overall, the process involves eight steps and each step is necessary. If any step is skipped the process will hault. The process starts with grazing of cows and ends with it in supermarkets and shops.
To start with, cows are left in fields for grazing. Afterwards, they are milked by machines twoce a day. Then, milk is stored in refrigerator storage and is delivered to dairy daily by milk tanker.
At this point, milk is processed in dairy for its related products such as chesse, cream and butter to produced. At this point, the milk is taken for packaging and pasteurizing. Finally, milk is taken to supermarkets and shops for selling.
Map
Usually, maps are visual representations of a place. Mostly, you will be asked to explain the changes that you can observe in the given two or three maps of a particular location, for example a city of a building.
Consider the given tips when you bump into a map question during your examination:
Embark upon your answer by reconstructing the details in the question into an expressive topic sentence
Be smart with directions, and make a note of the various parts of the map
Draw comparisons amongst the change in the structure of the map over the given periods of time, and center your answer around these details
Use words that denote distance, time and directions while writing your answer so that it becomes more descriptive and understandable
Include the most observable details in your answer and avoid stuffing it with too much information
Example:
Here is some map vocabulary to enrich your map writing experience.
The government demolished the industrial estate and developed a sports ground.
They removed the shops and replaced it with a skyscraper.
A port was constructed at the edge of the river.
The factory in the city centre was demolished and relocated to the north of the city.
The old warehouses were replaced with new hotels.
The factory was converted into apartments.
Trees and Forests – cleared, cut-down, chopped-down, removed, planted.
Examples:
The forest was cut-down and replaced with a shopping centre.
The trees were cleared to make way for houses.
Roads, bridges and railways lines- constructed, built, extended, expanded and removed.
The main road was extended and a new bridge built over the river.
Leisure facilities – opened, set up, developed.
Examples:
A skate park was set up next to the swimming pool.
A park was developed beside the forest.
How to Describe General Changes.
As this is an IELTS writing task 1 question, you must write an overview, where you should generally talk about the main changes that have occurred between the two time periods.
Below are some examples of general statements we could use to describe change in towns and cities.
Over the period, the area witnessed dramatic changes.
From 1995 to 2005, the city centre saw spectacular developments.
The village changed considerably over the time period.
During the 10 year period, the industrial area was totally transformed.
Over the past 20 years, the residential area was totally reconstructed.
Over the time period, the old docks were totally redeveloped. Between 1995 and 2005, the old houses were rebuilt.
The central business district was completely modernized during the time period.
The task 1 of the IELTS writing module holds 33% marks, half as many as held by the task 2. You are required to write no less than 150 words, adapting to a somewhat a formal style of writing. You should be able to complete task 1 in about 20 minutes, leaving ample time for task 2 as well as revision.
Task 1 comprises of a graphic, which is usually a compilation of data, different stages of a process, an account of how something functions, or a description of an event or an object.
The question in this part can be presented to you in a variety of forms, which include the following:
The question you will encounter in task 1 will be a compilation of three elements:
The advantage of this part of the writing module is that it is always structured in the same manner, making it significantly scoring. Talking about the marking criterion allocated for task 1, you will be examined on the basis of four parameters, each carrying 25% weightage.
There are significant commonalities in almost all types of task 1 questions, some of which are listed below:
- Different people might interpret the same line graph in different ways. So, there are mostly multiple ways of attempting a question
- It is imperative to draft your task 1 essay in a very logical way
- Paraphrase the brief introduction presented to you in the question, and turn it into an expressive topic sentence
- Observe the similarities and differences, and group the information smartly
- Make sure you create continuity in your descriptions, such that the reader can easily understand and visualize what you are trying to explain in words
Example:You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The graph below shows the number of tourists visting a particular Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017. Summaries the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where revelant. Write at least 150 words.
- Read the question thoroughly to extract important information
- Rewrite the information given in the question to a well-structured topic sentence
- While interpreting data on the bar graph, move from left to right and refer to the change in values
- Enrich your answer with key information surrounding the constants and variables
- Make sure you include numerical figures to make your answer more elaborate
- Use words like while, along with, compared to, etc.
Example:The chart below shows the results of a survey about people’s coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities. Summaries the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
The first advantage with pie charts is that they appear pretty, and might have an easing effect on your mind. Pie Charts are the circular form of graphical interpretations, where a circle is divided into multiple proportions to represent elements of data.
Stumble upon these useful tips to befriend pie charts in your IELTS examination:
Example:
The pie chart shows the amount of money that a children’s charity located in the USA spent and received in one year.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
The pie chart illustrates the revenue and expenditure of a child charity situated in USA in a year.
Overall,the most prominent revenue source is donated food and the least prominent are government grants and investment income. most of the income is spend on program services and the least on management and general.
Total revenue generated in a year is $53,561,580 and majority of it come from donated food which is 86.6%. community contributed 10.4% in revenue and programe revenue is 2.2%. other income sources contributed 0.4% to charity revenue.
Both government grants and investment made upto only 0.2% of childs charity income. Total expenditure of charity is $52,224,896. Majority of income is spend on program services provided by charity to children which is 95.8%.charity spend 2.6%of its income on fund rasing and 1.6% on management and general which is where the least money is spent.
- Analyze the question meticulously and identify the main characteristics of the tabular chart
- The ideal way to comprehend this type of question is to examine the title, headings of rows and columns of the table, and the units of measurements specified
- In the introduction, simply paraphrase the question as always
- Start by stating the general information you observe in the table, and later on elaborate the details
- Make relevant comparisons wherever necessary and state evidence to support your statements
- Don’t stuff your answer with too much detail; pick up the main features and explain them coherently
Example:You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The Table below shows the results of a survey that asked 6800 Scottish adults (aged 16 years and over) whether they had taken part in different cultural activities in the past 12 months. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
The table illustrates the survey results of 6800 Scottish adults (aged 16 years and over) on either they had participated in any cultural activities in last one year or not.
Overall, maximum percentage of people participated in performances such as dancing, singing, playing instrument and acting and minimum percentage participated in computer based activities.
Age group 16-24 had 35% participation in any performance which was maximum of that age group and 10% in computer based activities which was minimum. Adults of this age group participated 11% in crafts and cultural purchases. 30% participants were in visual arts and 17% in writing activity. Age group 25-44 had most of the intrest in performances and least intrest in writing which were 22% and 6%. Cultural purchases and crafts had same participation of 17%. Computer based activity had 9% participants and visual arts had 16%.
Most participants in crafts were of age group 45-74 which was 22%. A few of them participated in writing and computer based activity 5% each. Performance and cultural purchases had 17% and 18% participation. 11% showed intrest in visual arts. All aged 16 and over showed maximum intrest in performance and least in computer based activity whoch were 22% and 6%. Visual arts and cultural purchases had 15% and 16% participants respectively. 19% and 7% took part in crafts and writing.
Process Charts are comparatively less frequent to appear in your writing module than the other types of visual representations. As the name suggests, process charts are pictorial representations of a process, which can range from the manufacturing process of a product to natural phenomena like the water cycle.
Following are some important questions to answer when you have your question in front of you:
Remember these important points while curating essays for process charts:
Example:
The diagram shows the process by which milk and related products are produced.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features.
Write at least 150 words.
The process charts illustrates the production process of milk and its related dairy products.Overall, the process involves eight steps and each step is necessary. If any step is skipped the process will hault. The process starts with grazing of cows and ends with it in supermarkets and shops.
To start with, cows are left in fields for grazing. Afterwards, they are milked by machines twoce a day. Then, milk is stored in refrigerator storage and is delivered to dairy daily by milk tanker.
At this point, milk is processed in dairy for its related products such as chesse, cream and butter to produced. At this point, the milk is taken for packaging and pasteurizing. Finally, milk is taken to supermarkets and shops for selling.
Usually, maps are visual representations of a place. Mostly, you will be asked to explain the changes that you can observe in the given two or three maps of a particular location, for example a city of a building.
Consider the given tips when you bump into a map question during your examination:
Example:
Here is some map vocabulary to enrich your map writing experience.
Buildings – demolished, knocked-down, flattened, replaced, renovated, built, constructed, reconstructed, developed, extended, expanded, relocated, converted and modernized.
Examples:
Trees and Forests – cleared, cut-down, chopped-down, removed, planted.
Examples:
Leisure facilities – opened, set up, developed.
Examples:
How to Describe General Changes.
As this is an IELTS writing task 1 question, you must write an overview, where you should generally talk about the main changes that have occurred between the two time periods.
Below are some examples of general statements we could use to describe change in towns and cities.
Between 1995 and 2005, the old houses were rebuilt.