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Discuss with your Partner

•How much time do you have to write?
•How many words do you have to write?
•What kind of graphs do you have to analyse?
•What is the structure of a writing task 1.
•Should you make a plan?
•What questions do you have about writing task 1?
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Writing task 1 structure

Introduce Give an Give the

the graph overview detail
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To write a good introduction, you

need to paraphrase effectively.

What is paraphrasing?
to repeat something written or spoken
using different words, often in a
simpler and shorter form that makes
the original meaning clearer
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Sample question

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The graphs above give information about computer
ownership as a percentage of the population
between 2002 and 2010, and by level of education for
the years 2002 and 2010.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting
the main features, and make comparisons where
relevant.
Write at least 150 words.

Read the question statement and write this

again in your own words (paraphrase)
 ↳
Two techniques were used here
can you identify them?

The graphs above give information about computer

ownership as a percentage of the population between
2002 and 2010, and by level of education for the years
2002 and 2010.

The line graphs reveal data regarding the percentage of people that own
computers at various education levels between the years of 2002 and 2010.
 1. Using direct synonyms

The graphs above give information about computer

ownership as a percentage of the population between
2002 and 2010, and by level of education for the years
2002 and 2010.
The line graphs reveal data regarding the percentage of people
that own computers at various education levels in the years
2002 and 2010.
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2. Changing the word order/form

The graphs above give information about computer ownership as a

percentage of the population between 2002 and 2010, and by level
of education for the years 2002 and 2010.
The line graphs reveal data regarding the percentage of people
that own computers at various education levels between the
years of 2002 and 2010.
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Keep in mind
Some words are impossible to change, or if we did
change them they would become inaccurate.

Use exactly matching synonyms (direct synonyms), or

simply use the same word.

You should only use words you are 100% sure about.
Don’t change a word unless you are 100% sure that it is
a direct synonym, otherwise you are likely to make
mistakes and this will bring down your score.
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Practice

The pie chart displays the amount of revenue and

expenditures in 2016 for a children’s charity in the USA.
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The pie chart displays the amount of revenue and

expenditures in 2016 for a children’s charity in the USA.

Which paraphrasing techniques were used here?

1. direct synonyms 2. Change of word order

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Now, it’s your turn

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·
The table illustrates the percentage of school
children attending four different types of
secondary school from 2000 to 2009.
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·
The diagram explains the way in which bricks
are made for the building industry.
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·
The map illustrates plans for two possible sites for
a shopping mall in the city of Brandfield.
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The pie chart illustrates the proportion of women in
poverty by household composition in the United States in
2008 and the bar graph indicates the differences in rates
of poverty by sex and age.
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What is an Overview?
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How do you write a
good one?
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The overview needs to be written well if you are attempting to get a high score in
TASK RESPONSE the exam.

Band Score 5 students will be able to describe the data, but they won’t actually have an
overview in their essay. They may not know how to write one.

Band Score 6 students will write an overview, but they may not include all the relevant
information, or the information they present is inaccurate. They may also make mistakes
in other parts of the essay.

Band score 7+ students write accurate overviews with information appropriate selected
and categorized. It is descriptive and all the information is relevant. The more relevant
and detailed your descriptions are of the key information, then the higher your score will
be.
The overview is the second thing you should write after the introduction. You are
Y
going to describe the main things that the visual data is showing us in just 1-2
sentences.

This sentence should not include any data or specific details. In addition, the
information needs to be appropriately categorized.

It should not include your opinion about any of the data.

A good overview identifies all the key features and describe them in a uniform/the
same way.

In general terms, the key features are going to be the pieces of information you
believe at the most significant. Therefore, it is not necessarily to describe every
piece of information.
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4 Main Types of Overviews
Since there are multiple question types, many students can get confused.

Line Graphs Tables Double Questions Bar Charts Pie Charts

However, there are only 4 main types of overviews that you need to remember.

Our overviews are going to categorize or organize the key features into
2 - 3 main groups.

The different types are as follows:

● Overviews that categorize according to Increases and Decreases

● Overviews that categorize by highest number and lowest number
● Overviews that describe a Process
● Overviews that describe a Map
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Planning Questions We Should Always Ask!

To make your Overview writing process go smoother. Always ask yourself the following questions.

1. What tense will I be writing in?

1. What kind of graph am writing? Change over time or one year/no time?

CHANGE OVER TIME ONE YEAR / NO TIME

1. What is increasing? 1. What category/categories have

2. What is decreasing? the highest figures?
3. What stays the same? 2. What category/categories have
4. What is the highest at the beginning? the lowest figures?
5. What is the highest at the end? 3. What category/categories are the
newest?
ORGANIZE INTO GROUPS FROM HERE. 4. What category/categories are the
oldest?
Overview that Describe Increases & Decreases ~
The graph below shows the percentage of American export to 4 countries CHANGE OVER TIME
from 2000 to 2020.
1. What is increasing?
2. What is decreasing?
3. What stays the same?
4. Highest at the beginning?
5. Highest at the end?
Overview that Describe Increases & Decreases ~
The chart below shows the frequency of Vegetarian
meals eaten by American people from 2000-2020.

CHANGE OVER TIME

1. What is increasing?
2. What is decreasing?
3. What stays the same?
4. Highest at the beginning?
5. Highest at the end?
Overview that Describe Increases & Decreases ~

The two pie charts below show the online shopping sales for retail sectors in Canada in 2005 and 2010.
Overview that Describe Increases & Decreases
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This table gives information about the changes in Education Budgets, as a
percentage of GDP, for seven different countries between 2017 and 2023.
Increases & Decreases with Predictions
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The line graph shows the changes in population by age group in a
single country from 2010 to present, with predictions until 2030.
Increases & Decreases with Predictions
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The pie charts below show the population by age group in 1950 and 2000 as well as predictions for 2050.
Overviews that Describe Highest & Lowest -
The bar chart below shows the average science scores in ONE YEAR / NO TIME
Japan in 2016 divided by gender from Grades 7 to 12.
1. What category/categories have
the highest figures?
2. What category/categories have
the lowest figures?
3. What category/categories are the
newest?
4. What category/categories are the
oldest?
Overviews that Describe Highest & Lowest i
The chart shows the percentage of male and female teachers in six different types of educational
setting in the UK in 2010.
Overviews that Describe Highest & Lowest
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The pie charts show the total exports from Vietnam and Thailand to five
different countries in 2021.
Overviews that Describe Highest & Lowest
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The table below gives information about the national airlines of six different countries.
Overviews that Describe Highest & Lowest ~
The chart shows the average daily quantity of three types of carbohydrates consumed
by people in various countries.
Overviews that Describe Highest & Lowest
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The charts below shows the Canadian and American import totals (in tonnes) for several
types of vegetables in 2010.

Canada USA
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The charts below show the percentages of people that prefer football, volleyball or basketball in six
countries.
Overviews that Describe Highest & Lowest with Predictions -u
The charts below show the numb er of new jobs created by three industries in the
United States and Vietnam in 2000 and predictions for 2040.
Multiple Chart Types
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The pie chart shows what people in The

United States typically do once graduating
high school. The table shows the age
groups of American students upon various
qualifications in tertiary education.
Multiple Chart Types
The table and pie chart illustrate populations in Australia according to different
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nationalities and areas.

a
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The charts show the changes in ownership

of electrical appliances and amount of time
spent doing housework in households in
one country between 1920 and 2019.