18/06/2023 IELTS WRITING TASK 1: LINE GRAPH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XATlmM286wg&t=2s

QUESTION: The line graph below shows the household recycling rates in three different
countries between 2005 and 2015.

The line graph illustrates/gives information about the regional household recycling rates in the
UK, France and Germany from 2005 to 2015.

The recycling rates of the UK and Germany showed a steady but significant rise over the period,
while the percentage of recycled waste in France experienced a downward trend.

(paraphrase: the recycling rates = the percentage of recycled waste)

+ showed a significant rise = rose significantly = experienced an upward trend

+ experienced a downward trend = declined = experienced a decrease

In 2005, the recycling rates of the UK and Germany were nearly 35% and 20% respectively.
Germany’s rate increased sharply throughout the period, exceeding France’s rate in 2009 and
reaching almost 60% in the end of the period. In the meantime, the percentage of recycled waste
in the UK grew to 40% in 2007, and then remained steady until 2009. During 2009-2011, it
experienced a rapid surge to more than 50% and continued with a gradual increase to 60% in
2015.

+ exceed /ɪkˈsiːd/ (v): [exceed st] to be greater than a particular number or amount (vượt quá)
Ex: The price will not exceed £100.

+ in the meantime/meanwhile: in the period of time between two times or two events

Ex: My first novel was rejected by six publishers. In the meantime I had written a play.

Ex: The next programme starts in five minutes; in the meantime, here’s some music.

+ surge /sɜːrdʒ/ (n): a sudden increase in the amount or number of something

Ex: [surge in something] a surge in consumer spending

Ex: We are having trouble keeping up with the recent surge in demand.

Ex: A last-minute surge in ticket sales saved the show from closure.

Ex: [surge of something] After an initial surge of interest, there has been little call for our
services.

In early 2005, the recycling rate of France (50%) was the highest among these three countries.
However, it dramatically declined to 30% in 2013. Then, there was a growth of 10% in 2015, but
France’ recycling rate was the lowest in the end of the period.

21/06/2023 IELTS WRITING TASK 1: DESCRIBING A DIAGRAM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PfIr5trddo

diagram (n): a simple drawing using lines to explain where something is, how something works,
etc. (biểu đồ)

QUESTION: The diagram illustrates how steel rods are manufactured in the furniture industry.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons
where relevant.

Steel rods: thanh thép

We will start from the raw material and end this inspection.

Sometimes you may need to ask yourself more questions about diagram:

⇨ Is the procesc cyclic? (repeated many times and always happening in the same order
(a): tuần hoàn, theo chu kỳ)
⇨ Are there any loops or repeating stages?
 ⇨ Are there some things happening at the same time?

As it was explained the previous lesson, to get the highest score for the first task in IELTS
Writing, your answer should have the following structure:

1. Introduction

2. General overview

3. Specific features

QUESTION: The diagram illustrates how steel rods are manufactured in the furniture industry.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons
where relevant.

1. Introduction

The first paragraph of your answer should be an introduction. For the introduction, you need to
paraphrase the topic in your own words. It shouldn't be longer that 2 sentences.
And this is a possible way to write your introduction:

The diagram explains the way in which steel rods are produced for the furniture industry.

Paraphrase: explain = show = illustrate = describe

You could also write the introduction in another way:

The diagram shows the process of metal rods production for the furniture industry.

In fact, there are plenty of ways to write your introduction. Just keep in mind that you should use
synonyms and paraphrase the topic from your question card.

2. Overview

After the introduction, you should give a general overview to summarize what’s going on in the
diagram. Unlike line graphs, pie charts and bar charts, diagrams have no general trends or key
changes to identify. So, in the overview paragraph you need to write:

1. how the process begins and ends

2. the number of stages

If the diagram has loops or repeating stages, or your process is cyclic - write that in your
overview too!

Here is a good way to write a general overview:

Overall, the process consists of eleven stages, beginning with the raw material and ending up
with the product’s inspection.

Always use word overall to start your overview. This way you will indicate the examiner that
you’re describing general trends.

🡺 Overview structure: Overall, the process consists of X stages, beginning with s.t and ending
up with s.t.

3. Specific features

After you've given the overview, you should write about specific details of your diagram. To do
that, you need to describe each stage of your process in detail. Don't forget that you should
provide information in a logical way!

This is a possible way of describing the specific features of our diagram:

First of all, iron ore, yellow ore and carbon are collected to serve as a raw material for steel
rods manufacturing. After that, the raw material is melted in a melting slit, where it is heated to
a temperature in range of 1300-1500 °C. The melted mass is then transferred to a smelting cabin
to undergo/experience refinement. Next, the candescent metal is put in a pouring machine and
poured into ingots.

In the next stage, the ingots are connected to a cooling reservoir, where the temperature falls to
60-100 °C. Metal goes through special nozzles and cools down, forming strands. Following this,
the metal strands proceed to rollers that change their shape. Next, the products are put into a
heating machine, where they undergo heat treatment. Subsequently, a measuring automaton
completes a surface check of the products.

After that, the metal rods are sized by special cutters and get ID stamping. Finally, the products
undergo inspection and are ready for use.

+ iron ore: quặng sắt

+ yellow ore:

+ ingot /ˈɪŋɡət/ (n): a solid piece of metal, especially gold or silver, usually like a brick in shape
(thỏi (vàng, kim loại,…)

+ proceed to something: (formal) to continue with the next stage of an activity, as expected

Ex: Most middle-class school students proceed to university.

Ex: The court case will now proceed to a public hearing.

Using connectors

Process is a series of changes that happen over time. That's why time connectors are extremely
important for writing about process diagrams. Use these time connectors to describe specific
features of your diagram:

• first of all / firstly / to begin

• after that

• then

• next

• in the next stage

• following this

• subsequently (adv): afterwards; later; after something else has happened

• finally

Using additional information

Your diagram will often provide you some additional information and hints for most stages of
the process. Make sure that you use all that information while describing specific features of
your diagram!

However, sometimes you may see that some stage lacks information for description. For
example, we only know that the third stage of our process is called refinement and it happens in
a smelting cabin. But we don't know what exactly happens during this stage.

In this case, you can use a verb to undergo. To undergo = to experience. For example, you can
write: "the material undergoes refinement in a smelting cabin".

And don't forget that you should NOT write a conclusion in Writing task 1 as you're not giving
your opinion, you're describing the data.

22/06/2023 IELTS WRITING TASK 1: BAR CHART LESSON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5eb1uWsLrU&t=303s

To get a band 9 in IELTS Writing task 1, you should follow this answer structure:

1. Introduction

2. General overview

3. Specific features

Let’s look in detail how to apply this structure to an IELTS bar chart question.
 QUESTION: The bar chart shows the divorce
rates in two European countries from 2011 to
2015. Summarise the information by selecting
and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.

IELTS bar chart answering strategy:

1. Introduction

You should start your answer by writing an introduction. The introduction is 1 or 2 sentences,
where you paraphrase the information from your question. You should mention two things in
your introduction:

⇨ what your graph shows

⇨ for what period of time

In our example, the introduction can look like this:

The bar chart provides information about the percentages of divorces in Finland and Sweden
between 2011 and 2015.

See how I used synonyms to paraphrase the question:

→ shows provides information about / illustrates / represents

→ divorce rates percentages of divorces
→ two European countries Finland and Sweden (it’s good to be more specific)
→ from 2011 to 2015 between 2011 and 2015
2. General Overview

The second paragraph of your answer is a general overview, where you briefly describe major
trends on your graph. Ideally, you should describe 2-4 key features.

To make major trends easier to notice, you can outline Sweden’s bars and Finland’s bars like
this:
Now it’s obvious that:

→ Sweden experienced a downward trend

→ Finland experienced an upward trend
→ both countries showed fluctuations
→ Initially Finland had a lower rate, but in 2015 Finland outraced Sweden
Use word overall to start your general overview. In our case, the overview may look as follows:

Overall, Sweden experienced a downward trend, while Finland showed an upward trend
throughout the period. Both countries’ divorce rates had some fluctuations. Although Finland
initially had a lower rate, it outraced Sweden at the end of the period.

3. Specific details

After we’ve written the introduction and general overview, it’s time to give the specific details.
You should describe the specific features in 2 or 3 (sometimes more) paragraphs.

You can group data in such way:

→ Details about Sweden

→ Details about Finland
When you have two countries (or two cities or any other two things depicted on the graph), the
simplest way of grouping data - is to describe each country’s trend in a separate paragraph.

When giving specific features, you have to write exact numbers/percentages and include as much
details as you can.

In our case, the specific details may look as follows:

Sweden’s divorce rate was about 45% in 2011, being higher than Finland’s rate by
approximately 8%. Then, it rose to almost fifty percent in 2012. However, the figure showed a
gradual decrease to about 47% in 2013, and continued to decline steadily to the end of the
period, reaching around 45% in 2014 and hitting a low-point of about 37% in 2015.

Percentage of divorces in Finland was less than 40% in 2011, and it decreased in 2012, when
about one third of marriages in Finland ended with a divorce (as opposed to almost a half in
Sweden). However, the figure experienced a steady growth during the next two years. It rose to
approximately 39% in 2013, then increased by around 3% in 2014, and remained steady for the
next year, outracing the rate of Sweden.

When a graph hits a low-point of X%, it means that the graph reaches its lowest number.

Tips:

→ When analyzing a bar-chart, we cannot always give exact details (due to inaccuracies of
the chart), so use words around, about and approximately when giving inexact data.
→ Give data for each year shown on the chart.

24/06/2023 IELTS WRITING TASK 1: PIE CHART LESSON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTWXaLX2L6Y

QUESTION: The two pie charts below show the percentages of industry sectors' contribution to
the economy of Turkey in 2000 and 2016. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting
the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
IELTS pie chart answering strategy:

1. Introduction

The first paragraph you write is an introduction. The introduction is 1 or 2 sentences, where
you introduce your chart. In the introduction you have to paraphrase the information from your
question and mention 2 important things:

● what your graph shows

● for what period of time

In our example, I wrote the introduction this way:

The two pie charts illustrate how different industry sectors contributed to the economy of Turkey
percentagewise in the years 2000 and 2016.

So, I just took the information from the question card and paraphrased it in such way:

show illustrate / describe / represent / provide information about

the percentages of industry sectors' contribution to the economy of Turkey how different industry sectors contri

in 2000 and 2016 in the years 2000 and 2016

pie charts = pie charts (don't change this!)

Example: in 2015 🡺 in the year 2015; in 2015, 2016 and 2017 🡺 in the years 2015, 2016 and
2017

2. General Overview

The second paragraph of your answer is a general overview, where you briefly describe 2-4
key features of your chart.

In our case there are two main options to describe key features:

a. find the biggest and smallest slices of each pie chart

b. find which slices became bigger/smaller/didn't change

Each option is fine, but don't write both of them because you have to keep your overview short. I
have chosen then first option. Let's look again at our pie charts and identify the biggest/smallest
slices:
Now include the information you've gathered from the chart into your overview. Always start
your general overview with the word overall:

Overall, at the beginning of the period(=in the year 2000), construction contributed the least to
the economy of Turkey and agriculture was the most significant economic sector. In comparison,
at the end of the period, healthcare and education became the largest economic segment and the
lowest contribution was made by financial, business and other services.

Paraphrase:

+ was the smallest segment + was the largest segment

= contributed the least to the economy = contributed the most to the ecomony

= made the lowest contribution = made the highest contribution

= made up the smallest part of the chart = made up the biggest part of the chart

= was the least significant part of the = was the most significant part of the
economy economy

3. Specific details

The last part of your answer is specific details. You should group the specific details of your
chart in 2 or 3 paragraphs.

You can group data in such way:

a. Sectors that had an increase (construction; trade utilities & transportation;

manufacturing; finance, business and other services)
 b. Sectors that had a decrease or didn't change (agriculture; government; leisure and
hospitality; healthcare and education)

In our case, paragraphs with specific details may look as follows:

Construction sector accounted for 3% of Turkey's economy in 2000, and experienced a more
than threefold increase to one-tenth in 2016. Economic income from trade, utilities and
transportation was 14% in 2000 and experienced a slight growth of 2% in 2016. At the beginning
of the period, manufacturing and finance, business and other services made up 8% and 5% of
Turkey's economy, respectively, and these figures rose to 12% and 8% in 2016.

Agriculture, which comprised almost a quarter of Turkey's economy in 2000, fell to 14% in
2016. In 2000 economic outputs from government and leisure and hospitality sectors were at
12% and 17%, respectively, and both decreased by 3% after 16-year period. In contrast,
contribution from healthcare and education sector remained constant in both years at 17%.

Useful vocabulary to write a percentage of a certain sector:

● sector X was 3%

● sector X made up 3%

● sector X accounted for 3%

● sector X comprised 3% of [the whole chart]

Useful vocabulary to describe a change in percentage:

● sector X had a (slight) growth of 2%

● these figures rose to 12% and 8% in 2016

● sector X experienced a more than threefold increase/decrease to one-tenth (=increase by

more than 3 times/more than tripled)

● one-tenth = 10%

24/06/2023 IELTS WRITING TASK 1: INTRODUCTION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqCR-mDGe0k
You should start your task 1 answer by introducing the graph from your question. Just write 1-2
sentences to say what your graph shows and for what period of time (if there is one).

To do this, you need to paraphrase text from your task 1 question.

Here is a general technique to write a great introduction:

1. write what your graph shows

2. indicate a time period
3. list countries (or other names that appear in your question card)

Example of good introduction:

QUESTION: The graphs below 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.
 ⇨ Introduction: The bar charts show data about computer ownership, with a further
classification by level of education, from 2002 to 2010.
To write a good introduction, follow these techniques:

1. CHANGE INTRODUCTORY EXPRESSIONS

The graph/chart/table/diagram…

● gives information about/on

● provides information about/on

● shows

● illustrates

● represents

● depicts
 ● gives reason why (only if graph provides reasons for smth)

● explains why (only if graph provides explanation for smth)

● compares (only if several items are compared)

Attention with word compare! You can say:

→ compares smth in terms of smth

Ex: the charts compare two cities in terms of the number of employed people.

→ compares smth in year1 and year2

Ex: the graph compares the population in 2000 and 2013.

Examples:

o “The pie charts provide information on the proportion of males and females working in
agricultural sector.” OR “The pie charts show the proportion of males and females
working in agricultural sector.”

o “The table compares five companies in terms of the number of employees.” OR “The
table illustrates the number of employees in five companies.”

2. PARAPHRASING

You can rewrite a phrase by using the word how:

● shows the number of people ... = shows how many people ...

● depicts changes in spending on ... = depicts how much changed spending on ...

You can rewrite a phrase by using synonyms:

● number of = quantity of (not interchangeable with amount of)

● spending = expenditure (chi tiêu)

● rate = percentage

● ratio = proportion
 ● information = data

● change can be sometimes replaced by increase, decrease or variation

● share = portion

● place = site

3. TIME PERIODS

● from 1985 to 1995 = between 1985 and 1995

● in 1985 = in the year 1985

● in 1985 and 1995 = in 1985 and 1995 respectively = in the years 1985 and 1995

Examples:

→ The table shows consumption rates from 2001 to 2004.

→ The graph shows consumption rates in 2012 and 2015 respectively.

Paraphrasing in use:

See how the topic was paraphrased to make a very good task 1 introduction (picture on the right).

What was changed:

● Show is changed to compare

● Percentages added

● Different added

● In 2007 and 2009 In the years 2007 and 2009

As you see, you don't have to make up a completely new introduction. Just take the given topic
as a base, and change/add some details.