ELTS Writing Task 1 Information

Spend no more than 20 minutes on writing task 1.You should write over 150
words.
IELTS writing task 1 is worth only about 33% of your total writing marks.
Academic writing task 1 is a report on a chart (bar chart, line graph, pie chart,
table, map, and diagram/process).
General Training writing task 1 is a letter only.

Structure of a Report

Paragraph 1 (Introduction)
Sentence 1- Paraphrase Question
This paragraph should be one sentence long and demonstrates your ability to
paraphrase. You do this by using synonyms.
Paragraph 2 (Overview)
Sentence 1- Overview of first main feature
Sentence 2- Overview of second main feature
Sentence 3- Make general comparison, if appropriate
An overview is a general statement highlighting the most important information
in the table. It should not include any numbers. This is just a summary of the main
features. You can use numbers to support your answer in paragraphs 3 and 4.
The examiner tests your ability to identify the most important information and
then summarise it. Important information could include general trends,
increase/decreases, differences, comparisons etc.
Paragraph 3 (Details of significant feature 1)
Sentence 1- Supporting details
Sentence 2- Supporting details
Sentence 3- Supporting details/comparison details/exceptions, if appropriate
In this paragraph, you take the first general statement from paragraph 2 and
support it with details from the graph. The examiner is looking for your ability to
choose the correct data and ability to describe data, trends, comparisons etc.
You then repeat this process for paragraph 4, only this time you describe the
second sentence in paragraph 2.
Paragraph 4 (Details of significant feature 2)
Sentence 1- Supporting details
Sentence 2- Supporting details
Sentence 3- Supporting details/comparison details/exceptions, if appropriate
That’s it. Four paragraphs and 9-10 sentences. Obviously, you need to be flexible
and write 8-12 sentences depending on the question. There may also be three
significant features, so you can adjust the structure slightly.
You should not write a conclusion. Conclusions are for opinion or discursive
essays, and we are not expected to do this in task 1.
What is an overview?
To understand this, we must look at the question. The question for academic task
one is always the same:
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and
make comparisons where relevant.
We, therefore, need to provide a short summary of the main features. You do this
in the overview paragraph by picking out 3-4 of the most significant things you
can see and writing them in general terms. By general, I mean you do not support
anything you see with data from the graph or chart, write about what you can see
visually.
Important information could include general trends, increase/decreases,
differences, comparisons etc.
. There are generally two different kinds of charts and graphs: dynamic and static.
Dynamic charts show data over time, and static charts show data at just one point
in time. This will affect the type of data we select.

When we are looking at dynamic graphs, we should be looking out for:

What does the data do from the start to the finish?

Do they generally go up or down, or do they fluctuate?
Any significant difference from the general trend?
Overall increase/decrease?
Peaks/lows?
When we look at static graphs, we should be looking for:

What are the highest/lowest values?

What are the most noticeable differences?
Any similarities?
Any significant exceptions?
Overall, fossil fuels have been the dominant type and will continue this trend into
the future.. Nuclear and renewable energy sources have represented a small but
significant proportion of total energy use, and despite small projected gains, they
are projected to continue doing so.
highest trends, key trend, prominent,
Starting Presentation Type Verb Description
The/ the given / diagram / table / shows / The comparison
the supplied / the figure / represents / of…
presented / the illustration / graph depicts /
The differences…
shown / the / chart / flow enumerates /
provided chart / picture/ illustrates / The changes...
presentation/ pie presents/ gives / The number of…
chart / bar graph/ provides /
column graph / delineates/ Information on…
line graph / table outlines/ Data on…
data/ data / describes /
The proportion
information / delineates/
of…
pictorial/ process expresses/
diagram/ map/ denotes/ The amount of…
pie chart and compares/ shows
Information on...
table/ bar graph contrast /
and pie chart ... indicates / Data about...
figures / gives Comparative
data on / gives data...
information on/
presents The trend of...
information The percentages
about/ shows of...
data about/
demonstrates/ The ratio of...
sketch out/ How the...
summarises...

Example:
1. The diagram shows employment rates among adults in four European
countries from 1925 to 1985.
2. The given pie charts represent the proportion of male and female employees
in 6 broad categories, dividing into manual and non-manual occupations in
Australia, between 2010 and 2015.
3. The chart gives information about consumer expenditures on six products in
four countries namely Germany, Italy, Britain and France.
4. The supplied bar graph compares the number of male and female graduates in
three developing countries while the table data presents the overall literacy rate
in these countries.
5. The bar graph and the table data depict the water consumption in different
sectors in five regions.
6. The bar graph enumerates the money spent on different research projects
while the column graph demonstrates the fund sources over a decade,
commencing from 1981.
7. The line graph delineates the proportion of male and female employees in
three different sectors in Australia between 2010 and 2015.
Body paragraph
Things that you should be looking for include:
High/low values
Erratic values
Biggest increase/decrease
Volatile data
Unchanging data
Biggest majority/ minority (pie charts)
Biggest difference/similarities
Major trends
Notable exceptions

Line graph vocab

Upward trend
Rise / a rise
Increase / an increase
Climb / a climb
Grow / a growth
Go up
Downward trend
Decrease / a decrease
Drop / a drop
Fall / a fall
Decline / a decline
Other vocabulary
Fluctuate / a fluctuation
Dip / a dip
Remain steady
Remain stable
Remain unchanged
Level off
Peak at
Reach a peak of
Hit a high of
Hit a low of
Bottom out
Plateau
Line Graph Adverbs & Adjectives
Below are useful adverbs and adjectives to describe change.

Adverbs: steadily, gradually, sharply, rapidly, steeply, slightly, dramatically,

significantly, considerably
Adjectives: steady, gradual, sharp, rapid, steep, slight, dramatic, significant,
considerable
Sentences:
The number of cases of influenza increased steadily from 40 to 55 in the first
three years.
There was a steady rise in the number of cases of influenza to reach 55 in 1987
from 40 in the first year.
Time Expressions
IELTS line graphs show change over a period of time. Below are some expressions
to help you describe the passing of time without too much repetition.
Time phrases:
Over the next three days
Three days later
In the following three days
The next three days show
Over the period
From…to… / between … and…
The last year
The final year
The first year
At the beginning of the period
At the end of the period

Bar graph vocab

Under
under
below
less than
just under
slightly under
nearly
almost
close to
well under
considerably less than
About

about
approximately
around
Over
over
above
more than
just over
slightly over
marginally above
well over
considerably more than

BAR GRAPH

The graph shows the number of boys and girls playing sport in an English town
in 2012.

The bar chart illustrates how many children, divided by gender, played six kinds of
sports (tennis, badminton, cycling, swimming, football and hockey) in a town in
England in 2012.
Overall, the number of boys playing sport exceeded that of girls in the given
period and the sport with the most significant difference between the genders
was football. Football was also the most popular sport for boys while the majority
of girls preferred swimming. Furthermore, both males and females least preferred
playing hockey.
There were four sports in which boys participated more than girls. While 60 boys
played football, the number of girls playing that sport was considerably lower
(around 20). With regards to tennis, the figure for boys who played that sport
was 50 as opposed to just under 40 for girls. Similarly, more boys cycled than girls
(approximately 35and 20 respectively). The difference, in terms of hockey, was
minimal with only about 5 more boys playing that sport than girls.
On the other hand, more girls took part in the two remaining sports which both
showed a difference of about 10 between the genders. As many as 50 girls
preferred swimming in comparison to 40 girls for badminton.

LINE GRAPH

The graph below shows the consumption of 3 spreads from 1981 to 2007.
The line graph illustrates the amount of three kinds of spreads (margarine, low fat
and reduced spreads and butter) which were consumed over 26 years from 1981
to 2007. Units are measured in grams.
Overall, the consumption of margarine and butter decreased over the period
given, while for low fat and reduced spreads, it rose. At the start of the period,
butter was the most popular spread, which was replaced by margarine from 1991
to 2001, and following that low fat and reduced spreads became the most widely
used spread in the final years.
With regards to the amount of butter used, it began at around 140 grams and
then peaked at 160 grams in 1986 before falling dramatically to about 50 grams in
the last year. Likewise, approximately 90 grams of margarine was eaten in the
first year after which the figure fluctuated slightly and dropped to a low of 40
grams in 2007.
On the other hand, the consumption of low fats and reduced spreads only started
in 1996 at about 10 grams. This figure, which reached a high of just over 80 grams
5 years later, fell slightly in the final years to approximately 70 grams in 2007.