Writing Task One - The Task + Important Information
What do you have to do in the first IELTS Writing Task?
In writing task one, you will have 20 minutes to read, analyze and describe information given to you in the form of a graph (line / bar / pie), a table, a map or a diagram. You could also be given multiple charts or diagrams (e.g. two pie charts, or one table and one line chart). However, do not worry so much about how the information is presented, but rather what it shows. This is because the same data can be presented in many ways but needs to be answered the same way. This course is split into five section which look at the different types of language you need to use rather than looking at each type of graph separately.
The first section looks at the introduction paragraph for this task. We’ll look at paraphrasing to question to introduce the topic to the reader, before practicing summarising the information given us.
In the second section, we’ll look at how to describe data accurately and in detail. This data can be plain numbers (e.g. money or population) or it can be percentages. We’ll also look at different ways of making comparisons between data which need to be both relevant and used flexibly.
In the third part of the course, we’ll show you different methods of describing change in data over time. While this type of data is commonly shown as a line chart, it can also be multiple pie charts or a bar chart. These questions need all the same language from the second section, but also need descriptions of trends using a variety of tenses.
In the fourth section, we will look at describing geographical information shown on maps before finally looking at sequencing of processes in the fifth section. There is a huge amount of overlap in these two sections, so please follow it in order.
Vital Information and tips
You must finish this task within 20 minutes as it is worth only one third of the total writing mark. The second task is more important for your overall mark, so you cannot use any of the time needed for that task. Because of this, after we have gone through our initial practice tasks, you need to practice writing within this 20-minute time period. It’s always temping to keep writing to finish or improve your essay, but this is training yourself to take longer than you have.
You will need to write 150 words. This tells you have much detail you need to add to your answer. For a very simple graph, you will need to be able to find all the possible details and comparisons to make this 150-word threshold. For more complex graphs, or questions with multiple charts or diagrams, you need to select which ideas you are going to describe. This is why planning is so important.
I recommend using a three-paragraph structure for all task one essays. First you will write an introduction, followed by two paragraphs with details about graph or illustration. There is no need for a conclusion for this question.
Finally, this essay doesn’t require any of your own ideas, so don’t get creative here. You only need to describe what is on the page. Follow the steps in these lessons, and save your time and creativity for the speaking test and writing task two.
