ielts task 1 essay types

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IELTS Writing Task 1: Everything You Need to Know

Ielts writing task 1 in 6 simple steps.

Academic Writing Task 1 Strategy

• Understand how the test is marked. Knowing the marking criteria will allow you to give the examiner exactly what they need.
• Paraphrase the question. It is best to paraphrase the question in the first paragraph. You can do this by using synonyms.
• Write the overview. To write your overview , pick 3 or 4 of the main features and write about them generally without referencing any data.
• Support the main features. In a new paragraph, support the key features with the data in the information given to you.
• Check your work. Check your report for spelling and grammar mistakes. Make sure that the data you mentioned is also accurate!

Essential Writing Task 1 Skills

• How to Write an Overview Paragraph 
• How to Paraphrase 
• How to Write a Complex Sentence
• How Many Words? 
• Task 1 Charts Checklist
• Task 1 Tips
• The Danger of Synonyms
• 6 Common Mistakes
• Paragraphing and Editing

Writing Task 1 Full Lessons

• Writing Academic Task 1 in 5 Easy Steps 
• Charts Lesson
• Maps Lesson
• Multiple Charts/Graphs 
• Process Lesson

Academic Task 1 Sample Answers

• Bar Chart Sample Essay (Cars in Asia) 
• Process- Cement and Concrete Production
• Pie Chart (Italy and Yemen Populations) 
• Process Question
• Bar Chart Question (UK Telephone Usage) 
• Line Graph (US Consumption of Energy)
• Bar Chart Sample Answer (International Students)

General Training Writing Task 1

General Training Writing Task 1 in 5 Simple Steps

• Understand how the test is marked. Knowing the marking criteria is the best way of giving the examiner exactly what they need and nothing else.
• Decide whether the letter is formal or informal. This part is easy. If the question asks you to write to a ‘friend’, it should be an informal letter. If the question asks you to write to anyone else, it should be a formal letter. It is that simple!
• Discuss each bullet point from the question. Make sure to take a new paragraph for each bullet point. This will make your letter easy to read and understand.
• Sign off your letter. Don’t overcomplicate this part. Include a sign-off suitable to your letter’s tone and write your name beneath.
• Check your work. Make sure your letter doesn’t contain any grammar or vocabulary mistakes.
• Letter Writing Tips
• How to Write an Informal Letter
• How to Write a Formal Letter

General Training Essential Writing Task 1 Skills

• Task 1 General Training Writing Strategy
• Task 1 General Training Writing Guide

Sample Answers

• Formal and informal sample letters.

Writing Task 1 Essential Information

• People doing the Academic test will write a report on a data set, map, or process. People doing General Training will write a letter.
• You must write 150 words or more.
• You should spend around 20 minutes on this part of the test.
• Task 1 is worth 1/3 of your total mark on the Writing test.
• You will be assessed in four areas: Task Achievement (25%) Coherence and Cohesion (25%) Lexical Resource (25%) Grammatical Range and Accuracy (25%)
• The most important thing is that you can demonstrate that you can clearly communicate in English.
• The key to doing well is to know exactly what the examiners want and give it to them.
• Grammar and Vocabulary Guide

• Top 10 Grammar Mistakes

IELTS Writing Task 1 FAQs

How can i improve my writing.

You will find all the resources you need on our Writing Task 1 page. Click the link below:

Writing Task 1

If you need serious help or personalised feedback, you should check out our online course. There is a waiting list, but you can add your name here:

How can I get a Band 7, 8 or 9?

The answer to this question is different for every individual IELTS student, as it depends on a number of factors, including your work ethic, English skills and exam strategy. You'll find a guide to answering this question in this article

If you need serious help with improving your IELTS scores, you should check out our online writing course. There is a waiting list, but you can add your name by clicking the link below:

Can you correct my writing?

Please click the link below and it will give you all the information you need about our writing correction service:

Writing Correction Service

Do you have any sample answers?

Yes, you will find them at the link below:

Task 1 Sample Answers

Will using 'high level' or 'academic' words help me improve my score?

Probably not.

Read my recent article about IELTS vocabulary here:

5 Things You Need to Know about IELTS Vocabulary

How many paragraphs should I write?

Introduction

You can put the overview at the end if you'd like.

Can I use idioms?

No, you should typically avoid using idioms in Writing Task 1.

The only time this is acceptable is if you are taking the General Training test and must write an informal letter.

Should I write a conclusion for Task 1 Academic?

No. A conclusion is a summary of YOUR ideas and your opinion. Task 1 is simply reporting what you see, so there shouldn't be any of your ideas or your opinion.

Instead of a conclusion, you should write an overview.

The reason lots of people get confused about this is that some teachers, books and even one British Council website call the overview a 'conclusion'. It's not a conclusion, it's an overview.

Finally, it does not matter where you put the overview paragraph. We teach our students to put it after the introduction, but it is also fine to have it as your final paragraph.

How many words should I write?

You must write at least 150 words in Writing Task 1 (yes, the examiners will count them!)

I would suggest that you aim to write around 160-170 words for Task 1. Aiming for 20-30 words more than the required amount makes you more likely to reach the word limit without setting an unrealistic goal.

Will I lose marks if I don't write enough words?

Yes. If you don't write the required number of words, you will lose marks in 'Task Achievement' for not answering the question fully. Read more here .

Can I use contractions?

No, should not use contractions when you are writing an academic essay or formal letter. However, it is fine to use contractions in an informal letter.

When should I write formally?

There are a few signposts that indicate when you should write formally or informally. Watch our video lesson to find out what they are:

IELTS Writing Task 1 General Training: Formal or Informal Letters?

IELTS Academic task 1

Here on IELTS Podcast, you will find useful IELTS Academic writing task 1 tips, tutorials, sample essay questions and answers to help you prepare for your Academic task 1 exam.

How much time should I spend on IELTS writing task 1 in the IELTS test?

The IELTS writing exam is divided into two sections . You have an hour to write both. Since task 1 makes up 33% of the test you should plan to spend 20 minutes on this section to ensure that you make effective use of your time.

IELTS Task 1 Marking criteria

Ielts graphs, charts or diagrams.

You should use at least 150 words for the task. This section is not an essay. It is a summary. You should use formal language and it must factual.

Summarise and Compare

A good description will look at trends, at highs and lows and at the times that these occurred – beginnings and endings in other words. You need to describe the key features and changes in the graphs. That means just talk about the main features and don’t try to describe everything! A great tip is to use superlatives. For example:

The Process

Always bear in mind that this is a test of your English-speaking abilities. Use the appropriate vocabulary . Try to showcase as much of your vocabulary as possible and make sure that your English grammar is immaculate. Write at least 150 words – this cannot include copying any of the information from the question word for word. Paraphrasing several words in a sentence is fine.

Preparing for the Exam

Frequently asked questions, which articles should i read first, sample ielts writing task 1 questions and essays.

• A Beginner’s Guide to IELTS
• Common Grammar Mistakes [for IELTS Writing Candidates]

Writing Correction Service

• Free IELTS Resources
• Practice Speaking Test

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How to Structure IELTS Writing Task 1 Essays

Posted by David S. Wills | Aug 24, 2020 | IELTS Tips , Writing | 1

I have written many times about structure on this website, but mostly I have focused on task 2 . Today, however, I am going to take some time to show you how to structure IELTS writing task 1 essays . This often seems like a mystery but in fact it is quite simple and you can usually follow a pretty basic template.

I am going to divide this lesson into two parts. First, we will deal with the IELTS Academic exam and then we will look briefly at the IELTS General exam because these require different structures. Also, keep in mind that IELTS academic writing includes line graphs, pie charts, bar charts, maps, and more, so each of these might require some changes to the essay structure.

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 Structure

When you do IELTS academic writing task 1, you may find yourself presented with one (or more) of the following:

• Process diagram

These require quite different language but generally you can apply a similar essay structure to all of them. Whether you are writing about a line graph or a table, you can pretty much use this IELTS writing task 1 template :

Let’s establish what “group of information” means

When you are doing IELTS Academic writing task 1, you need to examine the data and then describe it. To do this, you cannot just take a random approach and write about the different features of the data. Instead, you need to highlight the important parts.

This can be difficult, so let’s take an example.

In this line graph, we only have two lines to write about. Clearly, we could write one paragraph about men and one paragraph about women. Easy! Our structure would look like this:

To be honest, that is a very, very easy graph to describe so it was not a challenge. Let’s choose something more difficult to explore:

This is not a terribly difficult line graph to describe, but it presents a challenge for our IELTS writing task 1 structure template. How should we group these three lines?

One option is to structure it like this:

Another option is to break the information down according to time:

Grouping by Time vs Grouping by Type

The easiest way to group data for IELTS writing task 1 is to put them into different types. For example, in this line graph about a Caribbean island, we could potentially describe the number of people who stayed on the island in one paragraph and then the people who stayed on the ships in another paragraph.

But is this the best way?

When you write an essay with that structure, it becomes harder to compare the data. Remember that your question will always say “make comparisons where relevant.”

This suggests that grouping by time is better for one major reason: You can compare the different types of data over time. In this case, we can see the two sets of data are opposites, which gives us a great chance to make comparisons.

Sample Essay

Here is my sample essay about the Caribbean island.

The line graph displays the numbers of tourists that visited an unnamed Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017. The tourists are divided into two groups – those staying on cruise ships and those staying on the island itself – and these had a loosely inverse correlation. The total number of visitors, however, rose more or less continuously throughout the eight-year period. In the first year recorded, which was 2010, there were about twice as many tourists staying on the island as those staying on cruise ships. A year later, the number staying on cruise ships doubled to a half million, but this dropped back to around a quarter million in 2012. When the figures for tourists on cruise ships dropped, the number staying on the island rose quickly and over the coming few years, as this sudden increased levelled off, the number of people who stayed onboard their ship continued to grow again. Between 2012 and 2017, there were more and more visitors staying on cruise ships. From just a quarter million, this rose to two million, while the figures for those on the island levelled off at just one and a half million and then dropped slightly in the penultimate year, before finishing at one and a half. This meant that, for the final two years, more tourists stayed on cruise ships than on the island.

Can you write more than 3 paragraphs?

I would like to make clear that there is no such thing as the correct IELTS writing task 1 essay structure. It is possible to write a great essay with 2 paragraphs, but it is also possible to do it with 4 paragraphs. I would not recommend writing more than 4 paragraphs and I would certainly not recommend writing just 1! This would show a total lack of understanding of Coherence and Cohesion.

(P.S. – Read all about the number of paragraphs for IELTS writing task 2 here .)

Anyway, let’s look at an example of an essay that might be best described with 4 paragraphs:

For this task, we have to decide how to group the data. I personally find that the trend for burglary is more interesting than the others because it has much more of a change, which tells me that it should be described first. You could definitely write a paragraph that grouped car thefts and robberies together, but one is much more common than the other, so it might not work well.

I would take this approach:  

Of course, writing this much could mean taking a long time and potentially not finishing your essay. I have written an article about how many words you should write for IELTS, which you can read here .

Sample Essay – 4 Paragraphs

Ok, let’s look at the essay I wrote about crime rates in Newport.

The line graph shows changes in crime rates over a ten-year period in the city centre of Newport. Three types of crimes are listed, two of which ended the period at roughly similar levels to where they began, and one experienced a major drop. In 2003, which was the beginning of the recorded period, burglary was the most common type of crime in Newport, with just under 3,500 cases reported. This rose slightly the following year, before entering into a long downward trend, reaching a low of about 1,200 in 2008. After this, the number of burglaries reported fluctuated until 2012. The number of car thefts was about 2,800 in 2003, and ended the period slightly lower, at 2,700. During the decade-long period, it fluctuated, reaching low points in 2006 and 2008. Car theft was the second most common type of crime in 2003, but the fall in burglaries meant that from 2008 onwards, they were the most common crime in Newport. Robberies were the least common crime and followed a somewhat similar trend to that of car thefts, starting and ending the period with around 700 incidents. It fluctuated only slightly during the ten-year period.

IELTS Writing Task 1 Pie Chart Structure

The previous examples were both line graphs because these are the most common type of IELTS academic writing task 1 question. However, in order to ensure you understand fully, I will also include a pie chart and show you how to structure your essay.

This is actually the most difficult IELTS writing task 1 question I have ever seen!

So how could we produce an IELTS writing task 1 essay structure to fit this?

The obvious choice seems to be writing 3 paragraphs, with 1 paragraph for each of the pie charts. That’s sensible, right?

Well, personally I think that would make it harder to draw comparisons between these data. Instead, I will group the data in terms of meals . I will look at the main meals in one paragraph and then snacks in a final paragraph. This allows me to compare all 3 nutrients!

My structure would then look like this:

**Please note that this is a quite advanced structure and it is difficult to do. I am including it to show you how it is possible to take various approaches and produce a great essay.

Sample Answer

This is my answer to the very difficult question about nutrients:

The pie charts show information about three different kinds of nutrients and their prevalence in typical American meals. There are four kinds of meal mentioned, including snacks. The figures for sodium and saturated fat are loosely similar, but for added sugar they are quite different. Sodium and saturated fat are both extremely common in typical American dinners. According to the pie charts, 43% of sodium is consumed at dinner time as well as 37% of saturated fat, but just 23% of added sugar is found in American dinners. Almost a third of sodium eaten by Americans is consumed at lunch, alongside more than a quarter of saturated fat. Breakfasts contain the lowest amount of these potentially unhealthy ingredients, at 14% sodium and 16% for both saturated fat and added sugar. The figures for snacks look quite different. More than four tenths of the added sugar consumed by Americans came from snacks, which also contained a fifth of the saturated fats and about a sixth of sodium.

IELTS General Training Writing Task 1 Structure

When you take the IELTS General Training (GT) writing test, you will see that task 1 requires you to write a letter. As such, there is no “recommended essay structure” that you can use.

Instead, you should aim to write a letter that follows typical letter-writing conventions and to use paragraphs logically to guide your reader.

How can you structure an IELTS general writing task 1 letter?

I would strongly recommend this sort of approach:

Of course, I will say here that you should not take this as a 100% perfect letter template . It is merely a suggestion and you should pay close attention to the actual task you are assigned. This template can usually be adapted to make a good letter, but sometimes you need to add or combine paragraphs. Also, we might have a short paragraph at the start and/or end of the essay to give some friendly greeting or send some kind regards.

For one thing, sometimes you need to give much more weight to one part of the question, which could require using two paragraphs for that and one for the other parts. An example would be:

How to Adapt an IELTS General Writing Task 1 Format Structure

The people who score band 8 or 9 in IELTS writing are not the ones who memorize structures and vocabulary, or who attempt to predict the questions they will encounter. Instead, these are people who can learn from others but create their own essays and letters by adapting good ideas to the present situation.

Let’s look at an example question from IELTS GT writing task 1.

A large company in your area has decided to spend a certain amount of money, either to sponsor a local children’s sports team for two years, or to pay for two open-air concerts. It has asked for feedback from the general public. Write a letter to the company. In your letter, – describe the benefit of sponsoring the sports ream – summarise the benefits of paying for the concerts – say how you think the company should spend the money

How can we structure a reply to this task?

I am going to use the IELTS general writing task 1 format structure that I suggested above, with two paragraphs of explanation in the middle because there are two sides to the issue. My structure would look like this:

Here is my sample answer to the above question:

Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing in response to your request for input on the decision about either spending money on a sports team or for two open-air concerts. Firstly, if you were to sponsor the children’s sports team, it would obviously be a great investment in the community. Nothing is more important to us than our children’s health and happiness. If you decided to sponsor the football team, this would mean a tremendous amount to many families. The concerts would also be beneficial in bringing the community together in a big event. This would foster some positive experiences and allow people to have fun together doing something they don’t normally do. It might also be good for local businesses. It is my opinion that you invest the money in the sports team as I think this would have the greatest benefit. For two whole years, parents would be able to watch their children play sports, and that is much better than going along to two concerts. Sincerely, David Wills

More Resources

This is a massive topic to cover and so I suggest that you continue reading once you are finished with this article. I have countless lessons on this website about IELTS writing task 1 (both academic and general) that you can read. I also have an IELTS writing task 1 template PDF file here .

More articles about structure:

• How to Describe a Bar Chart
• 7 Steps to Structuring an IELTS Essay
• How to Describe a Process Diagram

About The Author

David S. Wills

David S. Wills is the author of Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the 'Weird Cult' and the founder/editor of Beatdom literary journal. He lives and works in rural Cambodia and loves to travel. He has worked as an IELTS tutor since 2010, has completed both TEFL and CELTA courses, and has a certificate from Cambridge for Teaching Writing. David has worked in many different countries, and for several years designed a writing course for the University of Worcester. In 2018, he wrote the popular IELTS handbook, Grammar for IELTS Writing and he has since written two other books about IELTS. His other IELTS website is called IELTS Teaching.

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I liked the course very much. It extended my knowledge about IELTS task 1 essay writing. This article is very insightful, points well explained and use of tutorials and examples to give a more clear picture of how task 1 essay should be tackled. Thanks for the great post! I liked how detailed and helpful it is.

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Latest IELTS Writing Task 1 2024 (Graphs, Charts, Maps, Processes)

by Dave | Sample Answers | 147 Comments

These are the most recent/latest IELTS Writing Task 1 Task topics and questions starting in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and continuing into 2024.

You can find all the most recent IELTS writing task 2s here and the general training questions here .

I also have recorded all the IELTS speaking questions here .

Learn here about how to write an IELTS general overview for task 1.

If you are able, please consider supporting my efforts (and receiving exclusive IELTS Ebooks!) by signing up for my Patreon here .

Enjoy and comment any questions/writing that you have!

Read my sample for the line chart below here.

Read my sample for the process below here.

Read my sample answer for the chart below here.

Read my sample for the table below here.

Reported on IELTS November 27th

Read my sample for the bar chart below here.

Reported on IELTS November 5th

Read about the line chart below here.

Read about the pie charts below here.

Read about the chart below here.

Read about the bar chat below here.

Read about the map below here.

Read about map below here.

Read my essay for the bar chart below here.

Read my essay for the charts below here.

Read my essay for the line chart below here.

Read my essay for the table below here.

Read my essay for pie charts below here.

Read my essay for the process below here.

Read my essay for the map below here.

Read my essay here.

Read my essay or the process below here.

Read my sample answer for the bar chart below here.

Read my essay about this line chart here.

Read about this map here.

Read my essay for the bar chart and pie chart below here.

Read my essay for the combined pie chart and table below here.

Read my sample for the pie charts below here.

Read my sample for the chart below here.

Read my answer for the chart below here.

Read my answer here .

Read my sample answer for the table below here.

Read my sample answer for this process here.

Read my sample answer for this chart here.

Read my sample answer for the map below here.

Read my sample answer for the process below here.

Read my sample answer here.

Read my sample for this bar chart here.

Read my sample answer for this line chart here.

Read my sample answer for the floor plan below:

Read my sample answer for the new bar chart below here.

Read my sample answer for this table here.

Read my sample answer for this mine map below:

My Ebook for this (really difficult!) chart is only available on Patreon.

Read my sample answer for this question here.

Check with my sample answer here.

Read my sample answer for this (unusual) task 1 here.

Read my sample answer for this topic here.

The bar graph shows the total manufacturing production in percentages Asia, Europe, and the rest of the world.

Read my sample answer for the floorplan below here.

I want to make some simple suggestions for how you can use these recent graphs to practice.

To be honest, students get too obsessed with the most recent questions.

You can practice with a question from years ago and a question from yesterday – it makes absolutely no difference.

What makes an actual difference is how you study.

Here is what I recommend:

• Practice writing about a graph in 20 minutes, in test conditions.
• This is your ability. Now, check it by underlining the vocabulary, grammar, data. Are there many grammar mistakes? Do you use the same words over and over? Do you include all the data?
• Now that you know your weaknesses, you can also sign up to have them marked by me here .
• Write about another one focusing on your mistakes. Don’t worry about timing. Take as long as you need to make it perfect.
• Repeat this process over and over until your start to notice your writing improving.

Hope that works for everyone!

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147 Comments

The bar graphs compare the rate of girls and boys between 5-14 years old who were engaged in cultural activites and sports in Australia in the year 2003. Overall, dancing was by far the most practiced activity among girls and the least for boys. Although practicing a sport was quite popular for both gender, it was noticeable higher for male children.

To begin, dancing was the most coveted spare activity for girls, a stunning 25% of them practicing it that year, whilst roughly 3% of boys did it. Playing a musical instrument, on the other hand, attracted a 15% and 10% of boys and girls, respectively, becoming the most popular for male children and adolescents. Drama and singing shared a similar rate, around 5% of all children were enganged in such programs, standing up as the least practiced, with the exception of dancing among boys.

With respect to sports, as expected, the proportion was by far higher for boys than for girls, 70% and 50%, respectively. In comparison with cultural activities, practicing sports definitively was the most predominat type of recreational activity among all children.

Great work! Your overview is clear enough for band 7+! Some small corrections ‘both genders, most common spare time, of boys participated, attrached 15%, being the most, being the least practiced, (take out the as expected bc it is too close to opinion)’

Merci beaucoup! I did not expect an answer, I just was practicing my ability to write a decent report in less than 20mnts. Thanks so much for your feedback, it is of great help. I’m using your site for self-preparation. Your explanations are clear, straightforward and appropriate. Hopefully, with your help (website, videos, blogs), I will hit my desired score. Great day! God bless you!

You’re welcome! What is your desired score? I can give you some more detailed feedback to help you get there…

I’m chasing a 7 in each skill.

You are close! Be careful with prepositions, make sure that your language isn’t too informal and small mistakes with grammar (infinitives, irregular past simple) might bring down your grammar score.

The given maps depict the changes that had taken place on a museum over a 60-year period, starting in 1957 to 2007. Overall, the museum grew in size and the majority of trees were removed in favor of that.

In 1957, there were a bunch of pine trees along the road and also on the museum’s surroundings. The museum facilities were made up just by a storeroom, a local history room and a national exhibition on the top center. Likewise, a straightforward path from the road leaded to the entrance hall.

By 2007, the museum witnessed several striking changes. Firstly, to built up a spacious car park, the path was bricked down and all the trees on the bottom (left-right) were cut down. Secondly, the building itself was enlarged on the north, and a completely new room was erected on the bottom left corner side, where the shop and main entrance were attached. With the exception of local history room , which was relocated on the center, the storeroom and national exhibition were eliminated. These changes allowed the introduction of a reception and cafe on the southern area, and a special exhibition and education center rooms on the north. Finally, the garden was the only element that remained untouched.

Good work again! Some corrections: The given maps depict the changes that took place in a museum over a 60-year period, starting in 1957 and ending in 2007. Overall, the museum grew in size allwoing for more customer focused shops and the majority of trees were removed.

In 1957, there was a grouping of pine trees along the road and also on the museum’s perimeter . The museum facilities were made up of just a storeroom, a local history room and a national exhibition on the top center. Likewise, a straightforward path from the road led to the entrance hall.

By 2007, the museum witnessed several striking changes. Firstly, to erect a spacious car park, the path was removed and all the trees on the bottom (left-right) were cut down. Secondly, the building itself was enlarged on the northern side , and a completely new room was erected in the bottom left corner, where the shop and main entrance are not located . Although the local history room was relocated to the center, the storeroom and national exhibition were eliminated. These changes allowed for the introduction of a reception and cafe on the southern area, and a special exhibition and education center rooms in the north. Finally, the garden was the only element that remained untouched.

Merci beaucoup monsieur! You’re right, after sending my draft I realized I had made quite a few grammar mistakes. To be honest, I always fight against preposition, specially those indicating “place”. I cannot identify when I need to use: IN, ON, TO when it comes to giving directions. As you can see: I used “on the north” instead “in the north” , or use the adjective “northern” without a noun. Please, suggest us a good grammar book to follow . Salut!

Sometimes prepositions are more like vocabulary than grammar. We always say ‘in’ not ‘on’ the north – just something to memorise! You can try this website: https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/prepositions/rules-for-prepositions.html

I also suggest keeping a list from my sample answers of the correct prepositions and using the list when you practice until you feel you have memorised them and no longer need the list. Good luck!

The given bar graph illustrates the levels of water in reservoirs in five Australia’s cities in 2009 and 2010. The data is measured in percentages.

Overall, the levels of water witnessed a significant decrease in city A, B and D, whilst city C and F showed a slight rise throughout the period.

In 2009, cities B, C, D and E shared a similar water levels around 70%. By contrast, city A stood out as that with the lowest levels at 50% and city F showed the highest ones at just above 80%.

With the exception of city E, which remained the same at 80%, all cities’ water reservoirs experienced changed by 2010. City C and F levels went up to just above 82% and approximately 99%, respectively. On the other hand, city D levels went down significantly from almost 70% to approximately 52%. The same occurred to city A and B, whose water rates dropped nearly 20%

Nice job again! The most important part is to be sure that you give some kind of overall ranking in terms of your overview as well.

Here are some small edits: “The given bar graph illustrates the levels of water in reservoirs in five of Australia’s cities in 2009 and 2010 in percentages . Overall, water levels witnessed a significant decrease in city A, B and D, whilst city C and F showed a slight rise throughout the period. City F had the highest water levels throughout while City A was consistently the lowest.

In 2009, cities B, C, D and E shared similar water levels at around 70%. By contrast, city A stood out as that with the lowest levels at 50% and city F showed the highest ones at just above 80%.

With the exception of city E, which remained the same at 80%, all cities’ water reservoirs experienced changes by 2010. City C and F levels went up to just above 82% and approximately 99%, respectively. On the other hand, city D levels went down significantly from almost 70% to approximately 52%. The same occurred to city A and B, whose water rates dropped nearly 20% a piece.

Thanks so much for your helpful feedback. I will soon sit the test, hopefully I will hit a high score.

I really hope you do well on it! Be sure to write me a message to let me know how it turned out!

The rendered bar graph illustrates the information about the organisation A-E those spent billions of euros on machinery , building,staff training and research section. One glance is enough to say that maximum euros was spent on staff training while the minimum euros was spent on research activity. It is evident from the graph that organization A was spent 1 billion euros on machinery . This value increased substantially at 16 billion euros by organization c then organization D and E invest less euros on machinery and it was reached at approximately 0.8 billion euros. Moreover ,on building had been spent 1.3 billion euros by organization A and there was non-noticeable decrease on building almost 1.4 billion erros by organization B . After that organization C,D and E had spent equal amount that is 1 billion euros on building area. Moving further, staff training was invested the highest amount that is 1.9 billion euros by organization B. There after , this value was declined by organization C ,D and E. However, organization B had invested nearly 1.6 billion euros on research section whereas , organization D and E was spent least amount on research area that is 0.7 billion euros.

Great work Navneet!

Some corrections:

The rendered bar graph illustrates information about organisations’ A-E spending in euros on machinery , building,staff training and research . One glance is enough to say that maximum euros was spent on staff training while the minimum euros was spent on research activity. (That phrase is too informal – better to say ‘Overall’, your overview must also touch on all areas and have a little more detail to get at least band 6 for task achievement.)

It is evident from the graph that organization A was spent 1 billion euros on machinery . This value increased substantially at 16 billion euros by organization c then organization D and E invest less euros on machinery and it was reached at approximately 0.8 billion euros. Moreover ,on building had been spent 1.3 billion euros by organization A and there was non-noticeable decrease on building almost 1.4 billion erros by organization B . After that organization C,D and E had spent equal amount that is 1 billion euros on building area. (This graph does not show increase or decrease over time. It just shows 1 time period so try to compare the data and forget about it going up or down.)

Moving further, staff training was invested the highest amount that is 1.9 billion euros by organization B. There after , this value was declined by organization C ,D and E. However, organization B had invested nearly 1.6 billion euros on research section whereas , organization D and E was spent least amount on research area that is 0.7 billion euros. (Good working describing most of the data but remember to compare for this type of graph, not show increase/decrease.)

Read more about graphs with no change over time here: https://howtodoielts.com/ielts-writing-task-1-analyse-tables-not-over-time/

Sir, can u check my sentence formation in this task because if i realize my mistakes then i will continue this….

The rendered bar garaph illustrates the information about the percentage of women age in Australia since they gave birth to their first child in 1966,1985and 2006. Overall,the maximum percentage of women was observed in younger age while ,the minimum percentage was calculated at older age in the whole period. It is vivid from the graph that 19 and under aged women gaved the birth of 33%of chlid in 1956 wheras, this percentage decreased to 25% and 18% in 1986 and 2006 respectively.

Overall,the maximum percentage of women observed were younger age while the minimum percentage was calculated at older ages over the whole period. It can be seen in the graph that… gave birth to…

Good start!

The given diagram illustrates the process, and its different steps, to produce ethanol fuel from raw corn. Overall, there are eight stages involved in the production of this renewable fuel, starting with corn storing and ending with its transportation to the public market.

First, the process initiate with having enough raw material (corn) for the ethanol production purpose. This corn is stored for a while, then it is milled profusely. Without delay, the milled corn is immediately mixed with water, to be then cooked it for exactly four hours. Shortly after, it is kept sealed in containers for up to 48 hours, allowing it ferments sufficiently.

Once the fermetation have finished, the liquid and the solid by-product are neatly separated, and the former undergone a purified procedure for five long hours. The ending product is purified ethanol, which is stored for an undefined time. Finally, the ethanol fuel is ready to be transported to its different destinations.

Good work again! Some correctins: ‘The given diagram illustrates the process, and its different steps, to produce ethanol fuel from raw corn. Overall, there are eight stages involved in the production of this renewable fuel (don’t need to include the number of steps in your overview), starting with corn storage and ending with its transportation to the public market.

First, the process initiates with having enough raw material (corn) for the ethanol production. This corn is stored for a while then it is milled before being mixed with water, to be then cooked it for exactly four hours. Shortly after, it is kept sealed in containers for up to 48 hours, allowing it ferments sufficiently.

Once the fermetation has finished, the liquid and the solid by-product are neatly separated and the former undergoes a purified procedure for five long hours. The ending product is purified ethanol, which is stored for an undefined amount of time. Finally, the ethanol fuel is ready to be transported to its different destinations.

A couple things: stay away from opinion/speculation like profusely, immediately, etc.

For your overview, try to group and define the stages – don’t need to say the number of stages.

The graph illustrates the percentage of women in different age groups in years 1966, 1986 and 2006. The first age group of 19 and under was the highest in year 1966 at 35% and the lowest in year 2006 at 15%. In year 1966, the percentage of women who were 20-24 years old was 60%, which is more than both in 1986 and 2006. The age group of 25-30 years was 50% in 1986 and it was higher than both 1966 and 2006. The percentage of women in the age of 30-34 years has been increasing steadily since 1966. It was 15% in 1966, 20% in 1986 and 45% in 2006. Its rise is opposite to 20-24 age group, which declined between 1966 and 2006. Another age group that has been on the rise is the 34-39 years, as it was 5% in 1966, 15% in 1986 and 30% in 2006. Both age groups of age 30-34 and 34-39 have grown in percentage between 1966 and 2006. The last group of women aged 40 and above has remained the lowest among all the age groups.

Well done! Some corrections:

Your grammar is very accurage but it is a little mechanical because you don’t compare and most importantly there is no general overview so your maximum score is band 5 for task achievement even though all the data is accurate!

https://howtodoielts.com/ielts-writing-task1-band-7-overview/

Hi Dave, thank you so much for your feedback man!! I gave the test and got a 7 on written, and 8 overall. thank you so much for you help 🙂 have a great year ahead!! lovepreet

Thanks for letting my know – congrats on your score!

The given bar graphs depict the proportion of 5-14 males and females’ age group joined the cultural activities and sport in Australia in the year 2003. Overall, it is clear that most boys were more athletic and played a musical instrument, while girls were fond of dancing than boys. Boys were more attracted to a sporting event, at 70%, while the figure for girls who participate was just above 50%. However, when it comes to cultural activities, female dancers recorded the highest percentage in the graph at 25%, compared to a marginal number of males at just 3%. Almost identical figures for both genders can be seen in singing and drama with only 5% of them participated in these categories. Playing a musical instrument is the category that the same genders had the interest to do. Most participants came from a group of boys at 15%, compared to just 10% for girls.

Thanks for commenting!

Here are some corrections:

The given bar graphs depict the proportion of 5-14 males and females’ age group joining cultural activities and sport in Australia in the year 2003. Overall, it is clear that most boys were more athletic and played a musical instrument, while girls were fond of dancing than boys. Boys were more attracted to a sporting events, at 70%, while the figure for girls who participated was just above 50%. However, when it comes to cultural activities, female dancers recorded the highest percentage in the graph at 25%, compared to a marginal number of males at just 3%. Almost identical figures for both genders can be seen in singing and drama with only 5% of them participated in these categories. Playing a musical instrument is a category that interested both genders. Most participants came from a group of boys at 15%, compared to just 10% for girls.

Good work! Did you mention all areas on the graphs in your overview?

Yes, I mentioned it all. Sorry, this is my first time practicing a timed task. What would be my possible score if you will base in my answer? Thanks!

Your score is in the band 6.5/7 range in terms of language ability. What score are you going for on the exam?

My target is above 6.5 in writing. Hoping that I can achieve that band score. Thank you!

Keep up the hard work!

The diagram reveals the way of producing ethanol fuel from corn. Overall, it is clear that there are eight stages in the process, beginning with the corn harvest, fermentation and transition of corn into a liquid, to the transportation of the product made.

In the first stage of making purified ethanol is storing the corn before it undergoes milling. The milled corn is then added by water and cooked for 4 hours. After that stage, corn will be fermented for 48 hours. Separation of solid to liquid is the next step. While the solid by-product is not needed after the transition process, the melted corn is then kept.

In the subsequent stage, the melted corn product goes through a purification process. This process takes 5 hours to be able to produce purified ethanol. Storing of the made ethanol fuel product is the next step. Finally, ethanol fuel is transported to its destination.

Good overview Jessica!

Really good accuracy with your passive verbs – you are well within your target band scores range!

Thank you so much! Im a bit confused if what kind of tense should I use in diagram task?

For a diagram it should be mainly in the present and present passive, maybe some present perfect!

The bar graph give information on percentage of water level in reservoirs in six different Australian cities in October 2019 and 2010. Overall, the greatest water level always was in city B and city F and increased , moderate for for city B and city D where decreased and for city E, where remainded the same, while the lowest for city A where decreased over the year. Water level in city F and city C in 2009 was at 90% and 80% respectively and grew for both by 10% in 2010. On the second position in case of resevoired water in 2009 was city B and city D with the figure of 80% which diminished to 65% and 50% respectively in 2010. Although water level of city E was similar in 2009 to those of in city B and city D, it remained on the same level in 2010. The modest water level was in city A. For this city we can spot a drop from 60% in 2009 to 45% in 2010.

Well written, Iza!

Be careful with helping verbs. You don’t need to say ‘was increased’ just ‘increased’

Good work describing the full trend for your overview!

You need clearer paragraphs though – take a look here to see some examples: https://howtodoielts.com/category/writing-task-1/academic/

Keep working hard!

Hii Dave.. I really want your possible score on this writing task 1..

Hi Saini/Iza, this essay is in the band 5 range at the moment.

But do you think it deserves 7 band?

The given bar graph illustrates that in the year 2003,the proportion of Australian boys and girls aged 5-14 participates in cultural as well as sports activity.. Overview the dancing activity was most favorable cultural activity shown by girls in comparison to boys.. The boys preferred more sports, although it was quite popular in both the gender…. To begin with, it can be clearly seen that, the percentage showed big difference in dancing activity, which was 25% girls participate in it, whereas there was less than 5% boys in same activity.. By contrast, the proportion of boys were 70% in sport which was highest rates… Probing further, the drama as well as singing activity received the similar percentage 5% by both the gender in the year 2003, respectively.. Moreover, in the play musical instrument ,one in ten girls participated which was 5% inclined by boys in the Australian… Thanks.. Dave I really want your response on this

Good work Saini!

Try copying some expressions from my sample answers more closely such as ‘Overall,’ instead of ‘overview.’

Don’t use … – that is too informal. Just use a period.

You are experimenting with a lot of new grammar and vocabulary which is good but you need to focus more on accuracy as it is quite hard to understand at times. Keep it up!

Thank you for your response.. What score I can get according to you on this task 1

This answer is i nthe band 5 range at the moment.

The table shows the details of five different kinds of vehicles registered in Australia in the years 2010, 2012 and 2014. Overall, it is clear that all types of vehicles increased in percentile over the given period in which the percentage for motorcycles had jumped most. It could be noticed also that passenger vehicles got the highest numbers while light trucks were the lowest.

A glance at the graph reveals passenger vehicles started from 11,800,000 units in 2010, rose almost a million over 2 years, then climbed to 13,000,000 in 2014, accounting for 10.2% over the period. Similarly, commercial vehicles uplifted to 17.4% from 2010 to 2014. In the first year, 2,300,000 were recorded, increased to 2,600,000 in 2012, before reaching 2,700,000 in 2014.

A most striking positive change can be seen in the proportion of motorcycles which is 30.8%. It started from 540,000 registered motorcycles in 2010 then rose dramatically to 680,000 and 709,000 in 2012 and 2014 respectively. Meanwhile, an almost identical positive trend can be seen in the numbers of heavy and light trucks. A marginal upward movement from 384,000 to 416,000 at 8.3% over 4 years for heavy trucks can be considered while a significant escalation at 23.5% is remarkable in the number of light trucks.

given period and the, motorcycles jumped the most, it can also be seen that, had the, commercial vehices grew to, increating to 2,600,000, can be observed while

Keep it up!

The bar chart provides data on the water levels of reservoirs in six Australian cities from 2009 to 2010. Overall, city F recorded the overall highest levels, closely followed by city C and E, while the percentages of city A were the lowest in both Octobers. some cities, such as F and C recorded higher water levels in 2010 compared to 2009, whereas the remaining cities showed a reversed pattern except city E with both numbers leveling up.

Looking in more details, city F stood at 90 per cent in Oct, 2009 and climbed to nearly 100% in 2010, which was the highest among all. Likewise, city C experienced a considerable growth from just over 80 per cent to approximately 91% in the next year. In contrast, city B and D showed a decline in water levels, from identically 80% to around 62% and 50% respectively. Figures of city A also dropped considerably from 60% to about 45% by 2010. The water level of city E was just above four fifths in 2009, and this number remained unchanged in the following year. (180 words)

Really nice writing again, Jing!

The chart presents data on the percentages of Australian children aged between 5 to 14 who join cultural activities and sports in 2003. Overall, sport was way more popular than cultural activities for both genders, while boys were more active than girls. A Lot less children participated cultural activities though the number of girls who danced stood out. Except for those who play musical instrument, the remaining culture activities only attracted a minimal amount of children. Looking in more details, over half of female students joined sports, however the percentage of active boys was even higher at as much as 70%. Likewise, there were more boys who played musical instrument than girls, at 25% and 10% respectively. In contrast, Dancing was substantially more popular within girls, attracting a quarter of females compared to merely approximately 3% of males. Besides, both boys and girls showed least interest in drama and singing with only 5% in turn of either gender group did those activities. (162 words)

Good work Jing!

Be careful with your tenses, prepositions and fixed expresssions: Looking in more detail…

The line chart compares the priced of fresh fruits and vegetable, sugar and sweets as well as carbonated drink from 1979 to 2009. Overall, even though all categories started off at broadly identical prices, the growth in fresh fruits and vegetables overweighed consumer-price index by a massive margin, while the rest displayed a much slower upward trend. Looking in more details, sugar and sweets closely following consumer-price index, showed a slow yet steady growth throughout the thirty-year period. The price of soft drinks, however, remained stable after a surge in 1984 at around 115 until 1999, when the price rose again slowly. In contrast, there was a substantial growth in the price of fresh fruits and vegetables over the given period, which, despite a dip to about 90 in 1984 and some fluctuations, rose significantly from just above 50 in 1979 to nearly 350 by 2009. In fact, the price only levelled out temporarily between 1990 and 1992 and again from 2000 to 2001. (164 words)

drinks, outweiged, followed, showing, inclue more data in the second paragraph!, levelled off

The line graph provides information on the number of middle-aged citizens in three countries over a 50-year period between 1950 to 2000. Looking from an overall perspective, this particular age group had grown at a broadly comparable pace in China and India, with Chinese midyear crowd continuously outnumbering that of the India’s, while the midyear population in USA also increased, but by a comparatively small margin over the years. Looking in more details, Chinese mid-aged population started off the highest among three countries at just below 600 million in 1950, which outnumbered that of India by about 200 million, and USA by 400 million. Despite a short period of stability at approximately 620 million from 1960 to 1965, the number of China surged as rapidly as India’s. By the end of the period, the figures of China and India had reached 1200 million and 1000 million respectively. The increase of the US mid-agers, on the other hand, was relatively gentle. By 2000, the number of USA had risen slightly to only about 280 million, which was almost lower than the leading country’s by 1000 million. (185 words)

You tend to overuse past perfect when you could just use past simple: grew

You use it correctly in your last sentence though!

Smaller margin, among the, numbers for China, US middle-aged residents

dear admin i would like to express my great appreciation for your hard work in collecting and answering all these samples, good job! i found your sample answers highly useful as well as being professional. please proceed with your work in assembling the latest task 1 questions.

Thanks so much, Homa – I really appreciate that!

I wish I could publish the task 1 essays as regularly but it is much harder for students to remember the graphs from the exam.

But I will continue to publish any task 1s that I get reports on!

Thank you very much for your efforts and your time to help all the students who are preparing themselves for the IELTS. I do really appreciate that. I’ve just started preparing myself for the IELTS exam and this is my first writing attempt.

The graphs illustrate the rate of boys and girls who participated in organized sports and cultural activities aged 5-14 in 2003 in Australia.

Overall, girls participation showed an upward trend in the cultural activities,while boys showed a dwonward in many activities. Both boys and girls participation experienced some fluctuations in both activities, although boys had initially a lower participation percentage, but they outraced girls in the end.

Boys rate was less than 5 percent in drama activities which was so close to girls rate, then it kept decreasing to almost 3 percent in Dancing activities which is the lowest rate of all activities. the rate showed a gradual increase in singing activities by approximately 2 percent, and it showed a significant raise to 15 percent in playing musical instrument. Eventually boys outraced girls in sports activities hitting a high-point of 70 percent, which is the highest perentage of all the period.

percentage of girls who participated in drama was as low as the percentage of girls who participated in singing activities, then the rate showed a significant increase of 25 percent in dancing activities, it decreased by 15 percent in play musical instrument. and it kept increasing to almost 52 percent in sports activities which is the highest percentage of all acitivities.

Thanks for saying that Madjid!

Careful of some informal words like outraced and try to be a little more accurate: significant rise, musical instruments, which was, etc.

Some simple mistakes but a great first effort!

Your overview is good too – keep working hard!

The bar graph compares the proportion of people living in households in the UK between 1981 and 2001. Overall, it is clear that households consisting of more people deteriorated while homes with fewer persons increased. The percentages for the two middle groups oppositely changed by the same margin.

A glance at the graph reveals that proportions for 1 and 2 people households both escalated by 3%, at 26% and 36% in 2001 respectively. These figures were the highest over the given period. An identical trend can be seen in the percentage of 4 people houses, it jumped from 12% to 15%.

On the other hand, the proportion of houses with 6 or more people plummeted from 6% to 2%, and 5-people homes percentage just dropped a quarter, from 8% to 6%. These two figures with the lowest percentages in 1981 remained at their place in 2001. Similarly, the figure for 3 people houses also fell by 3% over 20 years.

Well written Jessica!

‘Deteriorated’ has a negative connotation so I wouldn’t use that word.

Really nice linking and comparison in your writing!

The diagram illustrates the filtration process of drinking water in a single town in Australia. Overall, there are four main stages as is presented above, beginning with the rainwater collection, water filtration and treatment, to the distribution of drinking water to households. The entire process is controlled by the plumbing system.

In the first stage, rainwater is collected through roof gutters and downspouts of townhouses. The gathered water undergoes filtration through the pipe before being deposited in the storage tank.

In the subsequent stage, water from the storage tank then transferred by a pipe to the water treatment tank. At this stage, the removal of contaminants is being done by placing chemicals in the water treatment tank. After the purification process, the potable water is then finally distributed to townhouses. And, the treated water is regulated by faucets in every household and is now safe to drink.

Well written!

Really nice overview – it should be band 7+ for task achievement.

Careful with your singular/plural – through the pipes.

And your helping verbs: is then transferred…

The maps illustrate the development of a museum between 1957 and 2007. Looking from the overall perspective, it is clear that significant changes had been made over the period. The most noticeable improvements were the size of the building which had been expanded and a car park which was created.

In 1957, there was a pathway from the main road to the museum. The entire building of the museum had only four parts, beginning with the entrance hall, local history room, museum store-room, and the national history exhibition. The garden was located in the northwest. Also, several trees were planted along the road and surrounding the building.

Over 50 years, a major transformation could be seen on the map. The pathway connecting the road and the museum was demolished, and trees in front of the building were cleared to make way for a car park. A number of trees circling the museum also removed for its expansion. Rooms in the building had been removed except for the local history room. Cafe, museum shop, reception, special exhibitions, and education center section were added. However, the garden in the northwest remains unchanged.

Good job Jessica!

from an overall… were made… which was expanded

Careful confusing past perfect, present perfect and past simple in your answers!

The Chat Represent the survey regarding people’s coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities.

The bar chart shows drinking habits in 5 Australian cities as a relate to coffee and tea on the last 4 weeks .Overall,the half population in all cities except Adelaide went to a cafe for coffee or tea, while buying coffee was also popular and buying fresh coffee generally less normal.

See, first of all at going to cafes,it was more merits of Melbourne and Hobart at 64% and after that 63%.Sydney was comparably high over 60%, followed by Brisbane at over 55%, and Adelaide at under 50%.Further more the Hobart, instant coffee purchases at 54%, Brisbane at 52%, Melbourne at 48% and lastly Sydney just over 45%.

So, the last i sum up according to all information,fresh coffee was below 45% for all cities and basically Sydney 44% and Melbourne 42%, Hobart was next at 39%,Adelaide and Brisbane were much lower ratio produced .

Good Nisha!

as they relate to… over the last … less common … Looking first of all at cafes… higher at over… Furthermore… at just over

Good but be careful with your accuracy!

The table illustrates the percentage of tourist visited in 9 countries between 2009 and 2010. Overall, it can be seen that the amount of visitors visit in France and USA stand out the most in both years and both Hong Kong and Germany are more than 100 percent.

According to the data the number of visitors in France remain the same by 76% while both USA and Spain has a slightly change by less than 2 percent. As for UK and Italy has a small change by less than 4 percent in both years.

However, both Turkey and China has a considerable change by less than 60 percent but more than 30 percent which cause them to rank the sixth and seventh out of nine countries. While, Germany has a huge change by more than 109 percent of visitors but Hong Kong was the lowest visitors by 10 percent in 2009 and in 2010 it  

Great work Jane!

You should mention all categories in the overview (at least partially) to get above band 5 for TA.

Careful with your tense!

The pie chart below reveals the types of works do Anthropology graduates did after finishing their undergraduate course and the table records the salaries of Anthropology graduates for 5 years of work. It can be seen that most graduate students work as a full time and follow by part time workers unemployed full time postgrad study not known workers and part time with postgrad studies. Also the average of salaries of Freelance consultants is much higher than Government sector and Private companies.

Most graduate students were working as full time workers by more than half percent, follow by part time workers by 1\5 of the students and for the unemployed are less than a quarter just 12%. While, both full-time postgrad study and unknown workers have 8% of students. As for students occupation as past time with postgrad study has 5% of them.

However we can see that from $25000-49999 and $50000-74999 private company pay scale was the highest by 10% and 35%. While, government sector pay scale was the highest with the amount of $100000+ by 50%.

Another good one Jane – a really tricky one to do the overview for so I wouldn’t worry too much about this one.

Be careful with plurals, tense, and subordinate clauses/linking words.

The graph below illustrates the number of tourists visiting Caribbean island as well for visitors staying on cruise ships staying on island and total number of visitors between 2010 and 2017. Overall, it can be seen that total visitors rose considerably follow by visitors staying on island and overtaken visitors staying on cruise ships.

Visitors staying on island remained the same from 210 to 2011 by 1.75 millions of visitors and it rose particularly in 2011 to 2013 and it remained the same for the next 2 years by 1.5 millions of visitors. It fluctuated between 2015 and 2017 by 1.5 millions of visitors. While number of visitors staying on cruise ships fluctuated between 2010 and 2013 by 0.25 to 0.5 million visitors. Then, it rose considerably for the next 5 years and reached its peak by 2 million visitors.

However, the number of total visitors from 2010 until 2015 rose significantly and it had not change in 2015 and 2016 but it reach it peaked by 3.5 million visitors by 2017.

Keep up the hard work with all these graphs, Jane!

Good overview for this one and better accuracy with your tense and grammar.

You’re welcome!

The graphs below illustrate the proportion of people who are smoker and consumer of alcohol in the USA, JAPAN, TURKEY and HOLLAND from 1960 to 2000. Overall, it can be seen, USA people had a substantial percentage in smoker and utilizing of alcohol during the specific years. At first graph, the USA in 1960 60 percent of people were smoker and this amount had remained unchanged until 1970 whereas, in 1980 its number had noticeably declined to 46 percent and finally this flow stayed at 40% in 2000. Also, in JAPAN we are witnessed gradual decrease around 10 percent from 1960 to 2000 which same as the USA had stopped at 40%. On the other side, in the second graph, there is a wide difference in TURKEY and two other countries. In HOLLAND in 1960 per person only drank 4 litres and this number had remarkably soared to 11 litres in 1980 and to 2000 had a slight drop to 11 litres. By contrast, in TURKEY at 1960 per person had consumed only1 litre and this line moved upward to 2 litres in 2000.

Great Mahsid!

There is some informality in your writing but otherwise easy to follow!

Thanks Dave for the study material.

You’re very welcome!

sorry, are these below corrections done for free?

The comments I post below are free, yes, Sima.

I don’t always have time to give detailed feedback.

You can consider the paid ones here: course.howtodoielts.com/band-scores-corrections

The pie chart above details the usage of water in Australia in 2004 by various sectors, while the bar chart expands on the residential use of water as it is apparent to be the highest compared to rest of the variables. Generally looking, residential houses took more than the half of the pie, this is followed with Industrial, residential apartments and business which are almost sharing similar percentages. On the other hand, the bar chart shows the peak in the bathroom figure and the most decline in the kitchen’s one. To further analyze this into details, the pie chart presents residential houses as the major consumer of water by approximately 60%. Residential apartments come next by almost a quarter (20%). Business and the Industrial groups both have similar portions of the pie by almost 15% each. Water is less used in the Governmental sector by 10%, while other unidentified usage channels take less than 5%. The bar chart dives deeper into residential usage of water. Bathrooms took more than a quarter (26%), while gardens are almost 24%. This is followed by washing cloths 20%, toilets 15% and finally the kitchen 10%. 

Sorry for the late reply Aala, I think your essay is strong overall and you describe the data well. Be careful with your special and punctuation though!

hello Mr. Dave, can check my essay on task 1, the last thing uploaded in the comments, I really need your feedback

I’ll try to get around to it tomorrow, Aala!

The pie chart above details the usage of water in Australia in 2004 by various sectors, while the bar chart expands on the residential use of water as it is apparent to be the highest compared to rest of the variables. Generally looking, residential houses took more than half of the pie, this is followed with Industrial, residential apartments and business which are almost sharing similar percentages. On the other hand, the bar chart shows the peak in the bathroom figure and the most decline in the kitchen’s one. To further analyze this into details, the pie chart presents residential houses as the major consumer of water by approximately 60%. Residential apartments come next by almost a quarter (20%). Business and the Industrial groups both have similar portions of the pie by almost 15% each. Water is less used in the Governmental sector by 10%, while other unidentified usage channels took less than 5%. The bar chart dives deeper into the residential usage of water. Bathrooms took slightly less than a third (26%), while gardens are even less by 24%. This is followed with washing cloths 20%, toilets 15% and finally the kitchen 10% only.

Replied on the one above Aala! You can also check here: course.howtodoielts.com/band-scores-corrections

Very good orginized

Thanks, Shakha!

Given are two maps of an unnamed cinema illustrating changes that have been done from 1980 till now. A glance at the figures provided reveals that the number of cinema halls upgraded from two to five being able to screen five different movies simultaneously; also noteworthy is the fact that on the lower-left corner of this place, which used to be a hall number1, a relax room and buffet which star to serve food as well as drinks, are constructed. In the place of the buffet of 1980, in which only drinks could be found, a DVD shop is opened. One particularly interesting fact highlighted by the figure is that in 1980, the cinema was associated with a car park, which is now replaced with two other cinemas. The only similarities that can be found are the places of male and female toilets as well as ticket shop which remains on the right side of the main entrance. Looking from an overall prospect, besides the increased number of cinema halls, not only a relax room and DVD shop are added but also an option of purchasing food as well as drinks are provided.

Well written! That have taken place since – don’t use glance because it is too informal.

The overview is also a bit too specific and careful with tense.

The diagram explains the modification of cinema according to the time from 1980 till date. From an overall perspective, it can be readily apparent that the same area has been customized with a variety of services than before.

Two cinema halls are replaced with five and the car park has been completely removed from the area. Back in 1980, the right side of the entrance was occupied with cinema 1, whereas it has been replaced with food and drinks and relax room. Similarly, on the left-hand side of the entrance, drinks have been replaced with a DVD shop while the ticket counter is at a previous place.

Moving forward from the entrance, on the right-hand side, there used to be a toilet; now toilet occupies the area between cinema 1 and cinema 2. On the opposite side, cinema 3,4,5 can be seen now, replacing cinema 2 previously.

Nice writing, Sushma!

There are a lot of mistakes with fixed expressions though so try to study my sample answers more closely and use the same phrases.

The overview needs work or you will be limited to a 5 for TA!

Can someone please mark the mistakes and evaluate the IELTS BANDS for me?

The given diagram illustrates the changes of a cinema from 1980 until now.

Overall, The cinema complex changes a lot throughout time, if we take the basic changes such as the number of theaters and different conveniences such as a Relax room and a DVD shop.

In the terms of cinema theaters right now in the complex, there are 5 theaters rather than 2 in 1980, during the time our world becoming more modern and especially digital so, that’s why there is a DVD shop where you rent and buy the latest movies and daily shows. And for the conveniences now there is a Relax room where you can enjoy and spent time.

But, there is the same thing which is still the same such as the number and position of toilet and ticket counter. There are some more changes but those changes are not that big such as position and list of the menu of the restaurant now it’s on the right side and now you can buy food also, And there is something which is missing now like car parking, Overall the feeling is still the same when we visit the cinema complex

Hi Sifar, you can find out your band score here: course.howtodoielts.com/band-scores-corrections

What score are you aiming for?

Australian water consumption in different sectors and the percentage of its usage in apartments or houses in 2004 are depicted in the pie chart and the graph. In general, it is salient that most of the utilisation of water was from residential sector.

To begin, the proportion of water consumption was relatively unbalanced. This is because the biggest contributor for water consumption in Australia was home owner with more than half of the total chart. Then, it was followed by apartments owner and business which had a similar proportion. Moreover, industry and goverment took the fourth and fifth place, consecutively. Lastly, with the least contributor of the chart was other.

Furthermore, the high percentage of residential water consumption in 2004 was specified into its bathroom, toilet, washing clothes, kitchen, and garden usage. Bathroom came in the first place with around 27%, which then followed by garden with a slight gap of approximately 2%. The third place belonged to washing fabrics which had about 20%. The utilisation of toilet was at 15%, which was 5% higher than kitchen.  

Dear Dave, I hope you can give me some feedback on Task 1. Thank you in advance!

Nice effort, Rifqu!

You need to cover all areas in your overview or it is an automatic band 5 for TA!

The rest of the details are good though there could be more data. Keep working hard!

The diagram below illustrates the changes cinema has undergone starting from 1980 to the present. Overall cinema center has modified such that there are more number of cinema screens and scope to eat and relax increased at the expense of car parking. Figure of cinema screens has increased from two to five. car parking was removed and that place was used to accommodate cinema screens two and three,whereas cinema screen two was further divided into two different screens four and five.cinema one was moved beside to toilet and that place was used to construct relaxation room and foods and drink store. Places which has retained their positions are toilet,ticket center and entrance,Parking was totally eliminated.In place of drinks, DVD shop was developed

Good effort, Madhuri!

Careful of opinion words like ‘relax’ and work on your grammar!

The given diagram compares the changes in cinema structure from 1980 till present. Overall, It can be seen that, the number of cinema hall significantly increased over time.Also,recreational room and DVD shop were installed whereas car parking was completely removed as a part of redevelopment. With regards to cinema hall, three new theaters were added thus making the count to increase from two in 1980 to five in present day.Moreover, car parking which took majority of space in 1980, was demolished later and readjustment of theaters were made in the available space. In addition to cinema halls, recreational room and DVD shop were also introduced for people visiting theaters in current day as opposed to no relaxation room and DVD shop back in 1980.Additionally,Foods were also included along with drinks.

Nice writing Poonam!

Careful with your punctuation though!

The two Theatrical plans depict outlay of 1980 and current times , indicating that cinema outlets have become more than double and shops diversified with toilet remaining the same and parking zone disappearing altogether . In 1980 every corner was occupied with cinema houses , servicing shops and a toilet ,whereas  current times show the optimum utilization of spaces. While cinema houses have grown over the double , ,so have the variety of myriad servicing shops too have extended . The new shops erected on  displaced theatres are now catering to variety of novel uses of entertainment to the viewers who can enjoy variety of snacks , relaxation and entertainment under one roof . Toilets and Parking zone have either remained the same or have been wiped out altogether . Earlier one zone which was allocated for car parking has now totally disappeared . Similarly the      toilets  too have remained unchanged over the time .  

Nice work, Swati!

Only capitilise proper nouns and be careful with your adjectives.

The given map represents the current and proposed plan of a civic center of the 23/1 Mainland China. Overall, It can be seen that although the layout of the civic center has no change in the future, there has been quite significant modification in the area blocks. The North of the current plan contains two blocks for car parking at the ends of the North Avenue which is proposed to be replaced by a cafe in the top left corner and hostel and restaurant in the top right corner. The cinema which is present in between the car parking is planned not to be changed. Moreover, the IELTS speaking and writing corner in the center of the area is expected to be completely removed in the future. Moving towards the South of the proposed plan, the council offices have been shifted to the corner facing the High Street which was is in between the exhibition center and town hall. Next to the council offices, an underground library is an addition to the civic center. Additionally, an underground car parking is also expected along with the town hall. Although the shopping center is expected to remain unchanged, the library is supposed to be replaced by an exhibition center in the bottom right corner next to the Smith Street.

Nice writing Poonam – sorry about the watermark – that’s not part of the map…

Nice writing otherwise though be careful with your definite articles!

The bar chart illustrates the proportion of older people residing in Canada, Germany, and the UK during 1980 to 2030.

 Overall, we can deduce that there is a gradual rise in the ratio of elderly individuals staying in these three countries.

In 1980, we can see that there was a slight difference of around 1% between the UK and Germany in terms of elderly residents of these countries. While, Canadian elderly consisted only 10% of the total population in that year.   Whereas, in the year 2000, there was a marked increase of 20%, which could be seen in the percentage of elderly native of Germany compared to the equal percentile of the rest two countries that was 15%. In contrast, in the year 2030 Canadian elders made more percentage than the UK elderly by roughly 2% of the total, but Germany still remained the highest one among the other 2 countries in all the 50 years that was 25% of the total percentage.

Nice writing again, Archana.

Your overview needs a bit more detail as well – did any of the countries overtake the others?

We also don’t use ‘whereas’ to start a sentence.

The process chart describes the ways by which cocoa products are manufactured for the commercial use. Overall, there are three steps in this process from collecting to dispensing the products.

During the initial stage, cocoa beans are collected by the worker from the cocoa field as a whole bean covered with shells. Then, these entire beans with shells are dried before sending it  for pressing and draining the cocoa liquor.   Afterwards, some cocoa liquor is passed on to the further pressing to get the components for  the preparation of cocoa cake and cocoa, rest cocoa liquid is transferred to the industries for the refining purpose for making chocolates by adding sugar and cocoa.

Then, these cocoa cakes are grinding to make cocoa powder and industrial cake drinks. Also, industrial chocolate, which was made in the subsequent step is refined further and processed before releasing it for the commercial purpose and finally, these products like cocoa powder, cake drinks and chocolates reach the market.

Good, but try to define the stages a bit more in your overview, Archana, otherwise you’ll be stuck at band 5 for task achievement.

Good use of linking words!

The two diagrams provide information on how the design plan of Mainland China’s Civic centre will undergo a change from now to coming days.

Overall In future new coffee shop, commercial building and food shops will be introduced in the place of parking lots in the side of North Avenue while the Victoria Avenue side will be more or less same with relocation of council office, library and exhibition centre between the High street and Smith street.

As the time passes the movie theater and markets will be in the same place with no change at all. The parking areas will be shifted underground from North Avenue towards Victoria Avenue on which the town hall will stand like before. There will be an interchange of places among the council office, library and exhibition centre.

The council office has tend to move just beside the High street with a new larger library built beneath the ground level along side. Unlike the library the Exhibition gallery will be smaller in size in the coming days and will replace the present library behind the malls just at the edge of Smith street.

Great work, Mafruha!

Where did you get that map from by the way?

Careful with words like ‘tend’.

Thankyou I just took a screen shot

The map represents the layout of a museum in 1957 and 2007 . It can be clearly seen in a glance ; there where significant changes made to by 2007 in comparison to 1957.

The museum initially was centered around a garden. In 1957, the national history exhibition was a long room ,the entrance from the road directed to the national history exhibition . The local history room and museum store room where on the either sides of the entrance hall. The museum was parallel to the road .

In the year 2007,the museum has been expanded . In addition to other amenities . The national history exhibition is replaced with the local history room , in the top left corner is special exhibition and on the top right is the education center . The local history in 1957 was replaced with the reception in 2007 and the museum store room was replaced with a cafe.The entrance is relocated to an adjacent room that is newly constructed which is a museum shop.

From an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that there are some radical changes that took place over half a century from 1957 and 2007

Great work Lois!

You need to group and define your changes for the overview to be above band 5 though!

The Picture illustrates various changes till now from year 1980 in Cinema. Overall, numerous cinemas have been built within the region. Alongside, new rooms and shops have been set up with removal of car parking in the North . From year 1980 to year 2020, new cinemas have been constructed within the premises, with only 2 cinemas in first year to total of 5 cinemas in the current year. The car parking has been permanently removed and it is now replaced by two cinemas numbered 2 and 3, one of which is relocated to the top right corner from its previous middle right position. Moreover, cinema numbered 1 has been repositioned to middle left just below the toilet. On the other hand, new shops of refreshments and DVD’s are set up near the entrance replacing cinema number 1 and drinks shop respectively. Furthermore, A leisure room is also made available near the entrance for people to relax. The toilet room, ticket section and entrance position is kept the same over the given time period of four decades.

Great writing Aashish but be careful with punctuation and capilisation especially!

U r awesome buddy, thnx alot for this mind-blowing stuff

please review my writing for task 1 regarding the civic centre!

The maps illustrate a civic center at present and proposed changes for the future. Overall, it can be seen that the space occupied by car parking areas will be replaced by eateries, and both the car parking and the library will be shifted below the ground level.

Presently, along the North Avenue, there is a cinema hall in the middle with two parking lots at its both sides. The future plan delineates that a cafeteria will be built in place of a car park situated at the north west of the center, while hotel and restaurant will occupy the north east parking space.

The Victoria Avenue, which is located in the south of the civic center has an exhibition at the south west corner, close to the high street. Next to it, are council offices and then a town hall. Moving further to the east, in close access to the smith street, is shopping center and a library. In the future, council offices will be shifted to the bottom left, whereas exhibition will be moved to the bottom right of the center. Construction of an underground library will take place where there are council offices at present, and a new parking space will be provided below the town hall.

Nice writing but be careful with subject/verb agreement and using articles.

The overview is also a bit specific.

Keep working hard though!

The map demonstrates the modification that took place in cinema hall over two-year period from 2010 to 1012.

Overall, it is seen that the area of movie theater was planned to expand its area with new facilities like restaurant, showers and coordination. All rooms were made bigger in size.

one of the key changes over two years was overall extension of area of cinema hall. Dressing room was replaced by coordination hall and shifted to top left corner of the hall. Similarly, storage room was converted into admin office. Stage and auditorium were expanded to larger in size. Likewise, ticket office was shifted to the room where there used to be café which was upgraded to a bigger restaurant replacing admin office and ticket office with some extension.

Showers were the facility that was added in 2012 which can be accessed on the south of the dressing room. The space immediately after main entrance was utilized for restaurant.

Nice writing, Roshna!

Modification isn’t a word we would use for this kind of map though.

Also be careful with your articles especially.

The above map delineates the present condition of a civic centre and its future expansion plan. From an overall perspective quite a few changes are planned for the future along with some extra facilities.

At present the cinema hall is in the North of the map with car parking in Northwest and Northeast. The position of the cinema hall would remain unchanged but the parking in Northwest would be replaced by a café while a hotel and a restaurant are planned to replace the parking in Northeast.  The exhibition center is in the Southwest west direction which would be replaced by council offices, and exhibition center would take place of library located in Southeast. The position of townhall would not be changed, but an underground parking would be developed under it. The library which would be replaced by exhibition centre would be moved underground next to car parking. The place where the shopping centre stands will remain unchanged in the future.

Good work, Shweta!

Careful with your use of would – try using the passive voice: is planned/projected to.

how to write this in report form

You can click on the sample answers to see…

The chart given illustrates the relation between the abroad student and local student from in Australian universities between 2011 and 2010.   The line graph is given illustrate the midyear population per million in China, India, and the USA between 1950 and 2000. Overall, the USA was stand steady throughout the whole time. However, India and china registered a significant increased population.   Firstly, the population of the USA was less than two hundred million in 1950. And after fifty years it become about 300 million in 2000, which is less than India and China in 1950   Secondly, India showed a rapid growth between 1950 and 2000, which it has started in under 400 million to more than double the number at the end (1000 million). Also, china started in approximately 600 million, then maintained the same level from 1959 to 1962). Finally, from 1963 china population sharply rise until the population reached about 1300 million.

See my other comment, Muna!

The chart given illustrates the relation between the abroad student and local student from in Australian universities between 2011 and 2010.

The line graph is given illustrate the midyear population per million in China, India, and the USA between 1950 and 2000. Overall, the USA was stood steady throughout the whole time. However, India and China registered a significantly increased population.

Firstly, the population of the USA was less than two hundred million in 1950. And after fifty years it becomes about 300 million in 2000, which is less than India and China in 1950

Secondly, India showed a rapid growth between 1950 and 2000, which it has started at under 400 million to more than double the number at the end (1000 million). Also, china started at approximately 600 million, then maintained the same level from 1959 to 1962). Finally, from 1963 china’s population sharply rise until the population reached about 1300 million.

Nice writing, Muna!

Careful with your helping verbs and main verbs and your subject/verb agreement!

The rendered pie chart and table illustrates job opportunities for Anthropology graduates after completing their undergraduate degree course from a university and salaries of Anthropology graduates after 5 years of work respectively.The data is calibrated in percentage.

Looking from an overall perspective, it is evident that majority of Anthropology graduates are employed on full-time basis. Whilst only a small fraction of student graduates work part-time and continue their postgraduate study. A large number of graduates receive average salaries when employed in private companies wheres the highest wages are acquired in government sector.

To commence with, about 52% of Anthropology graduates work on full-time basis, followed by 15% of students engaged in part-time jobs. Out of total graduates 12% of them are unemployed. Anthropology graduates continuing full-time postgraduate study and those whose data is not known are equal at about 8%. A minimum ratio of about 5% students continue to work part-time along with their post graduate study.

Furthermore, $25,000-50,000 salary is given to 5% graduates by both freelance consultants and in government sector whereas, private companies offer such range of salary to about 10% students after 5 year’ work. Fraction of graduates getting salary between half a million and a million is 15-40% in freelance consultants, about 15-30% in government sector and 35-25% in private companies. 50% of Anthropology graduates receive salary of more than a million dollars while in freelance consultants and private companies it is 40% and 30% respectively.

Nice work though a little bit on the long side – aim for about 175 words!

It is a tough one. Try to add in some more commas on your complex sentences as well.

how much band score would you give to the task?

You can sign up here to find out: Patreon.com/howtodoielts

The displayed bar graph spell out the information pertaining about the total time spent on phone calls in UKin three different categories during the time frame from 1995 to 2002.

Beginning with local calls it is evident from the graph that the figures ascend by leap and bounds from the year 1995 to 1999.Morever, the striking feature of the graph was in the year 1999 with the highest minutes accounting upto 90 billion.However, the figures plunged and the ratio continued to decrease till the end of the period with 72 billion in 2002.On the contrary, if talked about national and international calls ratio it can be highlighted that the ratio began with the lowest i.e. around 38% but saw a considerable growth during the end of the period which means to reach a peak of 60 billion in 2002.

Meanwhile, all calls ratio witnesses a modest increase continuing till 2002. In addition, the ratio started with 5 billion and saw a slight rise till 1998. Afterwards, the figures boosts up and reaching to almost 45 billion.

Thus to wrap up it can be finally commented that national and international calls ratio rose steadily.Similarly, all calls ratio also rose gradually.

How much band score would u give to this report .

Nice work, Richard!

There are too many informal phrases though like ‘leaps and bounds’.

Sir how much band score I can achieve?

Discuss about 2 task

The line graph depicts the French and English teacher’s employment ratio in Ontario starting from 2001 and ending 6 years later in 2007.  At first glance, it can easily be seen that while the figure for French-language teachers showed an upward trend, the percentage of English-language teachers declined. Although, French-language teachers initially had a lower rate. it outraced the English-language teachers at the end of the period.  In 2001, the English-language teachers’ recruitment rate was about 72%, being a bit higher than the French-language teachers’ one by approximately 3%. Then, it declined drastically until 2003, accounting for 40%. However, the figure showed a gradual increase to about 45%, over the next 2 years. After 2005, it continued to decrease, reaching its lowest point at about 28% at the end of the period.  The employment ratio of French-language teachers was 70% in 2001 and over the next year decreased to about 52%. Then, the figure rose steadily to almost 70% in 2003 and continued to gradually grow until 2005, when it slightly dropped to about 68%. After that slight drop, it continued to increase, reaching its peak at about 72% in 2007.  In summary, it is obvious that in Ontario French-language teachers were employed more than the ones who teach English.  Word count: 214

I had a doubt in task 1. If you could please help. Is it a rule that we are not suppose to write ing form of words in writing task 1. Eg: looking ( looking from overall perspective) Fluctuating. Considering. Etc ?

please where is topics for task 1 2023

I’m sorry to ask ,but what is your Writing task 1 score for each of the sample writings here?

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A Complete Guide on IELTS Academic Writing Task 1

In Academic Writing Task 1, you will be given one or multiple diagrams that can be in many forms such as, graphs, pictures, data tables etc. You will be asked to write an essay on the given diagrams.

You will need to write at least 150 words for this essay.   Yes, you can write a few more than 150, but never go below 150. If you write even 149 words, you will lose marks. To be in the safe zone, write 170-180 words. However, we recommend not exceed 190. If you write 195/200/200+, it will be too many words  and will damage your score.

In fact, you are required to show how well you can communicate in English. Understanding the question properly and then answering precisely is one of the important communication skills. If you write less than the instructed number of words, or if you write too many words, the examiner will get the impression that you have  failed to understand the basic instruction sentence.

3 Simple Steps for Academic IELTS Writing Task 1

You need to do three simple things for Academic IELTS Writing Task 1. This is all you have to do for this task:

Paraphrase the question sentence

Write an overview paragraph

Focus on one or two key features

If you can cover just these 3 bullet points within 160-180 words, you are absolutely fine. 

Task 1 Question Types 

There are 7 types of questions for Academic IELTS Writing Task 1. Click on each question type to read their step by step detailed discussions.

A pie chart is a circular statistical graph which is divided into slices that illustrate proportional relationship.

A line graph is a line that is connected with individual data points showing quantitative variations over the time. 

A bar chart presents categorical data with rectangular bars with heights or lengths proportional to the values that they represent.

Table Chart

You might be given one or two data tables. You will need to describe the significant data changes for the given time.

Process Diagram

You will be given a picture or a drawing that shows the production steps of a final product, or the working procedure of a mechanical device/machine etc.  Most of the students fear this question not because it is difficult, but because of their confusion how to answer this.

This is a very easy question to answer. There will be no data to analyse in this question type. It will be all about comparing between 2 or 3 maps.

Multiple Graphs

There will be more than one data diagrams. You will need to describe major changes or relations among them.

Writing Task 1 Essay Structure

Paraphrasing the question sentence

Overview paragraph

The first body paragraph

The second body paragraph

It's actually very easy to get a good score in IELTS writing task 1. Just write the major features that are very obvious in the graphs. Don't write anything that is minor or not in the graph. Click  Academic IELTS  Task 1 essay  structure  and jump to the detailed discussion.

Check the following resources:

A complete guide on IELTS Writing

A complete guide on General Training Writing Task 1

A complete guide on Writing Task 2 (GT + Academic)

• Ebooks & Courses
• Practice Tests

IELTS Academic Writing  – How To Plan a Task 1 Essay –

The first step to achieving a high score in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 is to know how to plan your essay. This is very important and in this lesson, I’m going to explain why and show you how.

The lesson includes:

• 3 reasons why you must plan your essay
• 4 simple steps of essay planning
• 4 part essay structure
• A sample essay written step-by-step

Many students get a far lower score than they’re capable of achieving simply because they either don’t know how to plan their Task 1 essay or they think that planning takes up time that is better spent writing the essay.

Here are three key reasons why you should plan.

3 Reasons Why You Must Plan Your Essay

1) planning saves you time.

If you plan your essay before you start writing, you will already know what you’re going to say and won’t need to keep stopping to think about the next idea. This means that you will be able to write much faster than if you don’t have a plan.

You only need to spend 5 minutes on the planning stage. That leaves 15 minutes to write and check your essay.

2) Planning results in a more relevant answer

25% of your marks are for task achievement. This includes,

• Identifying the main features
• Comparing the main features
• Answering the question appropriately

Planning before you start writing will ensure that you include everything that's required in your IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 essay.

3) Planning results in a better structure

Another 25% of the marks are for coherence and cohesion. This includes,

• Organizing your ideas into a logical order
• Having a separate paragraph for part of the essay
• Linking your paragraphs appropriately

You may have done a fantastic job of identifying the main features of the graphic, and found some great comparisons to write about, but you must also be able to form your ideas into a well-structured essay. Without a plan, this is difficult to achieve. Unless you have a good essay structure, you will not score highly for coherence and cohesion.

Spending a few minutes planning your essay will give you a basic outline to follow as you write. This will make your task a lot easier and lead to a far better essay, and a happy examiner.

The 5 Simple Steps of Task 1 Planning

There are 5 steps to writing a good essay for IELTS Academic Writing Task 1:

• Analyse the question
• Identify the main features
• Write an introduction
• Write an overview
• Write the details paragraphs

We’ll look at these in more detail below but first, I want to outline an easy to remember 4 part essay structure.

The 4 Part Essay Structure

You can use the same basic structure for all IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 questions. Ideally, your essay should have 4 paragraphs:

Paragraph 1 – Introduction

Paragraph 2 – Overview

Paragraph 3 – 1 st  main feature

Paragraph 4 – 2 nd  main feature

You are only required to write 150 words. You won’t score extra marks for writing a longer essay. It’s what you write that gains you marks.

With only 20 minutes allowed for the task, it’s important that you don’t try to include too many details. Having an essay structure to work with will help you with this. Aim for quality in your essay, not quantity – the right information written in a logical order.

We’re now ready to work through the 5 step planning process.

Planning a Task 1 IELTS Academic Writing Essay

# 1 analyse the question.

The format of every question in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 is the same.

Here’s a typical question. The highlighted words will always be the same no matter what type of question you get.

The  chart  below shows  the number of men and women in further education in Britain in  three periods and whether they were studying full-time or part-time.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Every question consists of:

• A brief description of the graphic (sentence 1)
• The instructions  (sentence 2)
• The graphic – chart, graph, table, etc.

To find out what you have to do, you need to look at the ‘instruction’ sentence.

There are 3 things to do:

1.     Select the main features.

2.     Write about the main features.

3.     Compare the main features.

This is the same for every question and every type of graphic.

Many graphics contain a lot of information. You  do not  have to write about everything. Just pick out a couple of main features and you’ll have plenty to write about.

# 2 Identify the main features

In this lesson, I’m going to give you a quick overview of how to identify the main features of the graphics. I go into far more detail in the lessons on the individual question types where I work through sample questions step-by-step to create model answers.

Here’s a reminder of the 7 question types .   Click the links to go to each page for more planning tips.

• Table Chart
• Process Diagram
• Multiple Graph

I’ve created helpful checklists for identifying the main features of the different types of IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 questions. You’ll find them on this page:  How To Understand & Analyse Task 1 Questions

The key features of a graphic will usually be the easiest things to spot.

For a bar chart with a timeline, known as a dynamic bar chart, such as in our sample question, look for general trends. The timeline will give you the biggest clues as to the most significant trends.

Alternatively, a bar chart may be static with the data coming from one point in time. For this type of graphic, you would need to compare whatever different variables are shown. In the in-depth lesson on bar chart essays, for example, you'll see a graph showing the different leisure activities favoured by Canadian boys and girls.

There will be lots of information in the graphic to help you spot the main features. Here are some useful questions to ask for both bar charts and line graphs.

• What information do the 2 axes give?
• What are the units of measurements?
• What can you learn from the title and any labels?
• What are the time periods?
• What is the most obvious trend?
• What are the most notable similarities or differences?

Two general trends in this graphic are:

Main feature 1:  the overall number of students in full-time education increases.

Main feature 2:  the number of women studying part-time increases steadily but for men, it fluctuates.

The general trends you select will be the starting point for your essay. You will then go on to add more detail.

Let’s look at how to do this. Here’s a reminder of the 4 part structure for IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 essays:

This structure isn’t going be an exact fit for every possible essay but it’s an excellent outline to work from. Use it as a guideline and adapt it as necessary.

First, the introduction.

# 3 Write an introduction (Paragraph 1)

In the introduction, you should paraphrase the question, that is, say the same thing in a different way. You can do this by using synonyms and changing the sentence structure. For example:

The chart below shows the number of men and women in further education in Britain in  three   periods and whether they were studying full-time or part-time.

Introduction :

The bar graph illustrates how many male and female students were studying full-time and part-time in Britain during the years 1970/1, 1980/1 and 1990/1.

This is all you need to do for the introduction.

# 4 Write an overview (Paragraph 2)

In the second paragraph, you should report the main features you can see in the graph, giving only general information. The detail comes later in the essay. You should also make any clear comparisons you spot.

This is where you write about the general trends. Here are the ones we picked out above.

Now form these ideas into two or three sentences with a total of around 40 words. State the information simply using synonyms where possible. No elaborate vocabulary or grammar structures are required, just the appropriate words and correct verb tenses. For example:

Paragraph 2 :

Overall, the number of students in full-time education increased over this time. With regard to part-time education, there was a steady increase in women choosing to study part-time but for men, the level fluctuated.

# 5 Write the details paragraphs (Paragraphs 3 & 4)

Paragraphs 3 and 4 are where you include more detailed information about the data in the graph. In paragraph 3, you should give evidence to support your first main idea.

In this instance, the data will be numbers of students in the respective time periods. In other graphics, it might be percentages, age, monetary value or some other unit of measurement.

Don’t forget to make comparisons when relevant.

Here’s our first main feature again:

This is an example of what you could write:

Paragraph 3 :

Between the academic periods 1970/1 and 1990/1, the figures for men studying full-time grew in steady increments, beginning at 100,000 in 1970/1 and rising to nearly 300,000 in 1990/1. For women, the numbers had also risen to around 300,000 by 1990/1 on an increasing trend. Notably, however, the figure for females in full-time education in 1970/1 was roughly half that of men, showing a greater take-up than men between 1970/1 and 1980/1.

For the fourth and final paragraph, you do the same thing for your second main feature. For example:

Paragraph 4 :

A different pattern is shown for part-time education. The graph reveals a steady increase in women engaged in part-time study, rising from 750,000 in 1970/1 to 1,000,000 by 1990/1. For men, on the other hand, the figure fluctuated. From 1,000,000 in 1970/1, they had dropped by almost 200,000 by 1980/1 but recovered slightly in numbers by 1990/1. Over the whole time period, the trend between men and women in part-time education reversed, with male students being greater in number in 1970/1 and female students taking pole position by 1990/1.

Here are the four paragraphs brought together to create our finished essay for IELTS Academic Writing Task 1.

Finished essay

This sample essay is well over the minimum word limit so you can see that you don’t have space to include very much detail at all. That’s why it is essential to select just a couple of main features to write about.

We’ve covered a lot in this lesson. Please don’t feel overwhelmed. Once you start using what you’ve learnt to practice answering IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 questions, you’ll soon be able to plan your essay in 5 minutes.

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Ielts academic writing task 1 – all lessons.

IELTS Academic Writing  –  A summary of the test including important facts, test format & assessment.

Academic Writing Task 1  – The format, the 7 question types & sample questions, assessment & marking criteria.  All the key information you need to know.

Understanding Task 1 Questions  – How to quickly and easily analyse and understand IELTS Writing Task 2 questions.

How To Plan a Task 1 Essay  –  Discover  3 reasons why you must plan, the 4 simple steps of essay planning and learn a simple 4 part essay structure.

Vocabulary for Task 1 Essays  –  Learn key vocabulary for a high-scoring essay. Word lists & a downloadable PDF.

Grammar for Task 1 Essays   – Essential grammar for Task 1 Academic essays including, verb tenses, key sentence structures, articles & prepositions.

The 7 Question Types:

Click the links below for a step-by-step lesson on each type of Task 1 question.

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IELTS Writing Task 1: Lessons, Tips and Strategies

In the IELTS writing Task 1 for academic you have to describe some kind of graph, diagram, map or process. 

Here you will get all the tips and techniques you will need for writing about the Task 1, or to find out how to improve your score if it has been too low.

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IELTS Writing Task 1 Lessons:

How to Write an Academic IELTS Task 1 This starter lessons tells you in simple steps how to structure and write a basic IELTS Graph. 

Types of Graph

Graphs Over Time This important lesson shows you what you must do to properly describe a graph or chart that has a period of time. 

IELTS Pie Chart In this lesson you'll learn how to write about a pie chart, with tips on how to best organize your answer and advice on the language to use. 

IELTS Process In this lesson you'll learn how to describe an IELTS process diagram, with information about organizing your answer and using the passive voice. 

Two graphs together Sometimes you get two graphs to describe together. This lessons shows you how to organize your answer if you do. 

IELTS Tables This lesson provides you with IELTS practice for tables. It shows you that tables are not that different from other types of graph.

Task 1 Language

Language of Change This lesson explains some useful sentence structures using some common language of change and you can practice the words with a gap fill.  

Language to Compare and Contrast Compare and contrast language is needed for most graphs and diagrams so it is important to learn and practice it. 

A Common Mistake This lesson takes you through a mistake that is common when describing graphs in Task 1. 

Using Prepositions Learn how to use the right prepositions when you are using the language of change in a graph over time.

Describing graphs in the future Sometimes you may be given a graph to describe that is predicting what will happen in the future. View some strategies on how to approach a task 1 like this. 

Tenses for graphs, processes, and maps This lesson gives you tips on the types of tenses you should know for the various types of task you could be given.

Task 1 Quizzes Try out these quizzes which give you fun practice or a chance to test your knowledge of the variety of language used for academic task 1.

Useful Language for Graphs This lesson provides you with useful language for IELTS writing task 1, focusing specifically on phrases for introducing graphs and phrases/lexis for describing change.

Organisation

Organizing a Line Graph (Part 1) Find out about how there is more than one was to organize a task 1 graph, and learn how to write about a graph divided into 'age groups'.

Organising a Line Graph (Part 2) If you want to achieve a high band score for your graph you must ensure it is well-organised. This lesson tells you more about one possible way of doing this.

Overview of Academic Task 1:

Task 1 Quiz Exercises:

Check out our IELTS Quiz page for various interactive quizzes to test and teach yourself about the language for the IELTS writing task 1:

• IELTS Task 1 Quizzes

IELTS Writing Forum:

The writing forum is a place for you to discuss the test or ask questions about it. Reading previous questions asked may help you with things you don't understand so check out the forum here:

• IELTS Writing Task 1 Forum

These are some useful topics and questions that have already been discussed:

• How should I paragraph in IELTS writing task 1?
• How do I organise my graph?
• What tenses do we use in the Task 1?
• What happens if I didn't finish my graph?

And remember you can ask your own question if there is something in the test that you are unsure about. 

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IELTS Writing Task 1 – Sample Questions and Practice Resources

On the IELTS Academic exam, Writing Task 1 requires you to look at an informational graphic and describe the contents of the graphic in writing. In this post, we’ll look at different IELTS Writing Task 1 samples to prepare you for test day. In addition to advice and practice, you’ll also get our IELTS Writing Task 1 Examples PDF with Answers for portable prompts and model answers.

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 Samples With Answers PDF

If you want a print-friendly version of the IELTS Writing Task 1 samples in this post, click below to access the IELTS Writing Task 1 examples PDF!

Note that all the IELTS Writing Task 1 samples are model essays for a band 9 IELTS score. The line graph sample prompt includes a detailed scoring explanation. You can learn more about scores for IELTS Writing Task 1 by consulting the official IELTS rubric .

• Take a good look at our guide to IELTS Writing Task 1 paragraph structure . The guide tells you everything you need to know about how Writing Task 1 essays and paragraphs should be structured, with an example question and model essay.

IELTS Writing Task 1 Samples: The Major Question Types

Below are questions for each common infographic in IELTS Writing Task 1: bar charts, pie charts, line graphs, process diagrams, and maps.

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Line Graph with Model Answer and Scoring Explanation

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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Bar Chart With Model Answer

Pie Chart with Model Answer

Process Diagram with Model Answer

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Map with Model Answer

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Two Different Types of Graphics

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Additional Resources for Writing Task 1

Now that you’ve seen some models for how this task is done, you should be ready for some real practice! Here are some resources from Magoosh that should help.

• Practicing using these common IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2 linking words .
• Familiarize yourself with the test with IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Ultimate Guide video , and use a Writing diagnostic quiz to assess your current strengths and weaknesses.  

• Use study schedules to help you find time to study and stay motivated. To help you organize your time, use this IELTS study schedule if you only have a week to go before you will take the IELTS. If you have a month, this one month IELTS study schedule offers more extended practice.  
• Find high-quality study materials. We offer a huge collection of study reources for the whole IELTS Writing seciton ! Don’t forget about Magoosh IELTS Prep which includes lessons on IELTS Writing Task 1 (and all other sections of the exam!) to help you prep smarter. In addition to many video lessons and practice essays, the 6-month plan allows students to get feedback and scoring on four practice IELTS Writing essays; the 1-month plan includes feedback on one essay. You can also browse more recommended books and resources !

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Common IELTS writing task 1 types

On the IELTS test, there are various question types you could be asked on Task 1. Here's a list of the types of questions you could have on Task 1 and some strategies to deal with the different question types.

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On the IELTS test, there are various question types you could be asked on Task 1. However, there are only so many types of questions you can get and some are more common than others. Here's a list of the types of questions you could have on Task 1 and some strategies to deal with the different question types.

Line Graphs

Line graphs commonly occur in Task 1 on the IELTS exam. The topics vary and there may be one or multiple lines, representing various types of information, over different periods of time.

The graph below shows the population of India and China since the year 2000 and predicts population growth until 2050.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Bar charts or bar graphs are another common Task 1 question type. Again, there could be one topic or multiple topics all on one chart. The chart could also be vertical or horizontal.

The charts represent the weight measurements of people living in Charlestown in 1955 and 2015. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Pie charts don't happen as often as line graphs and bar charts, but are sometimes a question type in Task 1 on the IELTS exam.

The charts below show the reasons why people travel to work by bicycle or by car. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Tables are also a possible Task 1 question on the IELTS exam. Again, there can be various topics included in one table.

The table below gives information about languages with the most native speakers. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Processes do not occur as often on the test, but they do appear as a Task 1 question. There can be a wide range of processes, such as how machines work or how food is processed.

The diagrams show a structure that is used to generate electricity from wave power.

Just like the process diagrams, maps don’t occur very often as a Task 1, but they do appear from time to time. The maps are usually of cities and towns which have developed over a period of time.

The diagrams below show the changes that have taken place at Queen Mary Hospital since its construction in 1960.

Combinations

The combination of different task types such as a graph and a pie chart, or a table and a bar graph, happens quite often on the IELTS exam. Although they happen often, you should know how to write each task type individually, and then you'll be able to combine them more easily

People’s reasons for using the car in city

The diagrams below give information on transport and car use in Edmonton.

Development

The task of writing about a development only happens once in awhile but is still a possibility. This task can be similar to the process and map questions that can also occur on the IELTS exam.

The diagram below gives information on the evolution of the horse. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Now that you're more aware of the types of Task 1 questions you may encounter, here are some strategies for writing about any of these types of Task 1 questions on the IELTS exam.

Know specific vocabulary for the task

For task types such as line graphs, bar charts, and pie charts, try to use specific language such as adjective-noun and verb-adverb combinations. This vocabulary works for chronological graphs and charts. Comparatives and superlatives work well for graphs and charts that compare data. With tasks such as processes, maps, and developments, try to use specific language to the topic. This may be language you already know or the vocabulary that is used in the diagram. Using the proper language to describe how you think the process works is more important than knowing exactly how the process works.

Know tense and voice

Make sure to write in the correct tense. Look at the period of time indicated if there is one, and decide if it's in the past, present, future, or if there is no time period. If the latter example is the case, use the present tense. For future, or predicted information, there is also special language used.

When doing task types such as graphs, charts, and tables, use the active voice. When doing task types such as processes, maps, and developments, use the passive voice. Making this distinction can mean a higher overall band score.

Take time to analyze before writing

Make sure to look at the task type and think about what you are going to write before you put pencil to paper. Say it to yourself and decide if it makes sense. If it doesn't, don't write it down. Try to say it to yourself clearly before you write it down. If it's clear to you, it may be easier to understand from the examiner’s standpoint.

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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 – Sample Answers

It is important for you to look at sample essays when you are studying to see if your work is on the way to becoming a band score 7 or higher.

Sample Essay 1 – Pie Charts

The pie charts show the ratio of goods shipped from Great Britain from 2010 to 2015. The products are measured by percentage.

On the other hand, the diagrams illustrate an increasing rise in the production of plastics at over 4% since 2010. Furthermore, the most relevant feature is the increase in the export of organic chemicals from 2010 (7%) to 2015 (10%). There is a huge difference in the production of pharmaceuticals, due to the fact that it experienced a decrease from 2010 (27%) to 2015 (18%). 

Sample Essay 2 – Line Graph Showing Future Trends

The line graph presented depicts the loan status of the Royal Bank of Scotland between the years 2012 to 2022. It is measured in millions of pounds sterling.

Firstly, it is clear that student loans and mortgages are following a very similar pattern over the years. Student loans stood at just under 1.500 million in 2012, noticeably, being the highest of the four groups. Though they remained constant up to 2013, they are expected to climb steadily to approximately 2.5 billion in 2022. Like the student loans, mortgages are predicted to follow a similar pattern and increase.

Finally, personal loans were staged at the lowest level of the four groups, at under 500 million in 2012. Despite climbing up and overtaking auto loans briefly in 2016 to about 800 million, this level will continue decreasing until 2022 to 400 million.

(Word Count = 223  / Band Score 9)

Sample Essay 3 – Process

To begin, a body of water is stored in a large water reservoir holding the water until it goes into the intake. The dam will then control the flow of water to the intake. After that, water will flow to a cylindrical passage called a penstock, making it flow with a strong pressure until it reaches the turbine. Next, the current of the flowing water from the river passing through the penstock will maintain the turbine’s rotation.

Sample Essay 4 – Line Graph

Sample essay 5 – table, writing task 1 band score 9 criteria >>, ielts writing task 2 question types, related posts, ielts agree/disagree essay sample 11 – government, landlord’s workmen tried to fix problem but without success: semi-formal letter [ielts general writing task 1 ], leave a comment cancel reply.

IELTS Preparation with Liz: Free IELTS Tips and Lessons, 2024

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IELTS Model Essay -Two Questions Essay Type

The IELTS Writing Task 2 Two Questions Essay: Causes & Positive/Negative Trends .

There are a number of different types of IELTS essay questions. There are Opinion Essays, Discussion Essays, Advantage/Disadvantage Essays, Solution (including Cause/ Solution) Essays and there are Direct Question Essays (such as the Two Question Essay). However, please note that different teachers use different names for essay types.

The model essay below looks at the Direct Question Essay which contains Two Questions. 

IELTS Essay Question  – Computer Games

More and more adults are playing computer games. Why is this happening? Is it a positive or negative trend?

The main topic in the essay question is Technology and the specific topic is Computer Games. It is a current essay question because it is about a current trend in the world today. I’ve provided a list of tips to help you tackle this type of essay question.

Points to Consider

• There is only one issue to tackle : computer games. This is lucky. It is an easy essay question. Some essay questions are more complex and have two separate issues to tackle.
• There are two questions to answer . I call this type of question a “Direct Question Essay”. The first question is about causes of the trend. The second question is about evaluating whether it is good or bad. Whenever you are asked to choose, it means you must give your opinion.
• Pay attention to the wording of the essay topic . This is about adults, not children. It is about computer games which some people consider are for children. Always pay attention to all keywords in the essay question when you brainstorm or you will go off topic. Ask yourself questions to stimulate ideas. Why are adults playing games on a computer? We know that children like to do this, but why are adults doing this? And is this good? Is it good that adults are playing computer games? If it is bad, why? 
• Next think about the concept of “computer games”. Spend time analysing the issue given . We often consider computer games to be silly entertainment fore children. But is that correct? Are all computer games actually silly? If we think about this carefully, we will realise that actually some computer games are complex and strategic. Some games require skill and intelligence to play. This means that the issue of computer games is not a simple one. Computer games are varied. Does this essay question apply to childish computer games or complex games? The answer is – it applies to both. So, now we know we can tackle this issue at a level of more depth. Getting to the depth of the issue is essential for a high score.  So, while we can see there is only one issue (computer games) that single issue is complex and can be divided into different aspects.
• After you brainstorm, choose the ideas that are the most relevant and the easiest to explain well. You don’t get a high score because you have lots of ideas. You get a higher score for presenting specific ideas which are well developed and highly relevant.
• If you have two questions to cover. It is logical to have two body paragraphs . Being logical in your choice of paragraphing is important. 
• Provide a clear position in your introduction as to whether you think this is a positive or negative point. Being clear in the introduction helps the examiner follow your body paragraphs more easily and this will increase your score. If you think it is positive – make it clear. If you think it is negative – say so. If you think “it depends” – make sure you word it clearly and explain it clearly in the body paragraphs. The easiest approach is a positive or negative one (a one-sided approach). The “it depends” approach is harder and requires stronger language skills. 

Model Essay: Computer Games (2024)

It seems that the current trend is for an increasing number of adults to enjoy playing computer games in their free time. With the development of game technology, it is hardly surprising that adults are playing games, but whether it is positive or negative depends on the games played and the time spent on them.

In terms of why so many adults are choosing to spend time playing computer games, it is mainly because the technology behind the games is becoming more sophisticated. Initially, when games first came out, they were very simplistic and appealed mainly to children. However, things have moved on since then and games have become visually appealing, very absorbing, require great dexterity and some also have a strategic challenge to them which adults particularly like. Such games can attract professional adults looking to hone tactics and skills to other adults wishing just to relax and switch off.

However, whether this trend in adults towards computer games is beneficial or not can be challenged. Some adults use complex, challenging games as a form of escapism which keeps their mind sharp and helps them relax at the same time. As long as the time spent on such games is balanced with other healthier pursuits, it can be constructive. Unfortunately, adults who ignore their physical health and spend too much time on mindless, repetitive games develop a sedentary lifestyle which can be detrimental to their wellbeing. 

In conclusion, computer games have become more fascinating and tempting to adults. While games that help develop tactics and knowledge might be advantageous, no game, particularly senseless games, should be played to excess and certainly should not replace healthier leisure activities.

Word count = 276 

IELTS Writing Task 2  Model Essays & Tips

Click here to see all model essays, tips etc for writing task 2: IELTS Writing Task 2 Main Page

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This is awesome, there are so much new vocabulary that I can learn from. Thank you Liz! And I wanna ask if all model essays are in the “model essay” category? I’m a new comer and I’m looking for as many well-written writings as possible, like yours!

There are a lot of model essays online. I do not know their quality or how safe they are to use a models. Not all websites are written by professional, experienced teachers who have completed the IELTS examiner training. The models on my essay are safe to use as a guide.

I received my IELTS result today and I scored 7.5 overall band score. I can’t thank you enough for your valuable help and guidance.

More than IELTS, I’m more confident than ever and look forward to continuing this learning further.

Thanks again and take care.

Best Regards, Kamlesh

I’m so pleased for you, Kamlesh! Very well done to you!! I do hope you continue learning. One day I plan to start an English Liz Youtube channel so that people can keep learning beyond their IELTS test 🙂

That would be perfect <3

Thank you so much, Liz. I really appreciate your fantastic work.

You’re welcome 🙂

Good evening Liz. I’m grateful for your guidance and tutelage as I scored 7.5 in my writing, 7.5 in speaking, 7.0 in listening and 6.0 in reading after just a short time with you. I’m optimistic in my next attempt I should get the desired scores. You’re a great teacher ma’am.

I wish you lots of luck in your next test 🙂

Rituparna Saha says April 5, 2024 Thank you Liz for all your support and guidance on Writing Task 2. I greatly appreciate your efforts.

I took my IELTS test a few days ago. The results are out and I got a band 7 in writing with an overall band 7.5 in just a week. For writing I only watched your videos and took notes of all the points you taught. I did not even practice writing much, just referred to your videos and read all the materials on the website. Your content is pure gold and you are an amazing teacher. Ilysm

Very well done with your results!! Many people struggle to hit band 7 in writing. Congrats!

this is Soo nice Liz I have been following you and your materials are helpful kindly would like to know where I can download the Cambridge book or if you can share any regards Hellen

The IELTS Cambridge Test Books are copyrighted so I can’t share them. However, you can find new as well as second hand copies on Amazon or possibly in a local educational store.

I don’t feel the introduction is clear, and there is no clear opinion.

“it depends” indicates the opinion. It shows that the writer intends to be specific about when it is positive and when it is negative because their opinion covers both. This can often be the case with IELTS essays that require an opinion. You do not have to choose positive or negative and be 100% on one side. It is 100% acceptable in IELTS but it is a more difficult opinion to create if one’s English language isn’t strong.

Hello Liz, is it okay to write a contrast (one point) before the conclusion paragraph in agree or disagree essay? Thank you.

This is not an agree/disagree essay. The Opinion Essay is an agree disagree essay which requires you to agree, disagree or have a partial agreement with an opinion given by IELTS. That essay is not an Opinion Essay because you aren’t being asked to respond to an opinion given by IELTS. This essay is a Direct Questions Essay which may or may not require an opinion depending on the questions you are given. In an Opinion Essay, you introduce your opinion in the introduction and the whole essay explains your opinion. You can’t suddenly put a different opinion further down the essay. Your opinion must be consistent throughout the whole essay. I recommend you get my advanced lessons because they explain in detail how to tackle an Opinion Essay. You can find them in my online store: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

Thanks a lot liz.

Hi dear Liz. Hope you are fast recuperating. I have written the following intro. ” There is a growing propensity among the youth to play computer games. This is due to indulgence of parents and can have possible detrimental effects.” I know you don’t comment on write ups, but this is with a hope, in case…

I’ll just make one comment. I made a list of points to consider. Point 3 was important. This isn’t about youths. It’s about adults, which means people in their early 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s etc. And because it is about adults, it cannot be related to “indulgence from parents”. If you make this mistake, most of your essay will be off topic. That is the reason I wrote point 3. Take a look again because it’s an important lesson to learn.

This writing test sample answer makes a whole lots of sense to me. Well appreciated 👍👍👍.

I’m glad it made sense. IELTS isn’t difficult once you understand more about the test and the aims you should have.

Hi, Due to the financial crisis, I lacked many things like IELTS practice/preparation classes and missed many classes from a good teacher like you.

therefore, if you have any better offer like a full free studentship & give me the opportunity. Thank you in advance for your kind coope

This website has hundreds of page of free practice lessons, tips, topics, videos, advice, information, model answers etc. Use them well. Learn from each page and take your time. Then use the IELTS Cambridge test books for full test practice at home.

Thank you so much Liz for your valuable tips and techniques 🙏❤️

I’m glad it was helpful 🙂

Thank you for this it’s very helpful Liz. I greatly appreciate your efforts

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When you get your IELTS test results you will be given an overall test score of between 0 and 9 on the IELTS scale. You will also get a score for each of the four sections of the test – Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. The IELTS scale helps organisations understand your level of English.

IELTS Band Score:

9 Skill Level: Expert

• The test taker has fully operational command of the language.
• Their use of English is appropriate, accurate and fluent, and shows complete understanding.

8 Skill Level: Very good

• The test taker has fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriate usage.
• They may misunderstand some things in unfamiliar situations. They handle complex and detailed argumentation well.

7 Skill Level: Good

• The test taker has operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriate usage and misunderstandings in some situations.
• They generally handle complex language well and understand detailed reasoning.

6 Skill Level: Competent

• The test taker has an effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriate usage and misunderstandings.
• They can use and understand reasonably complex language, particularly in familiar situations.

5 Skill Level: Modest

• The test taker has a partial command of the language and copes with overall meaning in most situations, although they are likely to make many mistakes.
• They should be able to handle basic communication in their own field.

4 Skill Level: Limited

• The test taker's basic competence is limited to familiar situations.
• They frequently show problems in understanding and expression.

3 Skill Level: Extremely limited

• The test taker conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations.
• There are frequent breakdowns in communication.

2 Skill Level: Intermittent

• The test taker has great difficulty understanding spoken and written English.

1 Skill Level: Non-user

• The test taker has no ability to use the language except a few isolated words.

0 Skill Level: Did not attempt the test

• The test taker did not answer the questions.

Calculating your overall score

For each section of the test – Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking – you will be awarded a score on the IELTS scale. Your overall score is the average of your section scores, rounded to the closest half-point on the scale.

How long is my IELTS score valid?

We recommend that IELTS test results are considered valid for two years after a test has been taken. This is based on research into second-language loss. Organisations that accept IELTS can choose to accept results for a longer period, so you should check with them directly.

What score do I need for UKVI visa applications?

Find out what CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) level you need for UKVI and the IELTS band score equivalent .

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New IELTS questions from India – June 2024 (Academic Module)

• Recent IELTS exams

Our student has shared the writing questions from her recent IELTS test in India:

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a report)

The diagrams below show a small local museum and its surroundings in 1957 and 2007.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

* Note: these aren’t the original diagrams given in the test, they were recreated for the purpose of demonstration.

Writing task 2 (an essay)

While educating young people is essential, some believe that governments should invest more in educating disadvantaged adults.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

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1 thought on “New IELTS questions from India – June 2024 (Academic Module)”

These diagrams illustrate a museum with its changes in 1957 and 2007. Overall, the main area is not changed but the building is improved by adding more structures and the garden has been changed by removing trees from the back, side, and near the building and close to the read. By removing trees near to the building, museum shop is created. In 1957, there was an entry road to the museum which is not more available in 2007 and it replaced by car park. Because of that, the location of entrance changed from the center of the building to the left corner. In 2007, we clearly can see that there are some new rooms such as reception, café, museum shop, special exhibitions, and education center which are not been exist in 1957, but in 1957, the building had museum storeroom and now it does not. Some of the rooms still do exist, but their location are changed, for instance, local history room.

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Are you taking the IELTS exam? Are you confident about task 2 in the writing test (Academic and General Training?) Do you know about the different types of essay you might need to write - and how to plan, structure and create each essay in advanced English? Even if your English is strong, writing task 2 can be a huge challenge. To help with this, thousands of people around the world have successfully followed the methods from our five books of IELTS task 2 writing advice. This new edition ebook contains these five books, covering the aspects of vocabulary, grammar, structure and advanced essay writing techniques which will raise your IELTS score to the band you need. In total, this edition gives you 100 band 9 model essays, together with examiner's comments explaining how you can use the examples to get a high score in your essays. There's a full explanation of how to plan and organise your essay, how to use advanced grammar techniques, and a guide to mastering the essential IELTS vocabulary topics. The books included are: Book 1 40 Band 9 Model Essays Book 2 Task 2 Essay Planning Book 3 IELTS Grammar Secrets Book 4 IELTS Vocabulary Secrets Book 5 25 More Band 9 Model Essays With your life plans often depending on getting a high IELTS score, don't risk the exam until you're really sure that your task 2 writing is good enough. About the authors: We are a team of IELTS trainers and examiners based in Cambridge, UK. We began publishing IELTS advice guides in 2015, and we update our range of books each year to keep pace with changes in the exam and new topics which may appear in the tests. Read less

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IELTS Writing Task 2: Most popular 50+ Essay Topics of 2024

• Updated On May 28, 2024
• Published In IELTS Preparation 💻

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) writing section is a 1-hour test that comprises two questions: task 1 and task 2, which assess your vocabulary, grammar, word count, collocations, and ability to construct complex sentences with moderation and without repetition. 

Table of Contents

To begin, it is pivotal to understand that the IELTS essay topics vary for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training Tasks. In Task 1 of IELTS Academic, you must write a report on a graph, diagram or chart, whereas, for IELTS General Training Task 1, you must write a letter. Task 2 of the General and Academic modules is essay writing; while the topics for essays in both modules may differ, the essay writing strategy remains the same. 

Examiners use the following criteria to calculate Academic IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2 scores: Task Achievement, Task Response, Coherence, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Lexical Resource.

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IELTS Writing Task 2 for Academic

The IELTS Academic Writing section consists of two tasks that must be completed in one hour: 

Writing Task 1

In Task 1, you are assigned a graph, visual information, table or chart, which you are required to describe in your own words. You must write a report in 150 words, accurately describing what the information in the graph or picture represents. The IELTS writing task 1 marking criteria accounts for 33% of the total IELTS writing evaluation score, and you should try to finish this part in 20 minutes or less because IELTS writing task 2 is more difficult and will take at least 40 minutes to complete.

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Writing Task 2

 IELTS writing task 2 marking criteria has a 66% weightage, where you must complete a 250-word essay in 40 minutes. Candidates must respond to a problem, a point of view, or an argument in this task, with a curated response. The essay’s content should be written with perfect grammar and focused solely on the topic. As task 2 holds more weight, candidates should devote significant time to it and ensure a properly curated essay for a good band score. 

Let us now review some fundamentals of IELTS essay structure that you can apply to this task. A typical writing piece includes an introduction, the main body consisting of a few paragraphs, and a conclusion. In the introduction, you should write the context of your issue and a thesis statement representing the main idea of your text.

The central section of your essay will discuss various facts and arguments that support or oppose the thesis statement. Finally, restate the thesis statement, bolstering it with new details from the main body. 

Here’s a list of the latest IELTS essay topics and sample questions to help you efficiently prepare for task 2 of the IELTS Writing section.

Latest IELTS Essay Topics for 202 4

IELTS essay writing topics are usually based on current events and world affairs. You will find a series of essay writing topics for IELTS in the following listicles. Also, one of the most effective ways to prepare for answering essays in the Writing section of IELTS is to work on the sample essay questions. The topic categories and essay writing samples to help students looking for the latest IELTS essay topics are stated below:

Environment

• Environmental Crisis: One of the most common topics in IELTS is the environment essay IELTS band 9. Many students, however, do not see the need to prepare for this because it is one of the most specific topics resulting in a loss of marks. 

Click here for the Environmental Crisis essay sample and answers for practice.

• Global Warming: It is common for IELTS speaking and writing sections to include questions about broad discussion topics, such as climate change, the greenhouse effect, global warming, and deforestation.

Click here for the Global Warming essay format, sample and answers for practice.

• Sustainable Energy: If you are unfamiliar with the framework and concepts of an essay, it can be a daunting task. All of the sentences must be related and formed in such a way that they provide a clear view and information. You may be penalised if you veer off-topic while writing your essay. Sustainable energy and nuclear power topics are debated topics; hence practising them will give you an edge over your peers. 

Click here for the Sustainable Energy essay structure, sample and answers for practice.

• Fossil Fuels: The IELTS essay topics for writing task 2 are usually based on common themes frequently discussed in the average aspirant’s daily life. One such theme is the use of renewable energy sources in place of nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels.

Click here for the Fossil Fuels essay sample and answers for practice.

Personality

• Importance of First Impression:  IELTS examiners have a short attention span and read hundreds of essays daily. Hence, it is pivotal for you to get the start right and make a good first impression in your First Impression is Important IELTS essay.

Click here for the Personality essay sample and answers for practice.

• Hobbies: ‘Hobbies’ is a common theme in both the IELTS Writing Task 2 and the Speaking section. This is a simple, mark-fetching topic with few challenges for students taking the exam.

Click here for the Hobbies essay sample and answers for practice.

• Fashion: Fashion is a recurring topic with global themes and one of the best topics to practise your public speaking skills.

Click here for the Fashion essay sample and answers for practice.

• Importance of Leisure Activities and School Values: The IELTS Essay on Education is one of the most challenging tasks, with unpredictable questions in the exam. These education essay topics, like the Importance of leisure activities, are opinion-driven and assess students’ ability to express their knowledge and skills thoughtfully.

Click here for the Education essay sample and answers for practice.

• Government and Society: As an IELTS exam candidate, you should review as many common topics for Writing Task 2 as possible. One such common IELTS test theme is government and society, with which you should be well-acquainted. 

Click here for the Government and Society essay sample and answers for practice.

• Ideal Society: Candidates should practise sample questions and answers for the Ideal Society IELTS essay to gain a firm grasp on writing and vocabulary and improve their overall band score.

Click here for the Ideal So c iety essay sample and answers for practice.

• Social Media: Social media essays are a popular topic in IELTS writing task 2. For a social media IELTS essay band 9 and similar topics, the most straightforward approach is maintaining the proper word count and being aware of various approaches to the topic.

Click here for the Social Media essay sample and answers for practice.

Business & Global Consumerism

• International Trade: Over the years, one of the topics covered in the IELTS exam has been global business. Your answer for such topics should contain everything; your responses, solutions, arguments, reasons, opinions, and evidence are critical to answering the question.

Click here for the International Trade essay sample and answers for practice.

• Management and Leadership: In any organisation, leadership and management are critical roles. Your essay for such topics should always be pertinent to the question.

Click here for the Management and Leadership essay sample and answers for practice.

• Foreign Languages: Foreign languages and language barriers are recurring themes in the IELTS writing task 2. Express your own opinions on such topics. 

Click here for the Culture essay sample and answers for practice.

• Sports and children: Sport is a recurring theme, and the essay content should not deviate from the main points at any point in the essay.

Click here for the Sports essay sample and answers for practice.

• Covid impact: The topics of IELTS Writing task 2 are usually drawn from current events worldwide, making Covid-19 an anticipated topic. 

Click here for the Covid 19 essay sample and answers for practice.

• Obesity: Overweight essays are among the most common topics in IELTS writing task 2. Obesity, recent trends in health among children and adults, and other similar topics may also be discussed in relation to overweight.

Click here for the Health essay sample and answers for practice.

Types of IELTS Essays

IELTS essay writing topics are usually classified under various sections. You can expect essays in the IELTS exam from any of the following types:

1. Opinion Essays 

In this essay category, you must discuss your opinion on the given topic. Naturally, the best way to score high in such essays is to have prior knowledge of common topics that are popular in the IELTS exam. 

Sample Questions:

• Most teenagers today own a smartphone. Provide your opinion to discuss the advantages and disadvantages.
• Crime novels and TV series have become quite popular in recent years. What is your opinion about these crime dramas?
• Developing nations often require international assistance. Many believe that this assistance should be monetary, while some think practical help and advice would be more beneficial. Discuss both these views along with your opinion.
• Many consider automobiles to be the biggest source of pollution in urban areas, while some believe industries are responsible for it. Explain both views and provide your opinion.
• Many people believe individuals involved with creative arts should be financially supported by the government. Some others believe they should find separate resources. Discuss each of the views and give your opinion.
• Some believe success in life comes from hard work, dedication, and motivation. While many believe success depends on other important factors like money and appearance. Discuss both views and provide your opinion. 
• Many think that governments should fund programs in search of life on other planets. However, others believe governments should focus on unresolved issues on the planet. Provide your opinion and discuss both views.

You can also check out this detailed guide on Opinion Essays to learn the appropriate structure for maximum scores!

2. Discussion Essays

In the case of discussion essays, the candidates need to put forward an explanation for or against any given topic. Such essays are the most common to appear in the IELTS exam. 

Sample Questions: 

• Many believe living in big cities comes with more advantages than residing in the countryside. Do you agree or disagree with this?
• The shopping habits of people depend more on their age group than on any other factors. Do you agree or disagree with this? 
• More and more children and minors are becoming overweight in developed nations. This is a major problem for most wealthy countries. Explain the causes and impacts of this issue.
• The internet is a great invention that brings a host of advantages for the world population. However, there are several issues in terms of security and control of personal data. Do you agree or disagree with this?
• Advertising prevents originality in people and makes them look the same and do the same. Do you agree or disagree with this?
• Parents today often tend to organise extra classes on weekends or even after school. Do you believe this is at all useful? Or do you think the education provided in school is sufficient?
• Some people believe that capital punishment should be done away with. Do you agree or disagree with this?

We have covered valuable tips & tricks to attempt Discussion Essays that can come in handy in your exam.

3. Solution Essays

For solution essays, you will have to provide a solution to a particular issue. At times, questions might be provided as to why a specific issue has occurred, and candidates have to provide their opinion on the answer.

• The massive movement of people from agricultural areas to cities in search of employment can lead to serious problems in both places. What are the problems, and how can these be solved? 

Check out our sample question and answer on Solution Essays for a more thorough explanation.

Advantage or Disadvantage Essays

In this type of essay, students have to write about a particular topic’s positive and negative sides. Such essays test your argument construction skills and how well you can use English to communicate your views as clearly and coherently as possible. 

• International tourism has greatly benefited many places. However, there have been major concerns about its impact on the local environment and inhabitants. Do the negative impacts of international tourism outweigh the benefits?
• Some countries have recently passed laws to restrict the daily working hours of employees. Explain whether this will have a positive or negative impact.
• More and more people today are visiting extreme places such as Antarctica or the Sahara desert. What are the advantages or disadvantages of such travels?
• Social media is gradually replacing in-person face-to-face contact with many people worldwide. Do the benefits of social media outweigh the disadvantages? 

Use the sample questions from the Advantage/Disadvantage Essay type to practise your writing skills.

Direct Question Essays

For this type of essay, the topics will be provided as direct questions, which students have to answer based on their experiences and thoughts.

• Shopping used to be a routine domestic task in the past. However, today, it has become more of a hobby. Is this a positive trend?
• You can get more information on these rare essay-type questions on our  Direct question essay structure blog.

Preparation Tips for IELTS Writing Task 2

Many students believe they don’t need to prepare much because they speak English reasonably well. Well, the IELTS exam is not that easy. In fact, even native English speakers may find the test difficult. As a result, candidates should prepare for this section rigorously and methodically and start early preparation.

• Begin your IELTS preparations at least 6 months before your intended test date , and ensure to devote some time daily to all 4 sections.
• Choose writing topics for both tasks, especially writing task 2, and try to write about them daily. Time yourself; remember that you must complete both tasks in one hour.
•  Spend significant time learning new vocabulary and brushing up on your grammatical skills. Following that is structured thinking, allowing you to convey your ideas logically. While writing, pay close attention to lucidity, logic, and clarity.
• You should expand your ideas because the IELTS writing task 2 could cover any topic. Go through all the resources like magazines, books, and online materials to expand your knowledge and vocabulary. Additionally, practice as many mock tests as possible. 

As mentioned above it’s only practice that can get you the desire scores. But along with it you also need the best preparation materials and guidance. And the best solution we suggest is to register for the LeapScholar IELTS courses .

Along with live classes from the best IELTS tutors, you’ll also have access to mock tests, speaking and writing evaluations and comprehensive study materials. As a reward you’ll also receive a course completion certificate.

How to Answer Task 2 Essays in IELTS Writing Section?

Students can employ the following steps to successfully enhance their ability to answer essays in the Writing section:

Step 1: Read and Understand the Question

The first step to nailing task 2 essays is to read and understand the question carefully. Most of the time, candidates answer the question without understanding what it demands. Candidates should carefully analyse the question, identify the question type and try to identify the keywords. Finally, they should clearly understand the instructions and then attempt to answer.

Step 2: Plan the Answer

Once students have understood the question, they need to plan the structure of the answer. This will allow candidates to organise their ideas and produce a clear and coherent response. 

Step 3: Write a Solid Introduction

The introduction of the essay should give an idea of what the essay is all about. Make sure to write an appropriate introduction conveying the gist of the essay.

Step 4: Carefully Curate the Main Body

The main body is the essential part of the essay, where you must provide the necessary details. State your points accordingly and substantiate them with explanations, examples, and other relevant data. Once done, you need to give a proper conclusion.

Tips for IELTS Writing Task 2

You can use the following tips to ace their IELTS Writing test:

Although IELTS is a difficult test to master, one can achieve a good score with systematic and consistent preparation. If you require assistance in acing your IELTS Writing Task 1 and 2, our Leap Scholar experts will provide the necessary guidance, tips, and tricks to help you pass your IELTS test with flying colours. If you are planning to prepare for the essay task in the Writing section, you can go through this comprehensive guide to get an idea about the latest IELTS essay topics. You can prepare for the essay task accordingly with the help of sample essay topics and questions provided in the above sections. 

Still unclear about some portions of IELTS, then enrol for IELTS professional coaching. IELTS Prep app by Leap Scholar is a one-stop solution for your study abroad dream. You can access specially crafted lessons by experts accredited by IDP, British Council, and Cambridge. About 1M + students have trusted us with their IELTS prep journey. Join us, download our IELTS prep app and get access to the best resources!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. how can you score well in ielts writing task 2.

Ans. IELTS Writing Task 2 mainly has four performance descriptors: Task Response, Cohesion & Coherence , Lexical Resource, and finally Grammatical range and accuracy. The scoring happens on four parameters, so follow these and prepare with the correct books and practice questions.

Q. What are the most popular questions asked in IELTS Writing Task 2?

Ans. The different types of questions in IELTS Writing Task 2 include: Problem/ Causes questions, Opinion questions, Advantage/ Disadvantage questions, Discussion of views, etc.

Q. What are the main themes on which IELTS Writing Task 2 questions are based on?

Ans. Some of the broad themes include Environment, Food, Health, Art, Business, Communication, Crime & Punishment and more. Ideas and topics are taken under these broad themes for question framing.

Q. Is it necessary to use complex words in IELTS Writing section?

Ans. Having a good vocabulary is an added advantage. However, difficult words should not be forcefully put in sentences. Your sentences should be organic and should fit the meaning and the context of your essays.

 Q. How to develop ideas for IELTS Writing Task 2 2024?

 Ans. The easiest ways to generate ideas for IELTS Writing Task 2 are by analysing model essays, finding ideas on google, talking to experts, watching movies, asking yourself some questions about the topic, generating main ideas from specific examples.

Q. How many mistakes are acceptable in IELTS Writing Task 2?

Ans. Making one or two mistakes is overlooked by the examiner if the overall essay is good. However, making more mistakes than that can lead to lower IELTS band score.

Q. What are the basic topics in IELTS writing task 2?

Ans. Some of the common IELTS topics for Writing Task 2 are  Art, Environment, Education, Health, Jobs and Employment, Sport, Science and Technology Friends and Family, Government and Society etc.

Q. How can I prepare for IELTS essay writing?

Ans. To prepare for IELTS essay writing, practice writing essays on a variety of topics to improve your writing skills. Focus on structuring your essays with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Familiarise yourself with different types of essay questions (e.g., opinion, discussion, problem-solution) and practice organising your thoughts coherently. Additionally, seek feedback from teachers or peers to identify and work on your weaknesses.

Q. Where can I find sample IELTS essay topics for practice?

Ans. You can find sample IELTS essay topics on official IELTS websites such as the British Council and IDP. Many educational websites and IELTS preparation books also offer a wide range of practice topics. Online forums and study groups often share essay questions from recent exams, providing a good source of up-to-date practice material.

Q. What are the typical requirements for IELTS essay word count and structure?

Ans. The IELTS essay (Task 2) requires a minimum of 250 words. It is typically structured with an introduction that presents the main idea, body paragraphs that develop this idea with supporting arguments or examples, and a conclusion that summarises the key points. It’s important to write clearly and coherently, ensuring each paragraph flows logically into the next.

Q. What are some common IELTS essay topics?

Ans. Common IELTS essay topics include education, technology, environment, health, and society. For example, you might encounter questions about the benefits and drawbacks of online education, the impact of technology on communication, environmental conservation efforts, public health issues, or social issues like the aging population. Practicing essays on these topics will help you become familiar with the kinds of questions you may face in the exam.

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Manisha Angre

Experienced IELTS prep trainer and education management industry veteran. Specializes in public speaking, international education, market research, mentoring, and management.

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