Writing

Task 1
1. Introduction
 For the introduction you need simply to paraphrase the information from
your topic (make sure that you mention what your graph shows and for
what period of time). It shouldn't be longer than 2 sentences.
o What our graph shows
o For what countries
o For what period of time
 Shows = illustrates = gives(provides) information about
 Between 2005 and 2015 = from 2005 to 2015
 Two European countries = Finland and Sweden (to be more specific).
Divorce rate = percentages of divroces.
 The percentages of industry sectors' contribution to the economy of
Turkey → how different industry sectors contributed to 

While writing introduction, read the topic and look at the title of your graph
at the same time to use words from both of them.

2. General overview
 When giving a general overview, you shouldn’t state any specific
details(no dates, no numbers, no percentages), you should simply look at
the graph and write what’s happening on the graph overall(key features).

Basically, you’re saying that UK and Germany’s rates ↑ , France’s rates ↓ .

 Start writing the paragraph with the word “Overall,”.

 Showed a significant rise = rose significantly = experienced an upward
trend. Linking word “while” to show contrast.
Experienced a downward trend = declined = experienced a decrease.

o Sweden experienced a downward trend

o Finland experienced an upward trend
o both countries showed fluctuations
o Initially Finland had a lower rate, but in 2015 Finland outraced Sweden

3. Specific features
After you've given the overview, you should group data by some
feature and give specific details. In this line graph you can group data in two
ways:
a. by country - Describe each country’s recycling rates in a separate
paragraph
b. by similar trend - As you can see, the UK and Germany followed a
similar trend: their recycling rates were increasing throughout the period,
while recycling rates of France experienced a fall. 
So you can describe an “increase pattern” in the first paragraph and a
“decrease pattern” in the second paragraph.

 Always support your details with data (It dramatically declined to

30%, there was a big growth of 10%)
 Write in one tense - if you’re describing something in the past,
write the whole description in the past.

 When analyzing a bar-chart, we cannot always give exact details (due

to inaccuracies of the chart), so use words around, about and
approximately when giving inexact data.
 Give data for each year shown on the chart.
 Accounted for = was = made up
 Experienced more than threefold increase = increased by more than 3
times = more than tripled (respectively)
 10% = ten percent = one-tenth
 24% = almost a quarter
 Fell to 14% = decreased by 3%
 Was at 5% = comprised 5 %
 Had no change = remained constant at …
 The most preferred activity is …
 Least popular activity was …
 This activity is third most popular in girls
 Dramatically large number liked …
As an example, let's take a look at the given topic:

The line graph below

shows the household
recycling rates in three
different countries
between 2005 and
2015. 
Summarise the
information by selecting
and reporting the main
features, and make
comparisons where
relevant.

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

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

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

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

The bar chart shows the divorce rates in two European countries from 2011 to
2015. 

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

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

Overall, Sweden experienced a downward trend, while Finland showed an

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

Sweden’s divorce rate was about 45% in 2011, being higher than Finland’s rate
by approximately 8%. Then, it rose to almost fifty percent in 2012. However,
the figure showed a gradual decrease to about 47% in 2013, and continued to
decline steadily to the end of the period, reaching around 45% in 2014 and
hitting a low-point of about 37% in 2015.  
 
Percentage of divorces in Finland was less than 40% in 2011, and it decreased
in 2012, when about one third of marriages in Finland ended with a divorce (as
opposed to almost a half in Sweden). However, the figure experienced a steady
growth during the next two years. It rose to approximately 39% in 2013, then
increased by around 3% in 2014, and remained steady for the next year,
outracing the rate of Sweden.

The two pie charts below

show the percentages of
industry sectors'
contribution to the
economy of Turkey in
2000 and 2016. 

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

The two pie charts illustrate how different industry sectors contributed to the
economy of Turkey percentagewise in the years 2000 and 2016.
Overall, at the beginning of the period construction contributed the least to the
economy of Turkey and agriculture was the most significant economic sector. In
comparison, at the end of the period healthcare and education became the
largest economic segment and the lowest contribution was made by financial,
business and other services.

Construction sector accounted for 3% of Turkey's economy in 2000, and

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

Agriculture, which comprised almost a quarter of Turkey's economy in 2000, fell

to 14% in 2016. In 2000 economic outputs from government and leisure and
hospitality sectors were at 12% and 17%, respectively, and both decreased by
3% after 16-year period. In contrast, contribution from healthcare and
education sector remained constant in both years at 17%.

You should spend about

20 minutes on this task.

The diagrams below

show the changes that
have taken place at
West park Secondary
School since its
The pictures illustrate the changes, which have taken place at West Park
secondary school from 1950 to 2010.

Firstly, significant alterations occurred to the farmland, it was redesigned to a

sports field in 1980 and then to a car park in 2010. There was an expansion of
the car park in 2010 and the sport field was placed between the car park and
the playground.

Moreover, substantial changes happened to the houses. They were removed

from the map, car park and science block taking their place.

Furthermore, a science block was added to the school building in 1980 and
playground was reduced in size. However, the locations of the playground and
school were not modified.

In contrast, the main road remained unchanged throughout the period.

Overall, farmland and houses disappeared from the map, playground was
abridged, and there were built science block, car park and sports field.

Task 2
 Introduction
o Paraphrase the statement from your question card
o Say whether you agree or disagree with the statement: I completely
agree/disagree
o Start with: it is argued that
 It is considered that
It is thought that
 Body paragraph
o Sentence 1 – state the reason why you agree/disagree
This sentence contains the main idea of the whole paragraph.Start with:
Firstly or First of all.
o Sentence 2-3 – explain your reason
Expand your reasoning, give detailed information. Start with: In the other
words.
o Sentence 4 – give an example
Start with: for example or for instance.
You can use an example from your own life, from history or literature, from
the news and so on. You can even make up story.
o Sentence 5 – write a short summary of your ideas
 Conclusion
o Start with: To conclude, In conclusion, To sum up, To summarize.
o Restate your opinion from introduction and also restate 2 main reasons from
body paragraph. Use: strongly believe, strongly agree/disagree.
o DON`T put new thoughts or ideas into your introduction.

Agree or Disagree essay

Big salary is much more

important than job
satisfaction.

Do you agree or
disagree?

Provide relevant
examples if necessary.
It is often argued that it is more advantageous to choose a job with high wage,
even if it doesn't appeal to you at all. I completely disagree with this opinion
and think that job satisfaction is much more important than salary.

First of all, I believe that job satisfaction gives people a sense of fulfillment that
no money can guarantee. Even if someone is earning a high salary, but feels
tensed and compromises with his conscience, this person won’t enjoy his life.
While pursuing one’s interests will always bring pleasure and feeling of
satisfaction. For example, a lot of famous researchers made their career choices
not because of appealing wages, but because they were passionate about
science. That’s why it’s more important to choose the kind of work that makes
you happy than to look only at a high salary.

Secondly, doing what you like keeps you motivated and therefore leads to a
career growth. In other words, there is a strong relation between job
satisfaction and productivity. People who love their jobs can easily excel in their
fields of work and achieve better results than those, who put salary on the first
place. For instance, Henry Miller decided to leave his everyday job despite a
good wage and ventured to become a writer. And after enduring years of ups
and downs he became one of the most famous and well-paid authors of the
twentieth century. Thus, advantages of jobs that keep you satisfied outweigh
the drawback of a low salary in a long-term perspective.

To conclude, I strongly believe that job satisfaction is more beneficial than high
salary because it makes people happy and motivated.

Cause-solution essay
Influence of human
beings on the world's
ecosystem is leading to
Despite knowing about biodiversity’s importance for a
the extinction of species
and loss of bio-diversity. long time, human activity has been causing massive
extinctions of different species. This essay will
What are the primary
causes of loss of bio-
diversity?

What solutions can you

suggest?
examine the main causes of loss of biodiversity and possible solutions of this
problem.

The two main causes of species extinction are change of their habitats and
overexploitation of natural resources. When humans artificially transform the
environment, they destroy vegetation and animals’ natural habitat. For
instance, to build new roads people are cutting down the trees and cementing
the soil, altering the environment. Because of that, a lot of species are dying
out. Also, when the activities connected with capturing and harvesting a natural
resource are too intense in a particular area, the resource becomes exhausted.
For example, too frequent fishing doesn’t leave enough time for fish to
reproduce and makes them disappear. In other words, human activities often
deplete local flora and fauna and cause loss of bio-diversity.

Some possible solutions to this problem are protecting natural areas and
promoting awareness among people. By protecting areas where human activity
is limited and avoiding overexploitation of its resources, we can save the
untouched environment and prevent species from dying out. Moreover, the next
step in fighting bio-diversity loss is informing the general population about the
dangers of this problem. This way, people will be more conscious of the
environment and won’t overuse or destroy its resources.

To conclude, people’s activities that change the environment have negative

impact on the world's ecosystem. However, we can significantly lessen the
extinction of species by protecting natural areas and enlightening people as to
this problem.

Presenting ideas

You should spend about

40 minutes on this task.

Some people believe

that violence on These days, the amount of violence in media is
television and in growing. While some people argue that this trend will
computer games has a undoubtedly lead humans to dangerous future, others
damaging effect on the claim that it has no damaging effect on the society. I
society. Others deny believe that in most cases media violence doesn't
that these factors have affect people's behavior.
any significant
influence on people's
behaviour. What is
your opinion?
Firstly, I think that people act from their motives, regardless what they see on
the television. That is to say, if someone intends to do harm to somebody, that
is not because of watching TV or playing computer games, but due to that
person's character and education. Although it is generally considered that
violent media accustoms viewers to cruelty, I doubt this opinion. In my view,
reasonable and intelligent people treat others humanely irrespective of what
they see or hear in fictional stories.

Moreover, video games and television may even reduce social violence by
providing a safe outlet for aggressiveness. In other words, truculent people may
fight in virtual reality instead of evincing their combative spirit in real world.
This may not only help those people, but also reduce the level of social violence
in long-term perspective.

Finally, despite many claims and assumptions about negative effects of

television and computer games I have never seen any proven connection
between violent media and illegal activities in social life.

Taking everything into consideration, I would say that violence in contemporary

media has no substantial influence on people's behavior. Television and
computers are not the main factors that shape personal character, and they can
even be useful in reducing the level of violence.

Suggesting a solution

Some students work

while studying. This
often results in lacking Nowadays, there are a lot of students who work while
time for education and studying. Although this tendency may lead to
constantly feeling negative results, the number of young people who
under pressure. sacrifice education for work is growing. I believe that
this problem has certain causes and can be solved by
What do you think are taking special measures.
the causes of this?
It is apparent that most of the students who work
What solutions can you have many financial expenses to meet. One common
suggest? cause is high cost of education. As many colleges and
universities set high tuition fees, some families
cannot fully afford the higher education for their
children. Consequently, these students have to work to pay university and
college fees. The other cause is living expenses. Many students study away
from hometown, and have to pay for accommodation, food, entertainment etc.
As it is often hard to cover these expenses, students are forced to earn money
to afford their living. I think that the problem of students working during their
studies results in lower quality of education and has no benefits at all. Thus, it
should be solved on the governmental level.

I can suggest two possible solutions to this problem. Firstly, the government
could make higher education free. For instance, this result can be achieved by
financing educational establishments from the country’s budget. Not only will it
make universities and colleges accessible for everyone, but it will also reduce
the number of working students. The second solution is promoting unpaid e-
learning. Such form of distance education doesn’t require a lot of resources to
be maintained. What’s more, students don’t have to leave their homes and can
plan their schedules the way they prefer.

In conclusion, I believe that mainly lack of financial resources causes students

to work, but this problem can be solved by lowering the amount of financial
expenses students have to meet.

Pros and Cons

Some people advocate

death penalty for those
who committed violent Many people believe that death penalty is necessary
crimes. Others say that to keep security system efficient in the society. While
capital punishment is there are some negative aspects of capital
unacceptable in punishment, I agree with the view that without it we
contemporary society. will become more vulnerable to violence.

Describe advantages Death penalty can be considered unsuitable

and disadvantages of punishment for several reasons. The strongest
death penalty and give argument is that we have no rights to kill other
your opinion. humans. Right to live is the basic right of any human
being, and no one can infringe this right, irrespective
of the person’s deeds. Moreover, innocent people can
face wrongful execution. Such unfair sentences take away lives of innocent
people and make other citizens lose faith in law and justice. And besides,
sometimes criminals repent of their acts. In this case they should be given a
second chance to improve themselves.
However, I believe that capital punishment is necessary in the society. Firstly, it
is an effective deterrent of major crimes. The best method to prevent a person
from committing crime is to show the consequences of his or her actions. For
example, the government of Pakistan has controlled the rate of terrorism by
enforcing death penalties for the members of terrorist organisations. Secondly,
the governments spend large sums of national budget on maintenance of
prisoners. Instead, this money can be used for the development of the society
and welfare of the people.

To sum up, although capital punishment has some disadvantages, I think that it
proves to be the best way of controlling criminals, lessening governmental
expenses and preventing other people from doing crimes.

Causes and effects

Today more people are

overweight than ever
before.

What in your opinion are

the primary causes of
this?

What are the main

effects of this epidemic?
Nowadays the number of overweight people is
constantly increasing. This essay will discuss the main
reasons of this epidemic and then describe the possible effects of the problem.

In my opinion, the foremost causes of obesity are inactive lifestyle and

unhealthy eating habits. Today more and more people rely on cars instead of
walking, have less physical demands at work and prefer inactive leisure
activities. This results in burning less calories and gaining weight. Moreover, the
problem is accentuated by the growing number of people, who eat irregularly
and consume large portions of high-calorie food. For example, about 50% of the
adult population in Europe with so-called disordered eating suffer from obesity.
The possible effects of this problem include physical health problems and loss of
productivity. First of all, obesity results in incorrect functioning of the human
body and contributes to the risk of developing some chronic illnesses. For
example, as body fat percentage increases, the person’s metabolism worsens,
which in turn may result in diabetes or heart diseases. Secondly, overweight
people are very unhealthy and often suffer from stress and tiredness. This
lessens their work capacity and results in lower productivity. For example, it has
been proven that an obese person needs to put more effort to complete some
task than a person with normal weight.

To sum up, obesity is a big problem that affects a lot of people nowadays. It’s
mainly caused by inactive lifestyle and eating disorders and results in severe
health problems and loss of productivity.

Problem and Solution essay

Despite a large number

of gyms, a sedentary
lifestyle is gaining These days a sedentary lifestyle is becoming more
popularity in the and more popular despite a big number of sport
contemporary world. facilities. This essay will discuss the main problems
associated with this epidemic and propose some
What problems are possible solutions to avoid them.
associated with this?
The main problems caused by inactive lifestyle are
What solutions can you obesity and various spine disorders. A growing
suggest? number of body research shows that long periods of
physical inactivity raise a risk of becoming
overweight. This is because people burn fewer
calories and easily gain weight. What’s more, a lot of studies show that so-
called ‘sitting disease’ often results in posture and backbone problems. Due to
constant sitting, person loses muscle tissue and curves spine, developing
numerous spinal diseases. For example, it has been proven that about 80% of
people experience backache at least once a week.

In my opinion, the best solution to these problems is promoting active lifestyle.

Firstly, millions of people stay less active because they use cars instead of
walking. Therefore, an effective way to make people more active is to advertise
walking and cycling as safe and attractive alternatives to motorized transport.
Moreover, inactive lifestyle is gaining popularity because nowadays a lot of
people prefer passive rest to workouts in the gym. And the best way to avoid
the hazards of unhealthy living is to obtain a regular dose of physical activity.
Thus, promoting gyms and regular exercising would increase the level of
activity.

In conclusion, leading a sedentary lifestyle causes a lot of health problems,

including obesity and spinal diseases. The most effective solution is to increase
the level of fitness among the society by advertising physical activity.