IELTS - WRITING TASK 1

With Willy Gonzales

 IELTS Sections
Listening
01 40 minutes

Academic Reading
02 40 minutes

0
Task 1 - 20 minutes
Academic Writing
60 minutes
3 Task 2 - 40 minutes

Speaking
04 11 to 14
minutes
 IELTS Academic Writing – task 1

- Task: Write a report for a given infographic – chart,

diagram, table

- Worth half as many points as task 2

- Finish it under 20 minutes

- 150 words minimum (no maximum limit)

- Factual in nature, no opinions are required (avoid any

“I’)
 Writing Task 1
scoring

Task Coherence Lexical Grammatical

Range and
Achievement and Cohesion Resources Accuracy

25% 25% 25% 25%

 Task
achievement

Band 7

1. Present a clear overview of main trends, differences,

or stages

2. Clearly presents and highlights key features/bullet

points but could be more fully extended
 Task
achievement

A. Main Trends
Overall
Ex. (N) Decreasing

(Z) Fluctuating

(C) Fluctuating

B. Key features:

1. Starting and ending points

2. Highest and lowest points

3. Turning points

4. Common trends
 Strategy Development
3 Main Elements

Major details
01

Minor
02
details

Minute
03
details
 Task
achievement

A. Main Trends
Ex. (N) Decreasing
Major details
(Z) Fluctuating

(C) Fluctuating

B. Key features:
1. Starting and
ending points
Minor
2. Highest and
lowest points details

3. Turning points

4. Common trends
 Task
achievement

B. Key features:
1. Starting and
ending points
Minor
2. Highest and
details
lowest points

3. Turning points

4. Common trends

Specifying minor
details
Minute
1. Inputting details
numbers
 Strategy Development
Overview Structuring

Closing
section
Paragraph 1 Paragraph 4
section

1. Data type description Conclusion

2. Major details

Paragraph 2
Analytical
section

3. Minor details
4. Minute details
section pt. 2
Analytical

Paragraph 3

5. Minor details
6. Minute details
 Lexical
Resource

- Various vocabularies

- Less common words

- Synonyms (less repetitive words = higher score)

 Big
Increase Increase Decrease

Rise (a rise) Jump (a jump) Fall (a fall)

Climb (a Surge (a Drop ( a drop)

climb) surge)
Elevate Double Decline (a
(elevation) (doubling) decline)
Grow (growth) Shoot up Dip (a dip)
Incline (an Soar Sink (a sink)
incline)
 Improvemen
Big t
Decrease Stability
Improve
Stabilize (Improveme
Plummet (a plummet) (stabilization) nt)
Recover
Tumble (a Level off (recovery)
tumble) (leveling off)
Collapse (a
collapse) Plateau
Slump (a slump)
(a plateau)
Fluctuation
Plunge (a
plunge) Stay/Remain
Fluctuate
(Steady/
(fluctuation)
Stable/
Constant)
Superlative degree

Highest

Peak
__ “peaks at”…

Lowest

Bottom
___ bottoms at …
Quality of Change
 Describes… Adjectives Adverbs

Fast
change
Surprising change
Slow
change
Steady change
Small change

Medium
change
Big change
 Mix and Match

A B (Adjectives) C (Nouns) D

Ex. There was a drastic decline in the price of

zinc
 Grammatical Range
and accuracy

- Use complex sentences

- Pay attention to tense

- Write numbers correctly

Compound
Sentence
Complex Sentence
 Tense

Which tense to use?

- Use past tense if the year in the infographic is before the

present time (e.g. 1945)

- Use future tense if the year in the infographic is after the

present time (e.g. 2045)

- If there’s no year, use simple present tense

- Be consistent with tense, do not change tense midway, unless

timing of action requires it
Tense

The highest number of UK telephone

call time for local fixed line was in
1999

In general, local fixed line took the lead in

terms the amount of call time for UK
telephone calls from 1995 to 2002.
Tense

Petrol and oil consumption number

started at 35 quadrillion units in 1980,
and will rise to around 45 quadrillion
units in 2030 according to the chart
prediction.
 Writing Numbers

Below 10 10 &
Above
Spell out numbers
between 0-9. But, Write numbers that are 10 &
when numbers are above in numerals (unless
in a list it is best to they are at the start of a
write numerically. sentence

Correct: It was found that Middle of sentence:

four out of 10 students Residents aged 60 and above should
failed. receive free medical insurance

Incorrect: She has four

sisters aged six, eight, 13, Beginning of sentence:
and 17. Seventy children came to the class
trip this year, but last year there
Correct: She has four sisters were 90.
aged 6, 8, 13, and 17.
 Coherence
and Cohesion

Coherence
The organization of information and ideas.
- Structure - Flow

- Order - Relevancy

Cohesion

The connection between ideas and sentences

- Cohesive device
Cohesive Devices
Cohesive Devices
Cohesive Devices
In 2003, the highest smoking rate was observed among females aged 16-24 years,
with a percentage just above 30%. This rate slightly increased to about 35% in 2004
before dropping back to around 30% in 2005. Similarly, females aged 25-34 years
and 35-44 years also showed relatively high smoking rates, with percentages around
30% in 2003. These rates remained fairly stable over the three years, with minor
fluctuations.
For the age groups 45-59 years and 60-74 years, the smoking rates were slightly
lower compared to the younger age groups. In 2003, the percentages were
approximately 25% and 20%, respectively. These rates experienced a slight decrease
in 2004 and 2005, indicating a downward trend.

The oldest age group (75+ years) consistently had the lowest smoking rates. In
2003, the rate was just under 15%, and it further decreased over the next two years,
reaching about 10% in 2005.

In conclusion, the chart shows that younger Scottish females had higher smoking
rates compared to older females between 2003 and 2005. However, there was a
general trend of decreasing smoking rates across most age groups over the three
years
Practicing with bar chart
 Strategy Development
Overview Structuring

Closing
section
Paragraph 1 Paragraph 4
section

1. Data type description Conclusion

2. Major details

Paragraph 2
Analytical
section

3. Minor details
4. Minute details
section pt. 2
Analytical

Paragraph 3

5. Minor details
6. Minute details
1. Data type description

“The chart below shows the total number of minute (in billions) of telephone calls in the UK
Divided into three categories, from 1995 to 2002”

The chart illustrates the data about time spent on three types of phone calls
between 1995 and 2002 in the UK
 Strategy Development
Overview Structuring

Closing
section
Paragraph 1 Paragraph 4
section

1. Data type description Conclusion

2. Major details

Paragraph 2
Analytical
section

3. Minor details
4. Minute details
section pt. 2
Analytical

Paragraph 3

5. Minor details
6. Minute details
2. Major Details

In general, Local – fixed line was the most

used phone call type, while mobile calls,
despite experience consistent increase, was
the least one used

3. Minor Details and Minute Details

Since 1995, Local fixed line had already

topped the popularity ranking among the
three categories of phone call. It started at
the high of 71 billion minutes total service
duration, and fluctuated steadily towards
2002, ended up maintaining its lead at
around 71 billions minutes
 Thank You,
Any questions?