IELTS Writing Tips: Task 1 Academic Test
1. Practice with many types of charts, graphs, figures, flow charts, diagrams, maps, etc. That way you will know how to interpret the data.
2. Be familiar with comparisons, you will often have to compare charts or compare information within a chart or table.
3. Be familiar with using the past tense and present tense together. Often you will have to explain differences over time.
4. Use formal writing. Don’t use contractions. (i.e. instead of don’t, use do not, instead of aren’t use are not.) Try not to use the first person “I”.
5. Don’t use your opinion (unless the prompt specifically asks for your opinion). Use the data. Talk about and interpret the data in the visual aide. You’ll use your opinion in task 2.
6. Your answer should have an introduction paragraph, a body paragraph, and a conclusion paragraph.
For the introduction paragraph:
Write what the visual aid is about (the main idea of the graph, chart, table etc.).
Write about dates and amounts (the x and y axis, the main columns of a table, etc.).
Give the time frame if there is one.
The introduction paragraph is all about describing the visual aide to someone who can’t see it.
Describe what the visual aid is.
Do not copy sentences from the card. You can rephrase the information though.
It should be about 1 to 3 sentences.
For the body paragraph:
Write about the most obvious and important trends.
Mention the most important segments of data (the years shown, the main parts shown, or the main categories).
Compare and contrast data.
The body paragraph is where you go into detail about the different parts of the visual aide and compare and contrast the data.
You don’t need to mention all of the data, just the most important data.
This will be the main portion of your writing.
For the conclusion paragraph:
Point out the conclusions that can be made from looking at the data.
The conclusion paragraph should be about what can be concluded from the data.
It should be about 1 to 3 sentences.