Academic writing task 1 can be seen as a challenge for many students and one reason for this may be because of the way it looks. But, looks can be SO deceiving. I believe that this task is one of -and could even be- the most easy of ALL the IELTS tasks.

 

The task question is usually in 2 parts. The first is the description of the item -which could be a chart/map/diagram/flow chart/process/ table/ or graph. Additionally, these charts can come in different forms such as pie charts, bar charts or stacked bar charts.

 

The second part of the question IS THE SAME EVERY TIME so you can practice these questions safe in the knowledge that you will see the same sentence in your exam that you saw in previous years. This sentence is -

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

What does all this mean for you?

 

 

It means this-

taken from the Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS

The key factor here, and the reason I believe that the task 1 question is the easiest of all tasks, is that the examiners are looking for a summary of what you see and to compare what you see. And that’s all they want. Obviously the better your coherence, clarity, vocabulary and grammar, the higher band score you will achieve. But that’s the whole point of the exam isn’t it?

 

When you look at a complicated graph or stacked bar chart it looks quite scary but, as I have explained above you only have to answer in general not specific terms.

 

 

If, for example, you have this stacked bar chart, what would you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

from the Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS

 

At first this looks very intimidating and confusing but, as I said before, it’s really very very simple as the examiner only really wants to check and mark if you understand the main ideas presented in the stacked bar charts.

Therefore, how should we approach this question? You only have 20 minutes so where to begin?

 

I would firstly write on each coloured bar the correct title so for each green area I would quickly write A for Adult then B for every orange and then G for every blue colour. Why? Because this immediately helps me to know which is which and I don’t need to waste time looking at the box.

 

So we have this-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have quickly added 2 sets of data to help me answer the question. Firstly the A, B and G to show where the adults, boys and girls are and also on the other side the numbers for each of them. Note that the numbers of individuals DOES NOT HAVE TO BE EXACT. The examiner wants to see that you have enough English to be able to explain what is going on.

more soon.......