The IELTS test consists of the reading, listening, writing, and speaking sections. The writing section is divided into Task 1 and Task 2. In this guide, we will discuss Writing Task 1:
Time: 20 minutes
Length: 150 words
Task: You will write about the given visual information (charts or diagrams).
You will be evaluated according to
Below, you can see the official band 9 requirements for IELTS Writing Task 1.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The line graph shows the languages studied in primary schools.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Language Studied by Primary School Students
You only have 20 minutes and 150 words, but in that time and space, you need to achieve 3 basic objectives:
Start with one or two sentences that describe the chart or diagram. Include the information of the title, but don’t copy. Be sure to include:
For our sample question, a good introduction might be:
This line graph describes the the study of the English, French, and German languages by primary school students from 2000 to 2013.
Note:
In your second paragraph, you can give an overview of the chart. You should talk about the main trends or findings. Don’t give details here. At this stage, we just want a bird’s eye view of the information.
Overall, the study of the English language by primary students doubled over the 13 years. It grew at a much faster rate than the study of German or French, which remained relatively constant.
In these paragraphs, you can give the finer specific details of the chart. Be sure to be as specific as possible by referencing actual numbers and dates. You should look for patterns, similarities, differences, and other notable observations.
Looking at our sample question, we can find:
Let’s put all this info into paragraph form.
In 2000 English was already showing strength, sitting at 35%, which was more than 10 times the study of French and German at elementary schools at that time. In 2000, only 4% studied French while 5% studied German. The study of German and French did not fare much better over the years, with only minor movements which ended in 2013 at 3%, even lower than where they started.
The growth of English was not always straight forward. One example of this was in 2006, where after peaking, it suddenly dropped 10% before resuming its rise.
The study of the French language showed some promise between 2008 and 2012 where it doubled, however in 2013 its study suffered a precipitous decline.
Conclusions are not necessary for Task 1 questions, however, if you can add an appropriate conclusion, it would certainly make your answer more complete and better structured. You have a few options for conclusions:
English is the most dominant language in the world, and it has not shown any signs of slowing down.
This line graph describes the the study of the English, French, and German languages by primary school students from 2000 to 2013.
Overall, the study of the English language by primary students doubled over the 13 years. It grew at a much faster rate than the study of German or French, which remained relatively constant.
In 2000 English was already showing strength, sitting at 35%, which was more than 10 times the study of French and German at elementary schools at that time. In 2000, only 4% studied French while 5% studied German. The study of German and French did not fare much better over the years, with only minor movements which ended in 2013 at 3%, even lower than where they started.
The growth of English was not always straight forward. One example of this was in 2006, where after peaking, it suddenly dropped 10% before resuming its rise.
The study of the French language showed some promise between 2008 and 2012 where it doubled, however in 2013 its study suffered a precipitous decline.
English is the most dominant language in the world, and it has not shown any signs of slowing down.
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