IELTS Academic module Writing task 1 Introduction
IELTS Academic module Writing task 1 Introduction
In the first paragraph of the IELTS academic writing task 1 you will be supposed to give an overview of the graph. You will not start reporting the main features straight away. You will have to depict a picture of the graph in front of the reader. Reader is the examiner and you have to describe the chart as if the reader has never seen the graph and you will have to describe the chart in simple words. I will describe this point by giving an example.
The chart shows how the IELTS candidates of different academies performed in the years 2008-2011
You can see the chart which is right above now, I am going to tell you how you are going to write the first paragraph of academic writing task.
Read the statement
There is always a statement provided above the chart you should spend roughly 30 seconds on reading the statement so that you could have an idea what the chart is about.
Look at the key
Many candidates fail to look at the key which is already provided in the chart. They start to answer the question without looking at the key which deprives them of stating the main facts about the question. Examiners have stated that they have seen people describing the charts by saying that the dotted line shows
Look at the x-axis and y-axis
You should also look at the x-axis and y-axis of the chart, so that you can know all the information about the chart.
Reporting
You will always say “The following graphs shows………” Present simple tense
You will state the main features in the past simple tense as the chart was published after something happened. There is an exception to the above mentioned rule in a case when the graph show forecasted or future data. In that situation the candidate will have to state the main features in the future simple tense.
Sample Paragraph 1
The following chart shows how the students of 3 academies performed in the IELTS exam in the years 2008-2011. The chart depicts the number of students who were successful in achieving more than 6 band. The 3 academies which were examined are CAFELS, PACANS and FET SYTEM.
(You can see that this was a very simple description of the IELTS writing task 1 and the examiner does not expect the candidates to write complex words in this task. Candidate are also not permitted to write informal language.)
