# Task 1 — The Complete Guide

Everything Task 1 needs, in one place: the timing, the four paragraphs, how to choose your
grouping, the tense map, the language, and what actually separates Band 7 from Band 9. Academic
charts and General Training letters both.

This page replaces reading five separate guides. It is the reference — the practice still has to
happen on paper, timed. There is an audio version of much of this material, written to be read
aloud by a text-to-speech voice, in [Task 1 — The Audio Guide](task1_complete_guide.html), and
seven fully worked reports with commentary in
[Task 1 Calibration Track](task1_calibration.html).

> **Sources.** Original material, plus condensed and adapted guidance from
> [IELTS Advantage](https://www.ieltsadvantage.com/) (Christopher Pell),
> [IELTS Podcast](https://www.ieltspodcast.com/) (Ben Worthington) and
> [IELTS buddy](https://www.ieltsbuddy.com/). Band descriptors and criteria wording are the
> published official versions. Go to the originals for full courses and marking.

---

## 1. Calibration — the numbers that govern this task

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Minimum length** | 150 words. Below it you are penalised before anyone reads the content. |
| **Target length** | 170–190 words. Safe, and it leaves time for Task 2. |
| **Total time** | 20 minutes: **3 min** reading and grouping, **14 min** writing, **3 min** checking. |
| **The check** | Reads for two things only: **agreement** and **tense**. Nothing else. |
| **Paragraphs** | Four, in fixed proportion: ~30 words intro, ~35 overview, ~60 in each body. |

Task 2 carries twice the marks. If Task 1 overruns, the loss must land on Task 1, never on Task 2.

**If you reach 190 words and half the data is still unmentioned, the grouping was wrong, not the
writing.** You report the significant figures, not every figure on the chart.

---

## 2. Read the chart before you write

Three minutes, not thirty seconds. This is the step candidates skip, and skipping it is what
produces a report that lists numbers instead of describing them.

Under a 20-minute clock the instinct is to start writing the moment you've glanced at the chart.
That produces one of two failures: you **transcribe** — describing numbers left to right with no
sense of which matter — or you **freeze** on a chart with many categories and try to mention all of
them, running out of words before you reach a real comparison. Both share one cause: you started
composing sentences before deciding what the report was about.

### What a prompt is actually made of

Every Academic Task 1 prompt has the same three parts, whatever the chart:

1. **A frame sentence** — one line naming the subject, the place, and the time span.
2. **The graphic** — the data itself.
3. **A fixed instruction** — *summarise, select, report the main features, compare where relevant*.
   This sentence never changes and tells you nothing about your chart. Stop re-reading it after the
   first time.

Pull three things out of the frame sentence before you look closely at the graphic: the **subject**
(what is measured), the **scope** (how many categories, countries, items), and the **span** (a fixed
date, a range of years, or none at all — which decides your tense before you have written anything).

### The five-second scan

Confirm four things about the graphic itself. Skipping this is how candidates misread a chart they
could have read correctly in five extra seconds.

- **Title or caption** — does the subject match the frame sentence?
- **Axes or column headings** — what is on each, and in what order?
- **Units** — percentages, raw counts, currency, or an unlabelled unit you must infer. Fix the unit
  in your head before you write a single figure; mixing *percent* and *percentage points* is one of
  the commonest accuracy errors in this task.
- **Legend or key** — which line, bar or shade is which, checked *before* you start describing "the
  top line" from memory.

### Hunt for the two or three features that matter

An overview names 2–3 features. Not one, not seven. Look for:

- the **extremes** — largest, smallest, and by how much
- a **crossover** — where one line overtakes another
- a **reversal** — the ranking at the end differs from the ranking at the start
- an **outlier** — one category that behaves unlike the rest
- a **grouping** — two or three categories that move together

### Where the signal usually is, by chart type

| Chart type | Confirm first | Usually worth reporting |
|:---|:---|:---|
| Single pie chart | The segments sum to 100% | The largest segment, and any segment a surprising size for the topic |
| Two or more pie charts | Whether the same categories appear in each | What grew or shrank between charts, and any change in which segment leads |
| Line graph | Which line is which | Start vs. end per line, any crossing point, the steepest stretch |
| Bar chart | Whether bars group by category or by time | Tallest and shortest overall, and whether the ranking holds across groups |
| Table | Row and column headings — **not** the numbers first | The extreme value; which cells you can safely group and skip |
| Map | Compass orientation and scale | What was added, what was removed, what stayed exactly where it was |
| Process | Whether it loops or ends | The number of stages, and whether any stage carries more sub-steps |
| Two linked graphics | How the second relates to the first | Whatever the second adds that the first could not show |

**A sentence budget for a bar chart.** Assume about 10–12 sentences in total and give each one a
job rather than writing freely: one introduction, two for the overview, two using superlatives, one
comparison, one grouping two similar data points, one flagging an exception, one complex sentence,
one simple sentence. Working to a budget is what stops a bar chart report from becoming a list.

**Note the table row.** A table gives you no visual shortcut the way a line or a bar does, so if you
start with the figures you will start transcribing. Start with the headings, decide which dimension
is more informative to group by, and only then read the values inside it.

### A worked scan

Imagine a bar chart titled *"Share of leisure time UK teenagers reported spending on five app
categories, 2015 and 2023."* Categories: gaming, messaging, social media, video streaming,
education apps.

**Frame sentence gives you:** subject = leisure time by app category; scope = five categories, one
country; span = two fixed years, no ongoing series → **past simple throughout**.

**Five-second scan:** units are percentages of leisure time — and they will not sum to a fixed total
the way one pie chart would, so don't assume they add to 100. Two bars per category, one per year.

**Hunting for features**, with these figures: gaming 40% → 18%, video streaming 10% → 30%, social
media 25% → 38%, messaging 20% → 10%, education apps 5% → 4%.

- *Extremes:* gaming was highest in 2015; social media is highest in 2023.
- *Biggest mover:* video streaming, tripling its share.
- *Reversal:* gaming and social media effectively swap places at the top.
- *Barely changed:* education apps — one short clause, not a paragraph.

**That scan converts straight into an overview with no numbers in it:**

> Overall, gaming's dominant share of teenage leisure time in 2015 had been overtaken by social
> media and video streaming by 2023, while messaging fell back and interest in education apps
> remained consistently marginal throughout.

Everything in that sentence came from the scan, not from staring at five numbers and describing them
in printed order. The body paragraphs — one for what grew, one for what shrank — now write
themselves, because the grouping decision was made **during the scan**, not during the sentence.

---

## 3. The four paragraphs, and choosing the grouping

Every report has the same four paragraphs, in the same order.

| Paragraph | Contains | Never contains |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **1. Introduction** | What the chart is about, paraphrased | Any data |
| **2. Overview** | The 2–3 most prominent features | Any numbers |
| **3. Body 1** | One group of the data, with exact figures | — |
| **4. Body 2** | The rest of the data, with exact figures | — |

### The grouping decision

Make it before you write a word. It is the decision the whole report rests on.

| Chart | Group by |
|:---|:---|
| **Dynamic** (has a time period) | **Direction** — one paragraph for what rose, one for what fell or fluctuated |
| **Static** (no time period) | **Rank** — one paragraph for the highest figures, one for the lowest and any exception |
| **Map** | **Time** — one paragraph for the earlier layout, one for the later |
| **Process** | **Sequence** — split the stages roughly in half |
| **Two sources together** (e.g. chart + table) | **Source** — one each, with an explicit link sentence opening Body 2 |

**The dynamic-chart trap:** if the chart has years but *every* category moves the same way,
direction cannot divide your paragraphs. Fall back on **scale** and treat it as a static chart.

### Tables specifically

A table has almost no vocabulary of its own. What makes it hard is that a line graph draws the
shape for you and a table does not. **Selection is the entire task.**

- A table with six categories and three time points holds **eighteen figures**. You have room for
  about ten.
- Report the **highest**, the **lowest**, the **largest change**, and **anything that breaks the
  pattern**. Summarise the rest in pairs, or leave it out.
- **Omitting data is not a fault in a table task. Reporting all of it is** — a report that lists
  every cell has demonstrated no ability to identify what is significant.

Read it twice before writing, once across the rows and once down the columns, and ask:

1. Which row or column holds the highest figure overall, and which the lowest?
2. Does any row move against the direction of the others?
3. Do the rankings hold from the first column to the last, or does any category change position?

**Name what a row measures, never the row itself.** Not "the third row shows" — say "expenditure
on healthcare", "the figure for Brazil". Table furniture is invisible in a good report.

**Units:** tables mix them in a way charts do not. State the unit the first time you give a figure
in each paragraph. Never compare figures across columns carrying different units. A change from
22% to 34% is a rise of **12 percentage points**, not 12 percent.

---

## 4. The tense map

Tense collapse under time pressure is the most common failure across all four modules. Task 1 is
unusually forgiving, because the chart itself dictates the tense.

| The chart | The tense |
|:---|:---|
| Dates that have all passed | **Past simple** throughout |
| Dates running into the future, or marked as projections | Future forms **for those years only**: *is expected to reach*, *is projected to*, *will rise* |
| No dates at all | **Present simple** throughout |
| Map, two past dates | Past simple (+ passive) |
| Map, past → today | Past simple for the earlier map; present perfect / present simple for the later |
| Map with a **proposed** panel | Present for now; *will be / is to be / is planned to be* |
| Man-made process | **Present simple passive** throughout |
| Natural process | **Present simple active** throughout |

Tables introduce no new case: read the column headings. Years → past simple. No years → present
simple.

**Inside one report, the tense does not move unless the chart moves it.** That single rule is worth
more than any phrase in this guide.

---

## 5. The introduction

**Formula:** graphic type + reporting verb + what is measured + where + when.

- **Upgrade the verb.** Not *shows* — use **illustrates**, **depicts**, **delineates**. For two
  graphics, **compares X in terms of Y**. For a process, **explains**.
- **Use the "how" transformation.** Not *shows the number of people* → **illustrates how many
  people**. Not *shows the spending on* → **depicts how much was spent on**.
- **Never copy the question's wording.** Paraphrase every part of it. Copied text is deducted from
  the word count and earns nothing for lexical range.

**Time and place phrasing:** *over a decade-long period commencing in 2000* · *on an annual basis*
· *across three distinct nations* · *on a global scale*.

### A working substitution list

Don't change *every* word — some technical terms (*percentage*, *decade*) can't be replaced without
sounding forced. Swap what you safely can:

| The prompt says | You write |
|:---|:---|
| chart / graph | name the specific type: *bar chart*, *line graph* |
| shows | illustrates · depicts · compares |
| diagram | figure |
| information | data |
| the number of | the figure for |
| proportion | percentage · share · segment |
| people in the UK | British people · Britons |
| from 2005 to 2015 | between 2005 and 2015 · over a ten-year period |
| how to produce X | the process of producing X |

**Turn a bare graph label into a proper noun phrase.** A label reading *Owns a Smartphone (72%)*
becomes: *The proportion of respondents who owned a smartphone (72%) was more than double the
proportion who did not (28%).*

---

## 6. The overview

The single biggest gap between Band 6 and Band 7, and the first thing an examiner checks.

**Openers:** *Overall,* · *Broadly speaking,* · *The most prominent trend to emerge is* · *A notable
feature of the data is*.

Avoid *it is immediately apparent that* and *an overarching perspective reveals* — they read as
exaggerated rather than analytical.

### Formulas by chart type

**Dynamic — up vs. down:**
> While category A rose steadily, category B registered a marked decline.

**Dynamic — fluctuation vs. stability:**
> Category A underwent significant fluctuations, whereas category B maintained a period of
> extended stability.

**Static — dominant vs. marginal:**
> Category A stood out as the dominant subject; conversely, category B constituted the smallest
> minority.

**Static — majority vs. exception:**
> The vast majority shared a common characteristic, with the notable exception of category A.

**Messy data — across the board:**
> While category A dominated across the board, category B consistently registered the lowest
> figures in almost all metrics.

**Messy data — disparity or volatility:**
> The data highlight a significant disparity between group A and group B.
> The period was characterised by erratic fluctuations across all categories, though category A
> ultimately emerged as the highest.

**Process:** state the number of stages, the start point, the end point, and whether it is linear or
a closed loop.

**Map:** state the overall nature of the change — *extensive development*, *comprehensive
modernisation* — and, where true, that it came *at the expense of natural spaces*.

---

## 7. Body paragraph language

### Trends

| | Verbs | Nouns |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Up** | climb, expand, increase, rise, edge up, rebound | an upsurge, an uplift, a jump, an expansion |
| **Down** | plummet, plunge, dip, contract, decline, ease, taper off | a slump, a drop, a plunge, a contraction |
| **Flat / erratic** | plateau, level off, hold steady, stay constant, fluctuate, hover around | a period of stability, erratic movements, a plateau |
| **Turning points** | peak at, hit a high of, bottom out, reach a trough | — |

### Degree of change

| Size | Adjectives | Adverbs |
|:---|:---|:---|
| Big, sudden | marked, sharp, steep, pronounced | markedly, sharply, steeply |
| Noticeable | significant, substantial, considerable | significantly, substantially |
| Slow, continuous | steady, gradual, incremental | steadily, gradually, incrementally |
| Very small | slight, marginal, minor, modest, negligible | slightly, marginally |

Match the adverb to the verb's own speed. *Plummeted gradually* is a contradiction.

### Say the same change two ways

Alternate between the two forms so your grammatical range stays visible:

| Verb + adverb | Adjective + noun |
|:---|:---|
| Expenditure climbed steadily. | There was a steady climb in expenditure. |
| Usage rose markedly. | The data reveal a marked rise in usage. |

### Comparison

*The figure for X was double that of Y* · *X exceeded Y by a significant margin* · *the gap between
X and Y widened / narrowed* · *X was virtually identical to Y* · *X showed little difference from
Y* · *the corresponding figure* · *the equivalent figure for* · *across all four countries*.

**Superlatives double as comparisons for free** — *the largest*, *the smallest*, *the most
expensive* — so use them liberally. One trap: **drop "the" when a possessive is already doing that
job.** *China's most productive year was 2010*, never *China's the most productive year*.

**The correlative comparative** — one of the highest-value structures available here, because it
compresses a whole trend into one clause:

> The younger the age group, the more likely they were to visit.
> The larger the city, the higher the cost of housing.

### Approximations and fractions

Give the exact figure and let the fraction support it, rather than replace it.

| Figure | Say |
|:---|:---|
| 75% | **exactly** three quarters |
| 73% | nearly / just under three quarters |
| 33% | **approximately** one third *(not "precisely" — one third is 33.3̅%)* |
| 10% | a tenth · one in ten |
| 4–5% | a tiny fraction · a negligible minority |

General approximators: *roughly*, *approximately*, *just over*, *well under*, *around*.

For genuinely tiny values: *a mere 6 TWh* · *practically zero* · *appealed to only 8%*.

For evenly clustered data, use **range language** instead of listing: *percentages ranged from 34%
to 46%* · *with the other three activities between 38% and 42%*.

### Naming the exception

Most charts have one category that misbehaves. Naming it explicitly is a Task Achievement marker.

*broke the overall pattern* · *runs counter to the general trend* · *is the outlier* · *with the
exception of* · *do not follow this trend as neatly* · *a notable exception was*.

### Referencing data precisely

- **respectively** — matches a list of subjects to a list of numbers *in the same order*. Get the
  order right every time: *France and Spain reported 30 and 40 per cent respectively.*
- **the former / the latter** — refers back to two items already named.
- **Prepositions:** began **at** 20% · rose **to** 50% · dropped **by** 15% · **with** a rate of 60%.

### Moving through time without repeating the years

*At the onset of the period* · *in the initial year under review* · *over the subsequent years* ·
*during the following decade* · *by the close of the period* · *in the final year* · *throughout the
entire timeframe*.

### Connectors

Open the overview: *Broadly speaking* · *From an overall perspective*.
Change subject: *In terms of* · *Regarding* · *Turning to the remaining categories*.
Group: *Similarly* · *Following a similar pattern* · *Likewise*.
Contrast: *Conversely* · *By contrast* · *Whereas*.
Highlight: *A notable exception was* · *Standing out from the rest*.

Use **Overall** once, in the overview only.

---

## 8. Word choice — what loses marks

Several words candidates believe are impressive are the ones that cost them.

| Avoid | Use instead | Why |
|:---|:---|:---|
| dramatic, striking, radical, unmistakable | sharp, steep, marked, notable, prominent, significant, extensive | Exaggeration, not analysis |
| rocket, soar | climbed sharply, rose markedly, increased steeply | Journalism register |
| a dramatic surge, a complete collapse | an unprecedented surge, a sharp decline, a virtual elimination | As above |
| making electricity, using energy, getting rid of trash | power generation, energy consumption, waste disposal | Childish register |
| reached its zenith (on an ordinary bar chart) | peaked, reached its highest point | Overblown |

**Two verbs that must not personify the chart.** Only a **time period** or a **place** can *witness*
or *experience* something. A data category cannot.

> ✗ Category B witnessed a marked decline. ✗ Category A experienced an upward trajectory.
> ✓ Category B **registered** / **underwent** a marked decline. ✓ Category A **recorded** an upward
> trajectory. ✓ There was a marked decline in category B.
> ✓ *The year 2010 witnessed a drop* is fine — a year is a period of time.

**Pie charts have their own vocabulary.** Never *amount*, *number*, or *parts*. Use **proportion**,
**percentage**, **share**, **ratio**, **segments**, **categories**. You may call it a *circular
chart* in the introduction.

### Topic vocabulary

| Field | Upgrade |
|:---|:---|
| Money | financial outlay, expenditure, revenue, earnings, retail value, financial allocation, allocated to, a surplus, a deficit, a shortfall, affluent, lower income |
| People | the general population, individuals, age brackets, cohorts, the workforce, the labour force, senior citizens, adolescents, the working-age population, life expectancy |
| Abstract nouns | utilisation, usage rates, output, manufacture, generation, footfall, patronage, engagement levels |
| Quantities | the volume of, the proportion of, the ratio of, the aggregate of |
| Employment | joblessness rates, white-collar professions, blue-collar work, recruitment |
| Energy | fossil fuels, non-renewable resources, renewable energy, power generation, energy consumption |
| Environment | carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, refuse, waste disposal, forested areas, vegetation |
| Agriculture | agricultural cultivation, livestock rearing, agricultural yields, arable land |
| Transport | commuting patterns, modes of transit, vehicular traffic, mass transit systems |
| Maps | infrastructural modifications, structural alterations, erected, constructed, demolished, cleared, zone, district, vicinity |

---

## 8b. Two grammar traps that have nothing to do with tense

Tense and agreement get all the attention. Prepositions and articles cause just as many small
errors across 170 words, and they are rarely drilled separately.

| Correct | Common error |
|:---|:---|
| a rise **in** enrolment | a rise **of** enrolment |
| an increase **of** twelve points | an increase **in** twelve points — *of* for the amount, *in* for the thing changing |
| the highest **among** the five cities | the highest **between** the five cities — *between* is for exactly two |
| compared **with** the previous year | compared **to the** previous year — both forms exist, but don't mix *compared to* with *the* |
| accounted **for** a third of the total | accounted **of** a third of the total |

**Articles, specifically for report writing:**

- Use **the** the second time you name something. *A line graph shows two categories… **The** first
  category rose steadily.*
- **Drop** the article before a plural or uncountable noun used generally. *Expenditure rose*, not
  *the expenditure rose* — unless you mean one specific, already-identified quantity.
- Use **the** before a superlative. *The highest figure*, never *highest figure*.
- **No** article before a country or continent used generally. *Spending in Japan*, not *in the
  Japan*.

None of this is exciting to drill. But a well-organised report loses more marks than it should to
five or six of these slips scattered across 170 words.

---

## 9. Processes and maps

### The voice rule

**Man-made processes take the passive.** A human operates the machine; the object receives the
action. *The trees **are cut down** and the wood **is transported**.*

**Natural processes take the active.** The organism performs the action itself. *The caterpillar
**eats** the milkweed and **forms** a chrysalis.*

The one passive that belongs in a natural process is where something genuinely has something done
to it: *the tail **is absorbed** into the body*.

### Sequencing

Use real transitions, never "step one, step two":

*initially* · *at the outset* · *on arrival* · *once this phase is complete* · *subsequently* ·
*following this* · *at the next stage* · *as time passes* · *as the organism matures* · *after
roughly three weeks* · *finally* · *at which point the cycle begins again*.

**Process verbs (passive):** is collected · is transported · is sorted · is shredded · is heated ·
is filtered · is crushed · is moulded · is converted into.

**Natural-process verbs (active):** hatches · emerges · matures · develops · undergoes a
transformation · sheds *(British: moults / American: molts)* · evaporates · condenses · precipitates
· infiltrates · flows · runs off.

**Process framing:** *a multi-staged process* · *a linear manufacturing sequence* · *commencing
with* · *culminating in* · *a closed loop, since the final product re-enters the cycle*.

**Not every process is linear.** Before writing, ask three questions: how many stages, is it linear
or cyclical, and are there any points where two things happen at once? The sequencing vocabulary
splits three ways:

| Relationship | Words |
|:---|:---|
| Linear steps | first · then · after that · once this is complete · finally |
| Simultaneous steps | while · concurrently · at the same time · in parallel with |
| Branching choices | either… or · alternatively · depending on |

### Map language

| | |
|:---|:---|
| New | was built · was constructed · was erected · was established · sprang up |
| Removed | was demolished · was cleared · was cut down · gave way to · was replaced by |
| Changed | was converted into · was turned into · was extended · was widened |
| Unchanged | remained intact · was left untouched · survived unchanged |
| Spatial | adjacent to · bordering · on the outskirts of · at the heart of · running through · spanning · in the north · to the south-east |

Compass directions stay lowercase.

**Move through a map consistently.** Walk a floor plan the way you would walk into the room, or
cross a town map in one direction — but never jump around. A description that hops from the
north-east to the south-west and back is the commonest coherence failure in a map task.

The passive is doing real work here: for a *planned* change nobody knows who is planning it, so
*"A new car park **will be built** beside the sports centre"* is the natural form. A fronted clause
is a cheap way to add range: *"Next to the library, a small café has been added."*

Ready-made map sentences: *By 1990, X had been replaced by Y.* · *Where X once stood, Y now
occupies the site.* · *Aside from X, which remained unchanged, most of the area was transformed.*

---

## 10. The one thing you must never do

**In Task 1 you are a reporter, not an analyst.** Describe only what is printed on the chart. Never
explain why a trend happened.

> ✗ Car usage increased **because people had more disposable income**.

That sentence belongs in Task 2. Nothing on the chart says anything about income.

Before every sentence, ask two questions:

1. **Is this printed on the chart?** If not, you are speculating.
2. **Is it significant?** If not, you are transcribing.

The **inverted conditional** follows the same rule. Use it only for a mathematical exception
visibly printed on the chart, never to guess human behaviour:

> Had it not been for the sudden rise in Lebanon, the reduction would have been entirely universal.

The safe alternative carries the same information with three fewer places for the grammar to break,
and you should reach for it first:

> With the notable exception of Lebanon, the reduction was entirely universal.

---

## 11. General Training Task 1 — the letter

Same 20 minutes, same 150-word minimum, different task entirely. There is no numeric overview; its
equivalent is a **clear, consistent purpose and tone established in the opening lines and held
throughout**.

### The three registers

| Prompt says | Register | Open | Close |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| Write to a manager / official / company (name unknown) | **Formal** | Dear Sir or Madam, | Yours faithfully, |
| Write to a named person you don't know well | **Semi-formal** | Dear Mr Ahmed, | Yours sincerely, |
| Write to a friend | **Informal** | Dear Sam, | Best wishes, / All the best, |

**Never drift.** A Band 7+ letter does not slide from formal to casual halfway through. Pick the
register from the prompt in the first ten seconds and hold it.

### Structure

```
Opening line:   State why you are writing, in one sentence.
Bullet 1:       One paragraph.
Bullet 2:       One paragraph.
Bullet 3:       One paragraph.
Closing line:   The action you want, or a warm sign-off.
```

**Every bullet point gets its own paragraph, properly developed.** Treating any bullet as an
afterthought is the most common Task Achievement failure in General Training.

### Opening sentences

- Formal complaint: *I am writing to complain about…* / *I am writing to draw your attention to…*
- Formal request: *I am writing to enquire about…* / *I would like to request…*
- Formal application: *I am writing to apply for…*
- Informal: *I hope you're well.* / *It's been ages — I'm writing because…*

### Closing sentences

- Formal: *I look forward to your response.* / *I would appreciate it if you would…* / *Thank you
  for your attention to this matter.*
- Informal: *Let me know what you think.* / *Can't wait to see you.*

**Do not write addresses.** The prompt says so explicitly, and adding them wastes words.

Worked examples: [formal complaint](ielts-writing-task-1-formal-letter.html) ·
[formal enquiry](ielts-writing-task-1-formal-letter-sample.html) ·
[informal, a friend's visit](ielts-writing-task-1-informal-letter-sample.html) ·
[informal, asking a favour](ielts-writing-task-1-informal-letter.html).

---

## 12. What separates Band 7, 8 and 9

Higher bands are not *more advanced* writing. They are **more controlled** writing. A candidate who
writes plain, accurate sentences about the data consistently outscores one who reaches for
impressive vocabulary and gets it wrong.

**The overview.** Band 7 has one, placed early, naming 2–3 real patterns without figures. Band 8–9
has one that captures the pattern which actually *organises* the data — a comparison, a turning
point, a split between two groups — rather than a generic "some went up, some went down". A Band 9
overview reads as if the writer understood the chart's whole shape before writing a single number.

**Grouping.** Band 7 groups related data rather than following the chart left to right. Band 8–9
groups in a way that demonstrates understanding of the data's structure — "the two lines that rose"
and "the two that fell", "categories that changed a lot" and "categories that stayed flat".

**Sentence variety, and the trade-off with accuracy.** This is where candidates damage their own
score by overreaching.

- **Band 6** — a mix of simple and complex, but the complex sentences are noticeably less accurate.
- **Band 7** — real variety, used with reasonable accuracy, errors that never obscure meaning.
- **Band 8–9** — the same variety used so consistently that the structure stops being noticeable.

> ✗ *The figure which represents for the sales in Region A, that had been fluctuating, then it
> increased dramatically at the end of the period.*
> ✓ *Sales in Region A fluctuated for most of the period before rising sharply at the end.*

The second is shorter, has one clear structure, and zero errors. **If a sentence would be more
accurate in a simpler form and the complex form adds no precision, the complex form is not helping
the score.**

**The Band 9 Task Achievement test:** *could someone redraw your chart accurately from your writing
alone?* If yes, you have reported the right level of detail. If they would draw something wrong, you
selected badly. If they could not draw it at all, you transcribed instead of describing.

Task 1 is scored on four equally weighted criteria, 25% each: **Task Achievement, Coherence &
Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range & Accuracy.** At Band 9, Coherence should feel almost
invisible — connected ideas, not a string of *firstly, secondly, thirdly* — and advanced grammar
(cleft sentences, relative clauses, concession clauses) counts only once your basic tenses, passives
and prepositions are already error-free. **Advanced grammar does not offset basic mistakes.**

### The self-check

| Question | If "no", you are likely capped at |
|:---|:---|
| Is there one sentence summarising the big picture, with no numbers in it? | Band 6 |
| Does it appear early, not at the end? | Band 6–7 |
| Are the data points grouped logically rather than listed in chart order? | Band 6–7 |
| Do the complex sentences you attempted stay accurate, not just ambitious? | Band 7 |
| Could a reader follow every sentence on the first read? | Band 7–8 |
| Does the response address the exact task, with nothing generic bolted on? | Band 8–9 |

Six honest yeses means the remaining gap to a 9 is consistency across a full response — a matter of
timed practice, not new information.

---

## 12b. Sentence variety — five moves

A Band 7 report and a Band 9 report can carry the same numbers, in the right tense, with no grammar
errors, and still land two bands apart. The gap is usually that **every sentence has the same
skeleton**: subject – verb – number, three times in a row.

Nothing is wrong with any single sentence. The problem only appears when you read three together —
and that repetition is exactly what Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range measure, since both are
graded on **variety**, not correctness alone.

> *Reading fell from 4.5 hours to 1.5 hours. Gaming rose from 3 hours to 9 hours. Organised sport
> fell from 5 hours to 4 hours.*

Flawless, complete, and marked down: identical word order, identical verb position, identical
length.

**1. Don't always open with the subject.** Front the time phrase, the comparison, or a participle.

- *Gaming time nearly tripled between 2010 and 2023.* (default)
- *Between 2010 and 2023, gaming time nearly tripled.* (fronted time phrase)
- *Rising from three hours to nine, gaming became the dominant activity.* (fronted participle)

Use the fronted versions for your **second and third** sentences in a paragraph, not the first — an
opening line that starts mid-clause reads as trying too hard.

**2. Fold two facts into one sentence with a relative clause.**

- Two sentences: *Reading fell to just 1.5 hours in 2023. This was the lowest figure recorded for
  any activity.*
- One: *Reading fell to just 1.5 hours in 2023, **which was** the lowest figure recorded for any
  activity.*

The fastest way to raise sentence-length variety without filler — and it usually saves three or four
words of your budget, which you can spend on a data point you would otherwise have cut.

**3. Use substitution instead of repeating a verb phrase.**

- Repeated: *Organised sport declined slightly, and reading declined sharply.*
- Substituted: *Organised sport declined slightly, and reading **did so** far more sharply.*
- Inverted: *Organised sport declined slightly, **as did** reading, though far more sharply.*

*Did so*, *did the same* and inverted *as did X* let you avoid saying the verb twice. This is a
cohesion device, not just a space-saver: it signals you are tracking the relationship between two
series rather than listing them.

**4. Rotate your comparison syntax.** If every contrast uses *whereas*, the examiner sees one
structure repeated however varied the content. Keep at least three in rotation:

| Pattern | Example |
|:---|:---|
| whereas / while | Gaming climbed steeply, whereas reading moved in the opposite direction. |
| in contrast to X, Y… | In contrast to the fall in reading, gaming increased sixfold. |
| the reverse was true of X | Gaming surged; the reverse was true of reading, which collapsed by two-thirds. |
| X was mirrored by Y | The decline in organised sport was loosely mirrored by the smaller drop in reading. |
| no connector at all | Gaming usage surged. Reading collapsed. |

That last row matters more than it looks. Two short contrastive sentences with **no linking word
between them** is a valid, high-scoring move — it reads as confident rather than under-connected, as
long as it happens **once** per report. Save it for your sharpest contrast.

**5. Pack magnitude and comparison into one clause.**

- Single-fact: *Gaming rose to 9 hours in 2023. This was six hours more than in 2010. It was also
  the highest figure of the three.*
- Packed: *By 2023, gaming had risen to 9 hours a week — six hours more than in 2010 and comfortably
  the highest figure of the three.*

The dash does the work of two sentences' connective tissue in the space of a comma. Once or twice
per body paragraph, not every sentence: packed sentences read well when surrounded by shorter ones.

### Cohesion beyond "however" and "in addition"

The same connector reused every paragraph is a second, quieter kind of repetition — and it signals
narrow range just as clearly.

**Reference pronouns** — *this*, *that*, *the former*, *the latter*:
> Reading and gaming moved in opposite directions; the former nearly halved while the latter almost
> tripled.

**Demonstrative summary** — *this* or *that* pointing at an entire idea, not a noun:
> Gaming overtook every other activity by 2023. This shift was the single largest change in the
> table.

**Ellipsis** — drop a repeated verb the reader can supply:
> Gaming rose sharply; organised sport, only marginally.

That last one is worth practising deliberately. A comma standing in for a verb both clauses share is
genuinely advanced and rare to see done correctly. **Once** per report it does real work for
Grammatical Range. More than once it starts to look accidental.

### The same paragraph, before and after

Same data, same facts, same tense, same word count. Only the construction changes.

**Band 6–7 — accurate, flat, one pattern throughout:**
> The table shows weekly hours spent on three leisure activities by teenagers in 2010 and 2023.
> Reading fell from 4.5 hours to 1.5 hours. Gaming rose from 3 hours to 9 hours. Organised sport
> fell slightly from 5 hours to 4 hours. Gaming had the biggest change of the three activities.
> Reading had the lowest figure in 2023.

**Band 9 — same information, restructured with the five moves:**
> The table illustrates how weekly time spent on reading, gaming and organised sport among teenagers
> changed between 2010 and 2023. Of the three activities, gaming underwent by far the most dramatic
> shift, climbing from just three hours a week to nine — a threefold increase that made it the
> dominant pastime of the two years compared. Reading moved in the opposite direction, and did so
> more steeply still, collapsing from 4.5 hours to a mere 1.5, the lowest figure recorded for any
> activity in either year. Organised sport was comparatively stable, slipping only slightly from
> five hours to four.

Same four facts. The only thing that changed is sentence construction: a fronted *of the three
activities*, a packed magnitude clause, a substitution (*did so more steeply still*), and a relative
clause carrying the superlative instead of a separate sentence for it.

### The variety self-check

Read your body paragraphs and ask, sentence by sentence:

- Do three sentences in a row start with the subject? Front-load one.
- Have you used the same contrast word more than twice? Swap one from the rotation.
- Is every sentence roughly the same length? Combine two short ones with a relative clause.
- Have you repeated a full verb phrase across two clauses sharing a result? Substitute or elide.
- Does the report contain at least one sentence carrying a figure, a comparison **and** a magnitude
  together? If every sentence carries exactly one fact, merge two adjacent ones.

None of this changes *what* you report. It changes how many different ways you can say it — which is
exactly what the top band measures.

---

## 13. The two ways reports fail

### Running short

> *The graph shows mobile and fixed telephone subscriptions from 2000 to 2020. Mobile subscriptions
> were 12 in 2000 and 105 in 2020. Fixed lines were 16 in 2000 and 12 in 2020. Mobile subscriptions
> increased and fixed lines decreased.*

Three problems, and only one is the length. There is **no overview**, which caps Task Achievement on
its own. The figures are **listed rather than described**, so no trend language appears. And the two
categories are **interleaved rather than grouped**.

The repair is not more words — it is the overview. A report with a real overview almost cannot fall
under 150 words, because the structure forces you to describe each group twice: once in shape, once
in numbers.

### Drifting

> *Mobile subscriptions increased from 12 to 105, which is a very large increase, **probably because
> mobile phones became much cheaper** during this period… In 2001 the figure was around 18, in 2002
> around 24, in 2003 around 31, and in 2004 around 40.*

Two fatal failures. **Speculation** — nothing on that chart says anything about price. And
**transcription** — reading out every year on the axis is not description.

### The rescue lines

When the body paragraphs are done and you are short, each of these adds a legitimate sentence
without inventing anything:

- **Give the margin.** *The figure for X exceeded that of Y by 12 percentage points.*
- **Give the net change.** *This represents a net increase of 30 over the period.*
- **Compare the groups.** *The gap between the two categories widened continuously after that point.*
- **Name the exception.** *With the notable exception of Japan, no country exceeded a tenth.*
- **State a relationship.** *The data reveal an inverse relationship between the two categories.*

All five are facts about the chart. None is speculation.

---

## 14. The morning-of list

Read this, and nothing else, on exam day.

**Fixed prepositions.** responsible **for** · the reason **for** · the cause **of** · consist **of**
· an increase **in** [the topic] · an increase **of** [the amount] · rose **by** [the amount] · rose
**to** [the endpoint] · account **for** [a percentage] · separate **into** · transported **in**.

**Noun vs. verb.** growth/grow · a rise/to rise · a reduction/to reduce · a loss/to lose · an
increase/to increase · a decline/to decline · a combined figure/to combine. **Write "combined" with
its -d, every time.**

**Superlatives** (three or more items): the highest · the lowest · the largest · the smallest · by
far the largest · easily the highest · tops the list · lags behind.
**more / less / higher / lower** — only when comparing exactly two things.

**Irregular past participles for the passive.** is/was **built** · **cut** · **taken** · **ground** ·
**frozen** · **shrunk** · **moved** · **dried**. Every passive needs the participle: *is moved*,
*were built*, *was cut down*.

**Spelling.** received · performing · driest · sunlight · annually · career · accountant ·
degradation · negligible · pounds · around · illustrated · beginning · separates · process · dried ·
similarly · railway station.

**Hyphens.** those aged between 15 and 24 · those aged 55 and over · the one- to two-year-olds
*(hanging hyphen)* · cinema-goers.

**The final read-through.** Read the last paragraph twice and check: every passive verb ends in
-ed or -en · "combined" has its -d · proper nouns are spelled the same way throughout · the tense
matches the format.

---

## Where to go next

| | |
|:---|:---|
| Seven fully worked reports with commentary | [Task 1 Calibration Track](task1_calibration.html) |
| A step-by-step walkthrough of one report | [How to Write a Task 1](how-to-write-an-ielts-writing-task-1.html) |
| Processes specifically | [How to Write a Process Diagram](ielts-how-to-write-a-process.html) |
| The full morning-of list | [Memorise List](task1_memorise.html) |
| The same material as an audio script | [Task 1 — The Audio Guide](task1_complete_guide.html) |
| Model answers by chart type | [line graph](ielts-writing-task-1-sample-line-graph.html) · [bar chart](ielts-writing-task-1-sample-bar-chart.html) · [pie chart](ielts-writing-task-1-sample-pie-chart.html) · [table](ielts-writing-task-1-sample-table.html) · [map](ielts-writing-task-1-sample-map.html) · [process](ielts-writing-task-1-sample-process.html) |
| The official criteria | [Writing Band Descriptors](ielts_task_1_writing_band_descriptors.html) |
| Timed practice papers | [Practice Test 1](ielts-academic-writing-practice-test-1.html) · [3](ielts-academic-writing-practice-test-3.html) · [4](ielts-academic-writing-practice-test-4.html) · [5](ielts-academic-writing-practice-test-5.html) · [6](ielts-academic-writing-practice-test-6.html) |
| Sentence mechanics: complex sentences, paraphrasing, ten common errors | [Writing Mechanics](writing-mechanics-and-grammar.html) |
| The other half of the paper | [Task 2 — The Complete Guide](task2-master-guide.html) |