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Preparing for the IELTS test with Holmesglen
Institute of TAFE
The writing component
The IELTS writing test takes one hour. In this time you are required to complete two tasks.
TASK ONE is a report based on some graphic information provided on the question paper. With few exceptions, the graphic information will come in one of five forms – a line graph, bar graph, pie chart, table or diagram illustrating a process. You are required to describe the information or the process in a report of 150 words. This task should be completed in 20 minutes. It is important that you are familiar with the language appropriate to report writing generally and to each of the five types of report.
TASK TWO is an essay based on a topic given on the question paper. You should write at least 250 words in 40 minutes.
It is important that you keep within the advised time limits as Task Two carries more weight in your final band score than Task One. Remember that illegible handwriting will reduce your final score.
Writing task one: single line graph
Task description
You will be given a graph with a single line. Your task is to write a 150 word report to describe the information given in the graph. You are not asked to give your opinion.
You should spend around twenty minutes on the task. Task one is not worth as many marks as task two and so you should make sure that you keep within the recommended twenty minute time frame.
What is being tested is your ability to:
♦ objectively describe the information given to you ♦ report on a topic without the use of opinion ♦ use suitable language to describe the graph
Sample task
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information in the graph below. You should write at least 150 words.
Cases
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100
200
300
400
500
600
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 Incidence of X disease in Someland
When you’ve finished the task
How good is your answer? Check the guidelines on the next page and read the sample answer.
Teacher's comments on the sample answer
Here is what an IELTS teacher said about the sample answer.
The report structure is easy to follow and logical with a clear introduction, body and conclusion. The candidate uses cohesive words to connect pieces of information and make the writing flow such as ‘until’and ‘before’in the second sentence. The candidate uses a variety of grammatical structures and vocabulary so that the writing is not repetitive. In terms of task requirements the report is a little short but this is because the simple graph used as an example does not have sufficient information for the candidate to describe. In the real IELTS test the graph will have more information and so the need to look for trends will be even greater than in this example.
Strategies for improving your IELTS score
Selecting information
It is important that you describe the whole graph fully. However, this does not mean that you should note every detail. In most cases there will be too much information for you to mention each figure. You will therefore need to summarise the graph by dividing it into its main parts. This is what we mean by describing the trends.
For example, in a chronological line graph it might seem sensible to describe the information year by year or period by period. The graph above gives the information in five year sections so we could write our report like this:
The number of cases of X disease started at 50 in 1965 and then went up gradually to 100 in 1965 and continued up to 200 in 1970 and then went up more sharply to 380 in 1975.
While this way of describing the information may be accurate, it does not meaningfully sum up the information in the graph. In fact, the information in the graph would most meaningfully be described in four chronological sections following the shape of the graph.
In the Sample Task, the graph shows four main trends: ♦ first, a gradual increase from 1960 to 1968 ♦ second, a steeper increase from 1968 to 1977 ♦ third, a plateau from 1977 to 1983 ♦ fourth, a drop from 1983 to 1988
The structure of the report must show these four main trends clearly.
Report structure
Your report should be structured simply with an introduction, body and conclusion. Tenses should be used appropriately.
Introduction
Use two standard opening sentences to introduce your report. These opening sentences should make up the first paragraph. Sentence one should define what the graph is about; that is, the date, location, what is being described in the graph etc. For example:
The graph shows the number of cases of X disease in Someland between the years 1960 and 1995 …
Notice the tense used. Even though it describes information from the past, the graph shows the information in the present time.
Notice that the sample opening sentence does not simply copy the words used on the graphic material. Copied sentences will not be assessed by the examiner and so you waste your time including them.
Describing the overall trend
Sentence two (and possibly three) might sum up the overall trend. For example:
It can be clearly seen that X disease increased rapidly to 500 cases around the 1980s and then dropped to zero before 1999, while Y disease fell consistently from a high point of nearly 600 cases in 1960 to less than 100 cases in 1995.
Notice the tense used. Here we are talking about the occurrence of the disease in the past.
Expressing movement: nouns and verbs
For each trend there are a number of verbs and nouns to express the movement. We can use a verb of change, for example:
Unemployment levels fell
Or we can use a related noun, for example:
There was a fall in unemployment levels
Direction Verbs Nouns
Rose (to) Increased (to) Went up (to) Climbed (to) Boomed
A rise An increase Growth An upward trend A boom (a dramatic rise)
Fell (to) Declined (to) Decreased (to) Dipped (to) Dropped (to) Went down (to) Slumped (to) Reduced (to)
A decrease A decline A fall A drop A slump (a dramatic fall) A reduction
Levelled out (at) Did not change Remained stable (at) Remained steady (at) Stayed constant (at) Maintained the same level
A levelling out No change
Fluctuated (around) Peaked (at) Plateaued (at) Stood at (we use this phrase to focus on a particular point, before we mention the movement, for example: In the first year, unemployment stood at … )
A fluctuation Reached a peak (of) Reached at plateau (at)
Describing the movement: adjectives and adverbs
Sometimes we need to give more information about a trend as follows:
There has been a slight increase in the value of the dollar (degree of change)
Unemployment fell rapidly last year (the speed of change)
Remember that we modify a noun with an adjective (a slight increase) and a verb with an adverb (to increase slightly ).
Describing the degree of change
Adjectives Adverbs dramatic dramatically sharp sharply huge enormous enormously steep steeply substantial substantially considerable considerably significant significantly marked markedly moderate moderately slight slightly small minimal minimally
Describing the speed of change
Adjectives Adverbs rapid rapidly quick quickly swift swiftly sudden suddenly steady steadily gradual gradually slow slowly
Cases
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800
1000
1200
1400
1600
'75 '80 ' Number of children in X orphanage
Expressing approximation
We use words to express approximation when the point we are trying to describe is between milestones on the graph.
just under just over well under well over roughly nearly approximately around about
Writing task one: double line graph
Task description
You will be given a graph with two lines. Your task is to describe the information given in the graph by writing a 150 word report. You are not asked to give your opinion.
You should spend around 20 minutes on the task.
What is being tested is your ability to:
♦ objectively describe the information given ♦ compare and contrast ♦ report on an impersonal topic without the use of opinion ♦ use the language of graph description
Sample task
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information in the graph below.
You should write at least 150 words.
Per 1,000 People
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100
200
300
400
500
600
700
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 Rates of smoking in Someland - men and women
Men Women
Your task
Complete the task one report writing exercise above. Spend only 20 minutes. Then look at the guidelines and the sample answer below.
Guidelines for a good answer
Does the report have a suitable structure?
♦ Does it have an introduction, body and conclusion? ♦ Does it include connective words to make the writing cohesive within sentences and paragraphs?
Does the report use suitable grammar and vocabulary?
♦ Does it include a variety of sentence structures? ♦ Does it include a range of appropriate vocabulary?
Does the report meet the requirements of the task?
♦ Does it meet the word limit requirements? ♦ Does it describe the whole graph adequately? ♦ Does it focus on the important trends presented in the graphic information?
Now read sample answer one. How well does it follow the guidelines?
Sample answer two
Now look at a better answer to this task. Notice how it follows the guidelines.
The graph compares the rate of smoking in men and women in Someland between the years 1960 and 2000. It can be clearly seen that the rate of smoking for both men and women is currently declining and that fewer women have smoked throughout the period.
In 1960, 600 men in every 1,000 was smoking. This number decreased gradually to 500 by 1974 and continued to decrease but more steeply to 250 in 2000. In contrast, the rate of smoking in women in 1960 was very low at only 80 in every 1,000. By 1968 this increased to 170, and increased again but more steeply to 320 in 1977. The rate of female smokers then remained stable at 320 until 1984 at which point the figures began to decline and had dropped to 200 by 2000.
In conclusion we can see that the rate of smoking in men dropped throughout the whole period but was always at a higher level than the female figures. The rate of smoking in women increased until 1977 but then decreased for the rest of the period.
Strategies for improving your IELTS score
Selecting information
In completing this task it is important that you describe the whole graph fully. However, this does not mean that you should note every detail. In most cases there will be too much information for you to mention each figure. You will therefore need to summarise the graph in meaningful segments, as we saw in the section on single line graphs.
Report structure
Like the single line graph, your report should be structured simply with an introduction, body and conclusion. Tenses should be used appropriately.
Use two standard opening sentences to introduce the graph and your report. These opening sentences should make up the first paragraph. Sentence one should define what the graph is about, that is the date, location, what is being described in the graph etc. For example:
The graph compares the rate of smoking between men and women in Someland between the years 1960 and 2000.
Notice that in the single line graph we said that ‘the graph shows … ’but with two lines we can more accurately say ‘the graph compares … ’
Notice the tense used. Even though it describes information from the past, the graph shows the information in the present time.
Notice that the sample opening sentence does not simply copy the words used on the graphic material. Copied sentences will not be assessed by the examiner and so you waste your time including them.
Sentence two (and possibly three) might sum up the overall trend. For example:
It can be clearly seen that the rate of smoking for both men and women is currently declining and that fewer women had smoked throughout the period.
Notice that the Present perfect tense is used. Here we are talking about the rate of smoking in the past and up to the present.
The body of the report will describe the graph or graphs in detail. You will need to decide on the most clear and logical order to present the material. Line graphs generally present information in chronological order and so the most logical order for you to write up the information would also, most probably, be from earliest to latest. Bar graphs, pie charts, etc are organised in different ways and so you need to decide on the organisation of each one.
Your report should end with one or two sentences which summarise your report or draw a relevant conclusion
Medical research funding in Someland (millions)
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AIDS
Leprosy
Tropical Diseases
Diarrhoea
Malaria
TB
Your task
Complete the Task One report exercise above. Spend only 20 minutes. Then look at the guidelines and the sample answer below.
Guidelines for a good answer
Does the report have a suitable structure?
♦ Does it have an introduction, body and conclusion? ♦ Does it include connective words to make the writing cohesive within sentences and paragraphs?
Does the report use suitable grammar and vocabulary?
♦ Does it include a variety of sentence structures? ♦ Does it include a range of appropriate vocabulary?
Does the report meet the requirements of the task?
♦ Does it meet the word limit requirements? ♦ Does it describe the graphs adequately? ♦ Does it focus on the important trends presented in the graphic information?
Sample answer one
The graphs compare the number of deaths caused by six diseases in Someland in 1990 with the amount of research funding allocated to each of those diseases. It can be clearly seen that the amount of research funding in many cases did not correlate with the seriousness of the disease in terms of numbers of deaths. In 1990 there were around 0.2 million deaths from AIDS, 0. million deaths from leprosy, 0.3 million deaths from tropical diseases, 0.5 million deaths from diarrhoea, 0.4 million deaths from malaria and 1.8 million deaths from TB. These figures can be contrasted with the amount of funding allocated for each disease. In 1990 AIDS received 180 million dollars in research funding, leprosy 80 million dollars in research funding, tropical diseases 79 million dollars in research funding, diarrhoea 60 million dollars in research funding, malaria 50 million dollars and TB 20 million dollars in research funding. In conclusion it is clear that funding allocation for disease research in Someland is not wholly determined by the number of deaths for which each disease is responsible in a given year.
Strategies for improving your IELTS score
Selecting information
In completing this task, it is important that you fully describe all of the graphic information given. However, this does not mean that you should note every detail. In most cases there will be too much information for you to mention each figure. You will therefore need to summarise the graph in meaningful segments. In other words, you will describe the significant trends in your report.
Report structure
Like the line graphs, your report should be structured simply with an introduction, body and conclusion. Tenses should be used appropriately.
When describing some bar graphs you will sometimes use the same language as the line graphs. This will be the case if one axis of the bar graph gives a time scale. In that case, your report will generally describe the information in terms of time from the earliest event to the latest. For example:
In 1990 X fell. In 1990 there was a rise in X.
Look at the following graph and read the description.
Television sales (millions)
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4
6
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12
1996 1997 1998 1999
In this graph of Electro Inc’s television sales between 1996 and 1999, we can see that purchases of televisions went up in 1996 and continued to rise steadily until 1998 when they dropped slightly.
In some cases, however, it will not be appropriate to describe the bar graphs in terms of time and different language will need to be used. For example, in the following graph we could not say:
In 1990 there was a rise in holiday makers from Indonesia.
because the word ‘rise’implies that the graph also shows a lower number of holiday makers at an earlier time, which in fact it doesn’t.
Destinations of holiday makers from Indonesia
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200,
400,
600,
800,
1,000,
1,200,
Australia Someland Korea Japan Pakistan Sri Lanka
In this case we can say:
Someland was the most popular destination for holiday makers from Indonesia.
Writing task one: pie charts
Task description
You will be given one or more pie charts. You task is to describe the information given in the graph by writing a 150 word report. You are not asked to give your opinion. You should spend around 20 minutes on the task.
What is being tested is your ability to:
♦ objectively describe some graphic information ♦ compare and contrast ♦ report on an impersonal topic without the use of opinion ♦ use the language of graph description
