In academic task 1 it is important to learn how to read a chart and a graph. This is because the instructions always tell you to summarise and select and report on the main features of the graphic. Many candidates make the mistake here of including as much detail as possible in their report. This brief tutorial gives you a sample task 1 report and some tips on how to select the main features of a bar chart.
The task
The task in academic part 1 almost always contains these words:
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
This means that you cannot/should not try to report all the detail in the visual. If you do, it will be hard to write well in 150 words and more importantly you may be penalised on task response.
Some tips
Here are some general tips to help you select the main features on bar charts in brief.
- look at the top
- look at the bottom
- can you see an average?
- are there any exceptions?
An exercise
Look at this bar chart and see what main features you would select to report. There are at least 21 different features on the chart and you cannot report them all! Then watch the video below to see if you agree with me. My sample answer is further down the page.
Some video advice
If you prefer try this quiz
A sample answer
Read through this sample answer to see how you can use the main features to help organise your writing. You should note that the report is organised into 2 main body paragraphs which relate to the 2 main points:
- difference due to geography
- difference due to gender
This is only possible because I spent time selecting the main features. The message is that if you spend time and plan properly in this way, your writing will improve.
Academic IELTS task 1 – Life expectancy chart
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
No problem. On Twitter I am teacherdominic.
Mr. dominic, how could you conclude that the greatest difference in united states is 5 years longer? instead it needed a little bit calculation to examine the gap, and so did the others, didnt it?
secondly, who “people” in the beginning of the second paragraph refers to? male, female, or the total? bcz i saw 83 is refers to female..
last, what is the function of ‘total’ in making the report? is it useful? bcz i found you ignored it in your writing.
i ever met such ths kind of task, and i found it difficult for me to explore, so i do need your explanation. thx very much mr. Dominic
Hi
First of all thanks for the comment. I really enjoy getting comments and this is a particularly intelligent one.
I use “people” to refer to both “males and females” and “males or females”. You make a good point that it is women who live to 83 and not men. Am I wrong to use the word “people”? I don’t believe so. In this second paragraph I am looking at the totals/average figures and I leave the distinction between men and women to the next topic paragraph. I am looking for a way to organise the report and that is the way I chose.
It’s certainly not the only way, but it is one logical approach and I like it because I am moving from the general to the more particular which is often a good idea.
This bring me onto your second point about “total”. Do I mention the word? No. I use another word instead: “average”. There is in fact a good reason why I chose not to use “total” and I was planning a brief post on this anyway. Let me try and explain.
“Male life expectancy” is a good phrase
“Female life expectancy” is a good phrase
“Total life expectancy” does not really work as a phrase.
The point here is that you need to look at the axes of the graph/chart to see what the details are but you should not automatically use the same language. in the same way, the chart axis has “United States” but in the report you need to write “the United States”
If you want to keep the word “total”, what you would need to say is something like “life expectancy in the total population”. That’s quite a long phrase and it is in my experience difficult language to create under pressure. I used “average” because it is straightforward language.
How could I conclude the difference was 5 years? I didn’t. What I wrote was “about 5 years”. That much you can see. It’s a small but important distinction. Two points:
1. Learn how to write about numbers see my post on this. The word “about” is a very useful word to learn.
2. Yes, it does take time to work out the figures but you have time to do it. The writing part is 10 minutes only. The report is only 150 words long. You can write 150 words in 10 minutes if you know what you want to say.
The mistake is to start writing after 2 minutes. If you do this, you get half way through and find out you don’t know what to say. You stop. You think. You get confused. You waste time. Your writing becomes a mess.
It will take a little practice but try the “think then write approach”. Think carefully about what you want to say and then write. Start off doing it in 40 minutes if you like, then 35 minutes, then 30. You know you are ready for the exam when you can do it in 20 minutes.