An overview is one of the first things an examiner looks for because it shows them that you can

identify the most important information from the graph or chart and clearly identify overall
trends and comparisons.
If you do not provide an overview you will most definitely get below 5.

To understand this, we must look at the question. The question for academic task one is always
the same:

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.

We therefore need to provide a short summary of the main features. You do this in the
overview paragraph by picking out 3-4 of the most significant things you can see and writing
them in general terms. By general, I mean you do not support anything you see with data from
the graph or chart, just write about what you can see visually.

Take a look at this:

Overall, I notice that there are 7 regions. Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America make up the
majority, with North America being the largest. Africa, India, Latin America and China make up
a very small proportion.

We can then include these things in an overview paragraph:

The pie chart is comprised of 7 regions in total with Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America
making up the vast majority of global wealth. North America has the single biggest share and
Africa, India, Latin America and China combined, only make up a small proportion.

Here's a tip:
If you're not sure which two "main or general points" to include, just go for the highest and
lowest. In this case, I would choose the highest and lowest figures for recycling (i.e. Austria and
Greece).

Here's a 2-sentence overview using the tip above:

It is noticeable that Austria is the most environmentally friendly country, in the sense that it
recycles the largest percentage of waste. By contrast, Greece stands out as the country that
recycles the least and puts the highest proportion of its waste into landfill.

Some Questions to be answered:

1. Do I need a conclusion?
No, it would be a repetition of information, which should be avoided in task one at all
cost. It is bad idea to have a conclusion.
2. What is an overview?
It is a paragraph. It contains all the key points. It is critical for IELTS task one. Without an
overview, you wont get a band 5.
3. Is the overview important?
YES.
4. Can I write an overview and a conclusion?
NO / NO. splitting one piece of information in two different places! It is against the
coherence and cohesion.
5. Where can I put the overview?
At the beginning.