IELTS Academic Writing Module — Sample Task 1 Topic eee ee oat Cog eee eee in 2001. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make compari- Saar renee Ones ‘The table shows water usage for different sectors in six diferent countries during 2001. ‘Australia's domestic water usage was aim? whereas its agricuttural usage was 741m” and finally industrial usage stands at 275m. Canada nad Z9m’, 226m" and for the different sectors respectively. Domestic usage in China is 26m", agricultural use 605m and Finally industrial usage im”. Water use in Russia was high, with 98m used tor domestic purposes, 162m" for agricultural purposes and Loney oat Uk peels ‘used Bom’, 1a6am” and Ym" for the three categonies and United kingdom use 38m", ‘and 308m". ‘Overal the table shows the Various amounts of water used by different countries in 2001. (12 words) Response 8 “The table gives water usage information for six countries in Various sectors auring 2001: domestic, agricultural, ‘and industicl, Russia and Turkey both indicated relative low levels of domestic usage on 98m” and BOM” respectively, however, water usage for the agricultural sector in these two countries was the highest of all six countries, at \663m” and eam”. The lowest user of water tor agricuttural usage Was China at 605m” and the highest ‘amount oF water used for industrial purposes is in Canada, at 532m". In Austlia, domestic water usage (Sa1m") was higher than industrial water usage (25m) and this trend was similar yet less pronounced in Russia (98m” for domestic usage compared to o&m” for industrial usage) and Turkey, here domestic use was recorded at Bom” in contrast to industrial consumetion at 73m”. In all other countries, water usage for industrial purposes Was higher than domestic use, ‘Overall, agricultural water usage was much greater than usage in the other two sectors for all the countries represented. (165 words)Response c ‘The chart gives information about the amount of water used in six countries in the domestic, agricultural, and industrial sectors. Ching nad by far the lowest consumption of water in 2001, while Canada had the highest. hina, sia Turkey and ie Und Kingdom a Pa ace oy daca 26 to 98 cubic metres. Three of these also haa ight industnal usage (7-960 prec ‘more water for industry, at 298m’. By contrast, Australia and Canada consumed %ai and 279 cubic metres respectively in the Nome. Whereas industrial consumption was higher #or Canada, at 53, it was only 275 cubic metres for Australia, ‘Agriculture consumed between 605 and B10 cubic metres of water in China, Australia, and the UK, but the other thre counties nad Ver ggigagaagigg, Canada at 1228, Turkey ot 1462 and Russa, even higher, at 66% cubic metres, ‘Agricuitural usage was much greater than either domestic or industrial inal sx countries. (163 words) ‘Match the overall description to each response. Description 1 ‘This is a good average response, A variety of vocabulary has been used, and there are only a few minor grammatical errors indicated by mistakes in prepositions. There is a good attempt to compare and summarise the data, and an overview sentence has been included. ‘There is a good variety of sentence structures used. There is one minor verb tense error in this response. Description 2 ‘This is a weaker response. It describes all the data in the table, rather than summarising the main features, and does not compare data. Sentence structure is repetitive and simple. The introductory sentence has virtually been copied word for word from the rubric, rather than being reworded. There are also several verb tense errors: because a date which has been given for the table is in the past, verb tense usage must reflect this as well as being consistent. ‘This response does not give an overview sentence, but simply repeats the introductory sentence. It is also below the required word count stead Description 3 This sentence structures have been used along with linking language to ensure good overall coherence and an expert response. Synonyms have been used in order not to repeat vocabulary, and complex flow. The data has been logically grouped, summarised, and compared to good effect, © Copying categories Many diagrams present categories which are only one word (possibly two) in length. However, whenever possible try to use synonyms to replace the original wording. ‘Copying the names of cities or countries is nota problem, but from time to time you will see a diagram where each category could be three or more words in length. Unless these are terms or phrases which cannot, or should not, be changed, itis essential to alter them in some way.Exercise E the percentages The results of this survey are shown as percentages. The sum of all adds up to more than 100%, so we know that many people chose more than one category as a reason for learning a foreign language. ee oe Te Eee cl oa] fea sce mm | 3. Business trips 36% | 4. Husband / Wife is foreign 12% | Sioa bs ents 1% | gab ade ius | 7. Travel 54% | Cease a x | A.common mistake that students make is to copy the wording of each category. Doing this means they can end up writing sentences like: sinest-related reason for studying a fore meen Sere ae ee ee ee ‘This is a problem for three reasons: {/1. The first is hat unless the category isthe ttle of, for example, a businew or organiza- tion where the exact name needs to be written, copying is scen as a problem. 2. The second is that phrases of three or more words in a diagram often need 10 be changed grammatically to fit into a complete sentence. Remember that the kind of ‘grammar used for phrases in a diagram often misses out articles (a, an, the), preposi tions (in, on, at, for) and so on. These need to be added when writing a complete 3. Finally, capital letters should only be used if itis certain that the category is a tile with the words remaining unchanged. The result is that many students not only copy too much from the diagram but also include grammar mistakes in many of their sentence10 consideration, we could change the original sentence If we take all of these points ito i oo 7 Se a eee use it on business trips at 36% which is exactly 18% less than those who wished to use ee a en ee tee “The key point here is to not be afraid to change phrases taken from the diagram. Do ing this can only help increase your final score. Also, notice that the categories have been divided into groups: business-related reasons and personal reasons. We have seen before that this can help when writing general statements, but it has been used here as part of the body. i, Giving a percentage 1) 6% of the young people get online in their offices. 2) The people who get online in their offices make up 6 3) The percentage of the people who get online in their offices is 6 percent (6%). A makes up. x of the total ii. Giving a number 1) 14 (out) of the 225 young people get online in their offices. 2) There are 14 young people who get online in their offices“tons oueg aisle aoa ‘of people get online at hom genie use, fcom the highest amount to the lowest. an ae ed = BEET [Pee ee quitea few | afew minis alittle [only ile | only minorisy aminority | almost no no (none)Take the table below as an illustrative example for the writing steps mentioned. ‘Topic: Study the table below and look for patterns in passenger death a rates in Country A in relation to the modes of land transport. Task: Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information Understanding the task’ in the able below. Se ghiare You should write at last 150 words. Time/ tense: 1996-2008 - past ‘Topic: passenger deaths from transport General comment: decrease in passenger death rates except buses and coaches Outlining some key points Details: significant reduction for cars, vans and bicycles slight drop for motorcycles and rail buses and coaches nearly trebled| Explaining what youare The table shows the passenger death rates by different means of describing land transport in Country A between 1996 and 2008. As can be seen he table, death rates saw a general trend of decrease over the petod except for buses and coaches. | Idenufying the fist Is clearly seen that cars, vans and bicycles experienced a signifi- significant information gant eieie deck iction in the rate of road death over the period under study. For example, death among the car and van users declined by more than half, falling from 6.1 per billion passenger kilometres to 3.0 and 3.8 to 1.7, respectively. Cycling, however, despite asinifcant decrease from 56.9 per billion to 41.3, remained the dangerous type of land transport. Describing he second In the second category, comprising motorcycles and rail, the significant category rate dropped slightly between 1996 and 2008, Motorcycling was the most dangerous type of transport, averaging more than twice as many fatalities as cycling, and more than twenty times as high as cars, Indicating the third Regarding buses and coaches, the road death almost trebled over important information the period under view, increasing from 0.3 per billion’ passenger The concluding sentence kilometres to 0.8. Nevertheless, buses and coaches were still the (oone) second safest type of vehicular transport. Have you fulfilled the requirements of the task? Have you written Checking the content what you intended? Are any important ideas missing? Checking the language Are there any lexical, grammatical and spelling errors? ChecRirgthe organisation, the report well organised and coherenily writen? Tables seem difficult when they contain a lot of numbers. Here's some advice: + Try to write 4 paragraphs - introduction, summary of main points, 2 detail paragraphs. + Before you start writing, highlight some key numbers. Choose the biggest number in each category in the table (i.e. in each column and row). I the table shows years, look for the biggest changes in numbers over the time period. You could also mention the smallest numbers, but you can ignore ‘middle ‘numbers (neither biggest nor smallest. For your summary paragraph, try to compare whole categories (columns or rows) rather than individual 'calls'in the table. If you can’t compare whole categories, compare the biggest and smallest number. Write 2 sentences for the summary. In your two ‘details’ paragraphs, never describe each category (column or row) separately. The examiner wants to see comparisons. Try to organize the umbers you highlighted into 2 groups - one for each paragraph (e.g, highest numbers for all categories together, and lowest numbers together). Describe / compare the numbers you highlighted - include at least 3 numbers in each paragraph, Use the past simple for past years, and ‘will or is expected/predicted to' for future years. If no time is shown, use the present simple,The chart below shows average hours and minutes spent by UK males and females on different daily activities. Hours and minutes per day les Females Sleep eo Be Resting 043 oe Personal care 040 0488 ting and drinking 125149 Leisure Watching TV/DVD and listen to radio/music 2802.28, Social lfe and entertainment/culture 12 12 Hobbies and games 037 023 Sport 013 oor Reading 023026 All Ieicure 5254s Employment and study 3626 Housework 1 300 childcare 01s 032 Voluntary work and meetings o1s 020 Travel 12 1m other 013015 Fill in the blanks using the given words doing, up, over, spent, while, sleeping, sleep, twice, amount, takes ‘The table compares the average UK spend ifferent activities. Of time per day that men and women in the Itis clear that people in the UK spend more time than doing any other daily activity. Aso, there are significant differences between the time bymen and women on employmentistudy and housework ‘On average, men and women in the UK for about 8 hours per day. Leisure the second largest proportion of their time. Men spend 5 hours and 25 minutes doing various leisure activities, such as watching TV or doing sport, women have 4 hours and 53 minutes of leisure time. Itis noticeable that men work or study for an average of 79 minutes more than women. ‘every day. By contrast, women spend 79 minutes more than men doing housework, and they spend ‘as much time looking after children. The table below gives information on consumer spending on different items in five different countries in 2002. Percentage of national consumer expenditure by category - 2002 a cee | eee Ireland 28.91% 6.43% 221% Italy 16.36% 9.00% 3.20% Spain 18.80% 6.51% 1.98% Sweden, 15.77% 5.40% 3.22% Turkey 32.14% 6.63% 4.35%Now let us take a closer look at a good report. ‘Te table shows percentages of consumer expensiture for tree categories of products aan srvices in five counties in 200, 1 is clear that the largest proportion of consumer spending in cach country went on aad, drinks and tobacco. On the other hand, the leisurveducation category has the orry lowest percentages in the table Out ofthe five countries, consumer spending on food, drinks and tobacco was noticeably figher in Turkey, at s2.4s, and dreland, at nearly 29x. The proportion of spending on leisure and education was also highest in Turkey, at 4305, while expenditure on cling and foorwear was significantly higher in Tealy os) tian in any of te over countries ar can be seen that Sweden fad tie fowest percentages of national consumer expenditure for foodidrinkvtebacco and for coring fooruear, at nearly 16% and just over sx respectively. Spain had slightly higher figures for tiese categories, butte lowest ‘figure for leisurereducation, at only 198s The table below shows the proportion of different categories of families living in Poverty in Australia in 1999. a oss gne bel pony single aged person 6% (54,000) aged couple 4% _ (48,000) single. no children 19% _ (359,000) couple, no children 7%_(211,000) sole parent (232,000) ‘couple with children 12% _ (933,000) all households 11% (1,837,000) ‘The table gives information about poverty rates among six types of household in Australia in te year 1999, aris noticeable that loels of poverty were higher for single people than for couples, an -poople with children were more likely to be poor than tose witout. Poverty rates were considerably Gower among erly people Overall, 11x of Australians, or 1237000 people, were living in poverty in 1988. psople wore te feast likeli 0 be poor with poverty level of os anda for single aged “people and aged couples respectively Just over one fifth of single parents were living in poverty, whereas only 12% of parents fiving wit a parmer ware classed as poor. The same pattern can be seen for peopl wit no children: while 19% of single people in this group were living below the poverty fine, ate figure for couples was much lower, at only 7.ie Tables present information about different categories. Sometimes tables can be turned into charts but sometimes the categories are too different to do this. ‘9 Anumber of secondary schools in three countries conducted a survey about how their students travel to school. Here are the results. Method of travel by % Britain ‘Australia | Singapore ‘Walking 19 15 25 Car 65 | 65 10 Public transport 16 20 6 | Work with a partner. Together, discuss the similarities and differences in the table and then say whether you could turn this table into a chart. 10 The sentences below describe the facts in the table in exercise 9. Complete the sentences using the information in the table and the words in the box. percent onfoot percentage figures mos¥least common popular 1 The cars the means of transport for British and Australian pyres schoolchildren, with of students in both countries getting vga ei to school in this way. Pore 2 In contrast, only of Singaporean students use cars, and this is the method of transport there. 3 There are considerable differences in the for public transport. 4 Alarge of students in Singapore use public transport. 5 In Britain and Australia figures for public transport are lower, being, and respectively. 6 Less than of students walk to school in Britain and Australia. 7 For Singaporeans, walking is the second option, with a quarter of the students travelling to school .Task 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The table shows the number of mobile phones sold in millions for a period of six years. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words. Nokia | Ericsson Samsung | Motorola 2006 5 a 210 2007 | 436, 102 | 165 2008 475 95 108 20042 a 59 2010 | 463 42 | Be 39 B 2011 422 BB 330 89 2012 335 28 896.5 1358 Task 1 The table provides information about the sales rates of five major types of mobile phone from 2006 to 2012, ‘There are three clear trends visible in the data. Firstly, two phone brands, Samsung and Apple, demonstrated a consistent rise in sales during the six-year period, Samsung finishing with the highest level of sales overall at 396.5 million in 2012, While Apple made the lowest number of sales at the start, with a mere 2.3 million in 2007, this soared to just under 136 million by the end of the ;peniod, paralleling the growth of Samsung sales and putuns Apple in Curd Iehsst Boson Nokia had a higher number of sales than Apple at the finish with a total of 335 million; however this was a marked drop from a previous high of 475 million in 2008. Nokia's sales were slightly erratic in general, rising rapidly from 2006 to 2008 before dropping in 2009, then repeating the cycle by improving to 463 million in 2010 before slipping downwards to its final result in 2012 Finally two other brands, Motorola and Ericsson, followed a more persistently downward pattern. Both suffered the lowest number of sales overall, achieving only 28 million sales each in 2012. Eriesson’s sales dropped rapidly from the highest point of 102 million in 2007 before levelling out and decreasing far less dramatically from 2010 where they were at 42 million. Overall two brands improved their sales, two brands showed dramatic drops and one brand had a mixed performance with a negative trend at the end of the period. (257 words) Grade: 9 Comment: This is a good answer with an organized structure and lots of supporting detail. The vocabulary is used accurately and there are no spelling or grammar errors. There is a summary of the information included at the end. However, it is a long answer and this could impact on the performance of the candidate when answering Task 2