Writing Task 1

Writing Task 1
• You have about 20 minutes
• You must write a report of at least 150 words
• You will be given a visual presentation and have to make a report
explaining the main features and make a comparisons where
relevant.
• No personal judgement
Let’s See the Indicator and BandScore!
How to use 20 minutes
• First 5 minutes  Read the question, understanding the chart, write
introduction
• Second 5 minutes  Try to find 2 general points. Write 2 sentences
summarising the information
• The last 10 minutes  Describe specific details. Try to make it into 2
paragraphs.
Points to Apply in Task 1, Report Writing
• Introduction should describe the purpose of the report and say what
the overall trends are.
Pay attention : You are describing a graph to someone who does not
see it, make sure, your writing could potray the graph.
• Do not copy whole sentences or long phrases from the question.
• General overview should sum up the global/ general trends show n in
the figure. Don’t write your personal argument!
• The body paragraph should describe the most important features and
trends. Summarize it to avoid unimportant detail. (Do grouping)
• You need to write about all periods of time and all the subjects.
Summarizing doesn’t mean throw away information!
• You can make a plans on the question sheet.
 1. Introduction

2. Overview
Paragraph
Composition
3. Detail 1

4. Detail 2
Types of the Question
Describing trends, Language of Change
Example Sentence
• GM car sales increased significantly from
$5,000 to $105,000 between 1960 and 2010.
• There was a significant increase of $100,000 in
GM car sales, from $5,000 to $105,000,
between 1960 and 2010.
• GM car sales saw a significant growth in GM car
sales, from $5,000 to $105,000, between 1960
and 2010.
• GM car sales registered a significant rise
between 1960 and 2010.
• GM car sales reached a peak at $105,000 in
2010.
• GM car sales had an enormous climb of
$100,000 between 1960 and 2010.
Language of comparison
Comparatives
(higher/lower)

Superlatives
(highest/lowest)

Correlatives (as ….
as/equal to).
Language of comparison: showing differences
 Write Your Introduction
• Introduction should define what the graph is about that is the date,
location and what is being described in the graph.

Easiest way Paraphrasing

Paraphrase the question
Re-write the question using your own word by:
Synonym
Change from active to passive

Question:

The chart below shows how many students of

a school in the UK chose to take part in four
different sports between 2001 and 2011.

Summarize the information by selecting and

reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words

 Question:

The chart below shows how many students of a school in the UK chose to take part in four different sports
between 2001 and 2011.

1. The chart below = The line graph

2. shows = demonstrates, Illustrates,
reports, Reveal, explains, describes
3. how many students = a number of
4. students in a school of the UK = in a
Eroupean school
5. chose = participated
6. Four different sports = Running,
Basketball, Swimming and Footbal
(soccer)
7. between 2001 and 2011 = From
...to.. atau over 10-year period
Try to make your own Paraphrase!
 Overview
Overview = main trends or differences, at least consists of TWO sentences (when
possible) with no data/numbers included
Guidance on how to write an overview paragraph:
1. Selecting main trends: the highest/lowest number or data with the most
noticeable changes

2. Language used: language of change and language of comparison

Start Your Overview By These Expressions :
• Overall, it can be seen that…
• Overall, it is immediately apparent that …
• It is noticeable that …
• The most obvious pieces of information are that…
• The main facts that stand out are that..
• It is important to note that…
• The most significant facts to emerge from the graph
are that …
LINE GRAPH OVERVIEW
Overall, it is clear from the graph that
football remained popular throughout the
period, whilebasketball experienced a
significant fall in popularity. Additionally,
although the number of runners and
swimmers grew in similar proportion, one of
them then declined whereas other
continued to increase.

= cohesive device = conjunction

= overview introduction = comparison/change language

Try to make your Overview!
Details
Aim: giving some details about general information written in the overview

Guidance on how to approach detail paragraph:

1. Grouping idea
2. Language used: Language of change and comparison

Consider these possibilities when making a grouping : look at similar pattern

- by category in each line: sport/country/place/product, etc. look at similar degree

- by x axis: year look at similar themes

Grammar: present tense/past tense/present prefect/past

prefect/passive voice
Essential sentence structures:
Similar pattern (swim + run) vs (basket +
foot) and by years
Looking at the first half of the decade,
swimming and running witnessed a near
identical increase in popularity, both climbing
steadily from around 20 students in 2001 to
50 students in 2006. However, In the second
half of the decade, running kept experiencing
a rise number of students that ended at 60
participants while there was a significant
decline in swimming that fell dramatically to
around its starting number.

= comparison language = language of change

Similar themes (basket + foot) vs (swim +
run)

Looking at the ball sports, although the

number of football students fluctuated during
the first half of the decade between 60
(opening figure) and 71 (a peak), this settled
in the second half, ending at 68 students.
Despite basketball’s popularity experiencing
similarly high levels in the first five years,
creeping from 55 students to 61, this number
plummeted thereafter, hitting 21 in 2006 and
finishing there.

= comparison language = language of change

The line graph shows thefts per thousand vehicles
in four European countries between 1990 and
1999.
Important things of Writing Task 1
• Know all types of questions in Task 1 (graphs, bar charts, etc)
• Try several real test examples of each type
• Know the 4-paragraph method suggested
• Practice paraphrasing the question to write introductions
• Understand why we do not write a conclusion for task 1
• Know how to write an overview and what to include in this paragraph
• Practice selecting key information. Rather than describing everything
• Be able to write good comparing sentences
• Be able o describe changes and trends (increase, decrease)
• Be able to use the passive to descibe steps in a process
Common Mistake!
• Don’t copy the the question for introduction (use paraphrase
technique)
• Separate your paragraphs clearly
• Write a good summary/ overview. Write it after introduction.
• Don’t describe item separately. Try to make a comparison
• Don’t describe every number on a chart or graph
• Don’t spend longer than 20 minutes