Task 1: What the Question Asks

The task in one paragraph

The Writing test lasts 60 minutes and contains two tasks. Task 1 comes first, is meant to take about 20 minutes, and asks for at least 150 words. You are given information - usually a chart, sometimes a diagram or a map - and asked to summarise it by selecting and reporting the main features, making comparisons where relevant.

That instruction is the whole task, and it is worth reading slowly. Summarise, not transcribe. Select, not include everything. Compare, not describe each item in isolation. Most weak answers fail because they do the opposite of all three.

Which Task 1 will you get?

This is the first thing to check, because the two versions are completely different tasks.

Academic Task 1 gives you visual information to describe: a line graph, bar chart, pie chart, table, process diagram, map, or two of these together. You describe what the data shows.

General Training Task 1 gives you a situation and asks you to write a letter - formal, semi-formal or personal. It is a different skill with different language.

You do not choose. Take whichever version the university, employer or immigration authority you are applying to requires, and check that requirement before you book. Listening and Speaking are identical in both versions; only Reading and Writing differ. These lessons cover the Academic version.

The three rules that decide most scores

• Describe, never explain. The chart shows what happened. It does not tell you why. A sentence beginning This is because is invention, and invention earns nothing while costing words you need.
• No opinions, no recommendations. Task 1 is not asking what you think should be done. Save that for Task 2, where it is required.
• An overview is compulsory in practice. It is not written in the instructions, but the marking rewards it so strongly that leaving it out caps your score for the first criterion.

What a complete answer looks like

Four paragraphs. This shape works for every Academic Task 1 question type.

1. Introduction - one sentence. Say what the chart shows, in your own words. Reword the question rather than copying it.
2. Overview - two or three sentences, no figures. The big picture: the overall direction, and the main relationship between the things being compared.
3. Body paragraph one - the first group, with figures. Decide what belongs together and describe it with specific data.
4. Body paragraph two - the second group, with figures. The rest of the data, again grouped rather than listed item by item.

How the marks work

Four equally weighted criteria. In Task 1 the first one is called Task Achievement; in Task 2 the same slot is called Task Response.

• Task Achievement - did you give an overview, select the main features, and report the figures accurately?
• Coherence and Cohesion - is the answer paragraphed logically, and do the sentences connect?
• Lexical Resource - is your vocabulary varied and precise, or is the same verb repeated?
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy - do you use a mix of structures, and are they correct?
• Task 2 carries more weight than Task 1 in the Writing score, so if you are short of time, protect Task 2.

The seven things you might be given

• Line graph - change over time. The most common by far.
• Bar chart - comparison between categories, sometimes also over time.
• Pie chart - proportions of a whole, usually two or more pies compared.
• Table - raw figures, with no shape to help you. Selection matters most here.
• Two charts together - often a graph plus a table. You must link them, not describe each separately.
• Process diagram - stages in a natural or manufacturing process. Needs the passive and sequencing language.
• Map - one place at two points in time. Needs compass directions and language of change.

Where to go next

• Learn to read a chart properly before you write about it: Reading the Question and the Chart.
• Then the skill the instruction actually names: Selecting the Main Features.
• Or go straight to a worked question with three band answers: Task 1: Line Graphs.