manifestielts simon

Thursday, May 01, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: recent bar chart

The

following

question

was

used

in

a

recent

IELTS

test.

Thanks

to

Younes

for

remembering and sharing it.

The bar graph

shows

the global sales (in

billions of dollars) of different types

of

digital games between 2000 and 2006.

...

Things to consider:

- how you would paraphrase the question for your introduction

- what two things to include in your overview paragraph

- how to separate your description of details into two paragraphs

Note: click on the photo to see a larger version.

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Thursday, April 24, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: same question, two answers

Today's lesson is longer than normal, so I've attached it as a document. Just click on the

link below to download it.

Click here to see the lesson

IELTS Writing Task 1: same question, two answers

Look at the following question, then compare the two reports on the next page. I wrote

both myself, the first one in August 2011 and the second one in April 2014. I did not look at

the first report when writing the second one.

It’s interesting that my first two paragraphs (the introduction and overview) are almost

identical in each report. You can see that I always use the same approach when writing

these paragraphs. On the other hand, I made different decisions when writing paragraphs

3 and 4 (describing specific details). I wouldn’t say that one essay is better than the other;

I

just think

it’s interesting to compare two ways of answering the same question.

The map below is of the town of Garlsdon. A new supermarket (S) is planned for the

town. The map shows two possible sites for the supermarket.

From Cambridge IELTS book 5

ay 1

The map shows two potential locations (S1 and S2) for a new supermarket in a town

called Garlsdon.

The main difference between the two sites is that S1 is outside the town, whereas S2 is in

the town centre. The sites can also be compared in terms of access by road or rail, and

their positions relative to three smaller towns.

Looking at the information in more detail, S1 is in the countryside to the north west of

Garlsdon, but it is close to the residential area of the town. S2 is also close to the housing

area, which surrounds the town centre.

There are main roads from Hindon, Bransdon and Cransdon to Garlsdon town centre, but

this is a no traffic zone, so there would be no access to S2 by car. By contrast, S1 lies on

the main road to Hindon, but it would be more difficult to reach from Bransdon and

Cransdon. Both supermarket sites are close to the railway that runs through Garlsdon

from

Hindon to Cransdon.

(171 words, band 9)

Essay 2

The map compares two potential locations for the building of a new supermarket in a town

called Garlsdon.

The main difference between the two sites is that one is located in the countryside outside

the town, whereas the other is in the town centre. Both potential sites are close to the

railway, and reasonably near to a main road.

The first possible site for the supermarket (S1) is located in an area of countryside to the

north west of Garlsdon. It is close to the railway line and to a main road connecting

Garlsdon to the smaller town of Hindon. It is also situated near to the residential housing

area of Garlsdon.

The second site (S2), by contrast, is in Garlsdon town centre. It is also accessible by rail,

but not by road because the town centre is a no-traffic zone. Despite this, the main roads

to Cransdon, Bransdon and Hindon are not too far away. The distance to Garlsdon’s

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Thursday, April 10, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: ages and age groups

It's easy to make small mistakes when describing ages and age groups. Here are some

examples that should help.

One person:

?

He is 10 years old.

?

He is a 10-year-old.

?

He is aged 10.

More than one person:

?

The children in the class are all 10 years old.

?

It is a class of 10-year-olds (or

?

The children in the class are all aged 10.

Age groups with more than one person:

?

?

?

The chart shows the preferred hobbies of children (who are) between 10 and 12

years old.

The

chart

shows

the

preferred

hobbies

of

10-

to

12-year-olds

(or

to

12-year-old children

The chart shows the preferred hobbies of children aged 10 to 12.

Note:

If you miss the hyphens (-), it's not a big problem. It won't affect your score.

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Thursday, April 03, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: diagrams and maps

I noticed a comment under last week's

map

lesson from a student who suggested that we

could ignore maps because they are much less common than graphs and charts.

While it's true that graphs and charts are the most common types of question, I think it

would be very unwise not to prepare for diagrams and maps too. What happens if you get

one of these questions in your test and you haven't prepared for it?

Another point to note is that diagrams and maps are

really easy

to describe if you know

what you're doing. Taking the time to study the lessons I've written about them could turn

out to be a very good idea.

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Thursday, March 27, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: map essay

Here is a band 9 answer for

this question

:

The map shows the growth of a village called Chorleywood between 1868 and 1994.

It is clear that the village grew as the transport infrastructure was improved. Four periods

of development are shown on the map, and each of the populated areas is near to the

main roads, the railway or the motorway.

From 1868 to 1883, Chorleywood covered a small area next to one of the main roads.

Chorleywood Park and Golf Course is now located next to this original village area. The

village

grew along

the main road

to the

south

between

1883

and

1922, and

in

1909

a

railway line was built crossing this area from west to east. Chorleywood station is in this

part of the village.

The expansion of Chorleywood continued to the east and west alongside the railway line

until 1970. At that time, a motorway was built to the east of the village, and from 1970 to

1994, further development of the village took place around motorway intersections with

the railway and one of the main roads.

Don't just read this essay once. Spend some time analysing it:

?

In what order did I describe the information shown on the map?

?

What information did I choose for paragraphs 3 and 4?

?

What good vocabulary does the essay contain?

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Thursday, March 20, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: 'overview' not conclusion

You

don't

need

to

write

a

conclusion

for

IELTS

writing

task

1.

You

need

to

write

an

But

why

don't

you

need

to

write

a

conclusion?

What's

the

difference

between

a

conclusion and an overview?

First, a conclusion is really a final judgement, decision or opinion. This is perfect for the

task 2 essay, but task 1 asks you to write a description without analysis or opinions. On

the other hand, an

the information shown in the graph or chart.

Second, a conclusion should be at the end of a piece of writing. An overview or general

summary could go either at the end or near the beginning. Personally, I think it's a good

idea to describe the main features of the graph or chart near the beginning of your essay.

So, my suggested essay structure for task 1 looks like this:

1.

Introduction: what does the chart show?

2.

Overview / summary: what are the most noticeable features?

3.

Specific details: try to write 2 paragraphs.

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Thursday, March 13, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: add a comparison

In last week's

video lesson

I followed some easy steps to build the following sentence:

The number of Japanese tourists who travelled abroad increased dramatically from just

under 5 million to around 15 million between 1985 and 1995, a rise of about 10 million in

10 years.

The

next

step

after

writing

this

sentence

about

Japanese

tourists

would

be

to

add

a

comparison with tourists from the other countries shown on the graph or chart. Let's use

the

chart

below

as

an

example

(numbers

represent

millions

of

tourists

who

travelled

abroad).

Here's

my

original

sentence

about

Japan,

with

a

comparison

sentence

about

Australia

and Canada. Look carefully at how I construct the comparison sentence. If you want a

good score in writing task 1, these are the kinds of sentences that you need to be able to

write!

The number of Japanese tourists who travelled abroad increased dramatically from just

under 5 million to around 15 million between 1985 and 1995, a rise of about 10 million in

10

years.

By

contrast,

the

number

of

Australians

who

visited

other

countries

remained

stable, at just over 7 million, and the figure for Canada fell slightly, from 6 million travellers

in 1985 to 5.5 million in 1995.

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Thursday, March 06, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: sentence building

The following video lesson contains a useful exercise to help you build longer sentences

when describing graphs and charts.

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: pie chart and table

If you get a question like

this one

from Cambridge IELTS book 8, you don't need to worry

about comparing the two charts. Just describe them separately:

1.

Introduction: say what each chart shows

2.

Overview: write one general sentence about the pie chart, and one about the table

3.

Details: describe the pie chart

4.

Details: describe the table

Here's an example 'overview'. Notice that I write a separate sentence about each chart,

and I paraphrase several of the words from the question.

Overview (paragraph 2):

It is clear from the pie chart that there are three principal reasons why farmland becomes

degraded, and over- grazing is the main one. The table shows that Europe had a far higher

proportion of unproductive land than Oceania or North America in the 1990s.

Task:

Find the examples of paraphrasing in the paragraph above.

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Thursday, February 20, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: correct the mistakes

The

following

sentences

were

written

about

the

table

in

this

lesson.

Try

to

correct

or

improve them.

1. In 2006, make calls was 100% of mobile phone users.

2. Text messaging was in second place and taking photos was third.

3. Playing games and music were less popular, they had less than 20% each.

4. In 2010, the use of mobiles to play games was increased significantly.

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Thursday, February 13, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: describing numbers

Probably

the

most

important

skill

for

writing

task

1

is

being

able

to

describe

numbers

correctly. IELTS candidates make a lot of basic mistakes in this area.

Take the simple table below for example. It shows the percentages of people who used

two different forms of communication in the year 2012.

Can you write one correct sentence to describe the numbers in the table? Here is the big

mistake that examiners see all the time:

In 2012, text message was 95%, while email was only 52%.

Can you see what the problem is here? Try translating the sentence into your language

exactly as it is. Does it make sense?

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Thursday, January 30, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: 'hot dog' bar chart

I enjoyed writing today's report about the chart below!

Note: I've underlined some good phrases.

The bar chart shows the number of hot dogs and buns eaten in 15 minutes by the winners

of ‘Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest’ in

Brooklyn, USA between 1980 and 2010.

It

is

noticeable

that

the

number

of

hot

dogs

and

buns

eaten

by

winners

of the

contest

increased dramatically over the period shown. The majority of winners were American or

Japanese, and only one woman had ever won the contest.

Americans dominated the contest from 1980 to 1996, and the winning number of hot dogs

and buns consumed rose from only 8 to around 21 during that time. 1983 and 1984 were

notable exceptions to the trend for American winners. In 1983 a Mexican won the contest

after eating 19.5 hot dogs, almost double the amount that any previous winner had eaten,

and 1984 saw the only female winner, Birgit Felden from Germany.

A Japanese

contestant, Takeru Kobayashi, reigned as

hot dog

eating

champion

for six

years

from 2001 to 2006. Kobayashi’s winning totals of around 50 hot dogs were roughly

double

the

amount

that

any

previous

winner

had

managed.

However,

the

current

champion, American Joey Chestnut, took hot dog eating to new heights in 2009 when he

consumed an incredible 68 hot dogs and buns in the allotted 15 minutes.

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

IELTS Writing Task 1: pie chart and table

If you get a question like this one from Cambridge IELTS book 8, you don't need to worry

about comparing the two charts. Just describe them separately:

Introduction: say what each chart shows

Overview: write one general sentence about the pie chart, and one about the table

Details: describe the pie chart

Details: describe the table

Here's an example 'overview'. Notice that I write a separate sentence about each chart,

and I paraphrase several of the words from the question.

Overview (paragraph 2):

It is clear from the pie chart that there are three principal reasons why farmland becomes

degraded, and over-grazing is the main one. The table shows that Europe had a far higher

proportion of unproductive land than Oceania or North America in the 1990s.

Task: Find the examples of paraphrasing in the paragraph above.

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IELTS Writing Task 1: correct the mistakes

The following sentences were written about the table in

this

lesson. Try to correct or

improve them.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

IELTS Writing Task 1: look carefully!

It's really important that you take time to notice and select the main features for

your description of a graph, chart or diagram.

Look at the table above and a student's summary of main features below.

1. In 2006, make calls was 100% of mobile phone users.

2. Text messaging was in second place and taking photos was third.

3. Playing games and music were less popular, they had less than 20% each.

4. In 2010, the use of mobiles to play games was increased significantly.

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IELTS Writing Task 1: pie charts essay

Today I'm attaching my full band 9 report for the question we looked at last week.

Click here to see the question and essay

Notice that I separate the description of 'details' into two paragraphs: one about the first

year, and one about the second year. I don't recommend writing a separate paragraph

about each country (because this will mean that you don't compare the countries

properly).