The first band descriptor for IELTS writing task 1 and 2 is Task Fulfilment, this basically means ‘have you answered the question?’ It might sound obvious that you would answer the question that was set in the exam but sometimes it isn’t that straightforward. Often both Tasks 1 and 2 have quite a bit of information and it may not always be easy to ‘see the wood for the trees’. It is important then, that the very first thing to do is to analyse the question a little to make sure that you know exactly what it is asking you to write about. Here is an example of how to plan your Task 1 (Academic).
Task 1 Academic
Let’s begin here with the Task 1 question. What you are going to write about depends on the data or other information that you are given and the first thing you need to do is analyse it carefully.
Below is a typical data question:
Immediately we can see two distinct bars – one for men and the other for women. We can also see that overall the bars for men outperform those for women. This clear, significant, information which hits you visually straight away is your ‘overview’ you should not have to hunt for this.
We can also see that I the first 3 bars there are fewer women overall whereas in the second three bars women are more apparent and in the final bar women outperform men.
Now we decide how to organise this information into two paragraphs – there are two options; men and women, or the subjects where males dominate and then the subjects where the numbers are more equal.
Choose the one that seems easiest or most logical to you. Now create a brief outline.
Introduction – research students in science at UK university in 2009. Chart illustrates figures for men and women across 6 science subjects
Overview – number of male students higher in all subjects except for Veterinary medicine
Paragraph 1 - Men outweigh female students heavily in Physics - second highest for men (around 6 to 1), lowest for women (fewer than 50 students), Astronomy and Geology – both with 150 men and 60 and 80 resp. for women
Paragraph 2 – In other subjects numbers are closer. Biology most popular subj. for men and women ( around 240 and 200). Medicine also large numbers of men and women almost the same numbers of students (200/180). Finally Veterinary medicine saw more females than males in 2009 with around 120 women to 80 men.
My plan here is a little more detailed perhaps than is necessary for the purposes of illustration but a similar outline will help you to create a good, balanced Task 1.
The next stage is to ‘flesh this out’ into complete sentences remembering to use complex sentences, linking words and a good selection of the numbers to illustrate.
Here is another example – this time a map:
The first things that strikes us is that the development of the island has been quite significant. There are buildings, tracks, paths and a pier. The only things which are the same are the size of the island, the beach and the palm trees.
Much of the development has occurred between the large plantation of palm trees and the beach. It is clear that what was an uninhabited, tropical, island has now become a tourist haven.
Again put down a brief outline to work from:
Introduction – development of tropic island from desert island to holiday resort incorporating many new features
Overview – significant development of island at some point to create a seemingly popular destination for tourists
Paragraph 1 – Original features - palm tree plantations - right and middle - beach - far left. New development - between larger plantation and beach - two accommodation blocks - in circles - restaurant - reception block
Paragraph 2 – paths and vehicle tracks – paths connect accommodation huts, to each other, also to beach – vehicle tracks go around reception & restaurant & to pier. Beach now used for swimming and pier on nearest side of island for tourists to sail in dinghies/small sailing boats.
Again this now needs to be expanded into full sentences. Use specialist vocabulary if you know it (dinghies, plantations). Also give location where possible (sometimes this is given as a compass) left, right, far side, near side, north, south etc.
Find models for these two tasks on the free resources page