IELTS Writing Task 1: How to Describe a Graph

Academic Task 1 is a different game from the essay. It is a factual report, not an argument. The examiner gives you a chart, graph, table, process or map, and wants an accurate summary of its main features, in your own words, in about 150 words. There are no opinions, no reasons, and no invented causes. Get the structure and the selection right and it becomes one of the most predictable marks on the whole test.

The four parts of a Task 1 answer

Whatever the chart, a strong Task 1 report has the same four parts, usually across three or four short paragraphs.

• Introduction (one sentence): paraphrase what the chart shows. Change the wording of the question, do not copy it.
• Overview (one or two sentences): the main trends or biggest differences, with no specific numbers. This is the most important part of the whole answer.
• Body paragraph 1: the first logical group of details, supported by selected figures.
• Body paragraph 2: the remaining details, again with a few key figures.

Notice there is no conclusion: a Task 1 report does not need one, because the overview already summarises the data. To see how Task 1 fits into your overall band, our scoring guide explains the four criteria and why Task 1 counts for less than the essay.

The overview is the sentence that caps your band

The single biggest reason Task 1 scores stall is a missing or weak overview. It is the first thing the examiner looks for, and the Task Achievement descriptor explicitly rewards a clear overview of main trends. Without one, it is very hard to score above a 5, no matter how accurate your numbers are.

The trick is what to leave out: the overview describes the big picture, not the detail. Say what rose, what fell, what was highest or lowest overall, and any crossover. Save the actual figures for the body. Here is an introduction and overview for the graph above:

One sentence paraphrases the chart, and the next captures every main movement without a single number. That is exactly what the examiner is scanning for.

Select figures, do not list them all

You have roughly 150 words, so you cannot mention every data point. Choose the figures that matter: the highest and lowest values, the biggest change, the start and end points, and any crossover. Then group them logically (for example the rising sources together, the falling ones together) rather than walking through the chart year by year.

Four figures do all the work here, anchored to the start and end of the period. That is selection, not a list.

The language of trends

Task 1 rewards a precise, varied vocabulary of change. The easiest way to show range is to use both the verb and the noun form of a movement.

• Going up: rose, increased, climbed, grew (verbs); a rise, an increase, growth (nouns).
• Going down: fell, declined, dropped, decreased (verbs); a fall, a decline, a drop (nouns).
• Degree: sharply, steeply, rapidly for big moves; steadily, gradually for slow ones; slightly, marginally for small ones.
• No change or wobble: remained stable, levelled off, plateaued, fluctuated.
• Tense: use the past for historical data, a future form for projections, and the present for a process or a map of a typical situation.

Combine them naturally, for example 'solar rose sharply' or 'there was a sharp rise in solar', and vary the two so you are not repeating the same structure every sentence.

Common Task 1 mistakes

• No overview, or burying it at the end. Put it right after the introduction and keep numbers out of it.
• Explaining or giving opinions. 'Solar grew because the government invested' is for Task 2, not Task 1. Report what happened, not why.
• Listing every number. A wall of figures with no grouping reads as a data dump and hurts Coherence.
• Copying the question wording. The introduction must be paraphrased, or it does not count toward your word total.
• Writing under 150 words. This triggers a Task Achievement penalty, so aim for about 160 to 190.

When you are ready to practise, browse real prompts on the Task 1 questions page (filter by bar chart, line graph, table, process or map), then paste your report into the grader to see it scored against the same criteria an examiner uses.