M A R V I N

As my IETLS exam is getting so close “16 of May” I decided to post about the exam’s writing section, since it’s one of my weakened areas in English.

First of all, Writing in IELTS is two tasks. The first one is writing about a graph or any given data in figures, tables or line charts etc. You should write 150 words in 20 minutes.

It’s easier than the second task!

Here is some of the phrases and vocabulary that can be used in the first task. They are very helpful and will raise your score.

If you are writing about:

Single Line Graph

How to start:

“The graph shows/reveals/describes … (what, who, when, where). It can be clearly seen that … (describe main trends here).

Vocabulary:

It either rises (increases, climbs, goes up), falls (drops, declines, goes down, decreases), or doesn’t change (remains at the same level, maintains stability).

The highest point of a graph is a peak, and the lowest is a bottom. The speed of change also matters - you should say how fast (rapidly, quickly) or how slowly (gradually, steadily) it happened. and the order of change matters - a rise was preceded by drop and followed by decline.

How to describe Trends:

try to add a little “color” when describing them, because numbers alone are boring. “color” means comparison. write “increased by 155″ or “had risen to 30%” instead of “went from 100 in 1999 to 300 in 2005″.

Double Line Graph

How to start:

“The graph compares … (what, who, when, where). It can be clearly seen that … (describe main trends of 2 graphs here).

Vocabulary:

Same as Single Line Graph.

How to compare Trends:

In the body of the report, describe the first graph in the first paragraph. In the second one, if 2 graphs are similar, start the paragraph with “Similarly” and describe the other graph. If 2 graphs are different, start it with “In contrast” and describe the other graph.

Also compare the peaks and bottoms of the 2 graphs.

Single Bar Graph

Double Bar Graph

How to start:

For single bar graph:

“The graph reveals/shows/describes … (what, who, when, where). It can be clearly seen that … (describe main trends here).

For multiple bar graph:

“The graph compare … (what, who, when, where). It can be clearly seen that … (describe main trends here).

Vocabulary:

The same as for Single Line Graph description.

How to describe or compare trends:

If the axis of the bar graph is a time scale - describe how graph’s subject changes in time.

Otherwise compare the bars differently - more, less, most, least, etc, in order of appearance.

Pie Chart

How to start: 

“The pie chart compare … (what, who, where, when). It can be clearly seen that … (describe the most noticeable feature).”

Vocabulary:

When describing a pie chart, write about:

- the highest, significant or lowest percentage.

- the greatest, smallest proportion. 

- the lowest number.

- the most, least popular, common item.

How to describe and compare pie charts:

Describe and compare the pieces one by one. If a certain piece is two or three times bigger than another, write “twice (three times) as many Xs were used as Ys”. Another idea is to write “X is much more (considerably less) common than Y”.

Table

How to start:

“The table compares … (what, who, when, where). It can be clearly seen that (describe the most noticeable trend)”.

Vocabulary:

The same as for Single Line Graph description.

How to select and group information:

Describe groups of categories, AKA to divide categories into groups, rather than just throwing the information away. The grouping can be done by similar behaviour. 

Process

How to start:

“The flow chart/diagram describes/reveals the procedures of/for …”

Vocabulary:

Explain the sequence of stages/actions and use words like:

-firstly, secondly, thirdly …

- to begin with, then, after that, in addition, otherwise.

- at the same time, concurrently, simultaneously.

- finally.

How to describe a process:

Describe every stage of the process one by one. Use linking words to connect stages from the vocabulary section (above). Mention whether or not there are stages that are being performed at the same time. There may be alternative stages (either stage A or B is performed). The main task here is to describe not to compare or contrast.

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