IELTS PREP

WRITING
PRACTICE
 Lesson Objectives

Overview in IELTS Vocabulary and Practice writing

Writing Task 1 structures for
describing data
trends
 Writing
Task 1: ~33% of your overall Writing
score.
Task 2: ~67% of your overall Writing
score.
The four criteria contribute equally to the
score:
Task Achievement/Task Response: 25%
Coherence and Cohesion: 25%
Lexical Resource: 25%
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: 25%
What is the purpose of this
section?
The IELTS Writing section is designed to evaluate your ability to
write in English with accuracy and effectiveness. It tests grammar,
vocabulary, punctuation, and style, alongside your ability to
logically structure your thoughts and address the given prompts
thoroughly. Task 1 assesses how well you can summarize or
describe information, while Task 2 evaluates your skill in forming
arguments or discussing opinions. Beyond linguistic correctness, the
tasks also measure creativity, critical thinking, and coherence in
organizing ideas, making it a comprehensive test of written
communication.
Manage Effective time management is crucial for
success in the IELTS Writing section, as you
Your Time have only 60 minutes to complete both
tasks. Experts recommend allocating
Effectively approximately 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40
minutes for Task 2, reflecting their
respective weightings in your overall score.
To optimize your time, consider your
strengths and weaknesses, focusing on
areas where you need more effort while
ensuring both tasks are completed. It's also
essential to reserve a few minutes at the
end to review your work for grammar,
punctuation, and content accuracy. A well-
planned approach can significantly enhance
your performance.
 Understand the Task

PLan your Read the prompt carefully to identify the type of essay required
(e.g., opinion, discussion, advantages/disadvantages, or

essay problem/solution). Highlight keywords and instructions to ensure

you address every part of the question.

Brainstorm Ideas
Jot down key points or arguments relevant to the topic. Think
about examples, reasons, or evidence to support your main ideas.
Focus on clarity and relevance, avoiding overly complex or
unrelated ideas.

Allocate Time for Writing and Reviewing

Try to write efficiently, ensuring logical flow and cohesion. Reserve
the last 5 minutes to review your essay for grammatical errors,
spelling, and overall structure.
Outline Your Introduction
Plan a clear paraphrase of the prompt and a thesis statement
Structure summarizing your main points.

Body Paragraphs
Decide on 2–3 main ideas. For each, include a topic sentence,
explanation, and supporting details or examples.

Conclusion
Summarize your arguments and restate your opinion (if required).
Keep it concise.
 TASK 1 What do you need to do for Task 1?

OVERVIEW Summarize information from graphs,

charts, or diagrams.
Write at least 150 words in a formal
academic style.
Timing: 20 minutes.
Tips:
Write a clear overview.
Describe key trends with precise
vocabulary and grammar.
What is an overview?
A summary of main trends or patterns in the data.
No specific details or numbers—focus on general
insights.

EXAMPLE:

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The pie chart shows the amount of money that
a children's charity located in the USA spent
and received in one year, 2016.
Summarise the information by selecting and
reporting the main features and make
comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Vocabulary for
Describing
Trends

Examples of Vocabulary:
Increases: rose sharply, increased dramatically.
Decreases: fell gradually, dropped slightly.
Stability: remained stable, stayed constant.
Fluctuations: fluctuated, varied considerably.
Exercises
Look at the line graph below
and read the description. At the beginning of the period, unemployment stood at
nearly 5.1 per cent. A few months later, the figure had
risen slightly to 5.2 per cent. Unemployment then
remained stable until September 2003. From this
point on, there was a steady downward trend and by
January 2004, the rate had fallen to around 4.9 per
cent. It stayed at this level until May the same year,
but from May to July there was another small drop of 1
per cent. There were no further changes in the level
of unemployment until March the following year.
From March to May 2005, there was a small increase
of 1 per cent, but this did not last long, and the figure
had fallen back to 4.8 per cent by July. From
September 2005 onwards, however, there was a
marked upward trend in the rate of unemployment in
the UK. From September 2005 to November the same
year, the figure shot up from 4.8 to 5.2 per cent. The
rate remained stable for a few months, but then rose
sharply again, and had reached a peak of
approximately 5.7 per cent by July 2006.
Read the description again
and find phrases in bold which
mean…

1. went up and down frequently

2. did not change (2 phrases)
3. went up a little (2 phrases)
4. went up very quickly (2 phrases)
5. arrived at its highest point
6. went up noticeably over a period
7. went down (2 phrases)
8. went down gradually over a period
 In the last activity, there were some useful
phrases for describing increases and decreases.
Here are two sentence structures for doing this:

Structure 1: Noun Structure 2: There is/are

phrase + verb + adverb. + noun phrase.
Example: "The Example: "There was a
unemployment rate rose rise in unemployment."
rapidly."
Finish each sentence below so that it
means the same as the one given.
1 The price of oil rose sharply.
There……………………………………………………………………………….
2 There is a noticeable increase in temperature from May onwards.
Temperature………………………………………………………………………….
3 The number of people attending the theatre has fallen dramatically.
There………………………………………………………………………………….
4 There had been a steady rise in DVD sales during the first six months of
the year.
DVD sales…………………………………………………………………………….
5 There has been a rapid growth in the use of alternative energy sources.
The use of alternative energy sources…………………………………………….
6 The popularity of self-catering holidays decreased significantly during
the 1990s.
There…………………………………………………………………………
 Answers:
1. The price of oil rose sharply. → Answer: There was a sharp rise in the price of
oil.
2. There is a noticeable increase in temperature from May onwards. → Answer:
Temperature increases noticeably from May onwards.
3. The number of people attending the theatre has fallen dramatically. →
Answer: There has been a dramatic fall in the number of people attending
the theatre.
4. DVD sales had risen steadily during the first six months of the year. →
Answer: There had been a steady rise in DVD sales during the first six
months of the year.
5. There has been a rapid growth in the use of alternative energy sources. →
Answer: The use of alternative energy sources has grown rapidly.
6. The popularity of self-catering holidays decreased significantly during the
1990s. → Answer: There was a significant decrease in the popularity of self-
catering holidays during the 1990s
 Approximations
The practice of using approximate terms to describe numerical changes when exact figures
aren't necessary or practical. In the context of IELTS Writing Task 1, approximations help to
convey trends effectively without overloading the response with precise numbers, making the
description more fluid and adaptable.
Often, you'll see data that doesn't fall on exact grid lines. Instead of giving precise numbers,
you can use approximations.
"The sales rose to approximately 250 units."
"Roughly a quarter of the respondents preferred online learning."
"The figure almost doubled between 2010 and 2020."
Instead of writing: "Sales in 2012 were
Useful vocabulary for approximations:
123,789 units and in 2013 they were
about, around, approximately, roughly
251,432 units."
nearly, almost, just over, just under
You could write: "Sales almost doubled
more or less, in the region of
from approximately 124,000 units in 2012
a little over, a little under
to just over 250,000 units in 2013."
 Exercises
Now write sentences about
the following bar chart, which
shows changes in the
quantities of imports of
certain electronic goods. Use
the following words.

1 (DVD players)
just over
2 (CD players)
approximately just halved...doubled...tripled
3 (Televisions)
under...around fell by... rose by
4 (Radios)
nearly...slightly a quarter...a third
5 (Video recorders)
more than
 Possible answers:

1. Imports of DVD players nearly doubled.

2. Imports of CD players fell by just under a quarter.
3. The number of televisions imported rose by just over a third.
4. The number of imported radios rose by slightly more than a quarter.
5. Imports of video recorders approximately halved