IELTS Writing Task 1: ways to prepare

Yesterday I suggested some good ways to prepare for writing task 2, instead of just writing full essays. Here are some study ideas for task 1:

1) Print a collection of questions
Before you start writing any task 1 essays, it's a good idea to have an overview of the different types of questions that you might face. Try to get paper copies (printed) of around 10 different questions - it's useful to be able to see them all in one place. Your 'pack' of questions should include: a line graph, bar chart, pie chart, table, 2 different charts, 3 or more similar charts, process diagram, comparison diagram, life cycle, map.

2) Practise parts of essays
Instead of writing a full essay, try writing 10 introductions - one for each of the questions in your 'pack' (see point 1 above). The next time you are studying, just focus on writing overviews. On a different day, practise describing percentages, or comparing numbers etc...

3) Use 'model' sentences
In last week's lesson I showed you some model sentences for describing percentages. If you look through my task 1 essays in the lessons on this site, you'll find all the sentence structures you need for the 10 question types mentioned in point 1. Use my sentences as models, and simply change the content according to the topic.

Comments

[roshavbg]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the advices.
I hope that tomorrow you will give good ways to prepare for General writing (letter)

[Ana]

Hi Simon,

Is it a good idea to use "namely" when writing introductions?For example instead of saying "The chart gives information about Asia and the U.S" say " The chart gives information about two different regions,namely ,Asia and the U.S" ?

Thanks a lot for all your efforts.

[divya]

Dear simon,

Thanks for this very useful site. I took IELTS on 19th of Jan and received results last week and Thank god I managed to gain the score i wanted. I am giving you all credits for the improvement in my writing and speaking score which were 6.5 and 6.5 when i took IELTS 6 months ago and improved to 7.5 and 8.5 this time. Thanks a lot

Divya Philip

[dfrsdf]

(Click here to see this graph with popup words)

The graph shows the fluctuation in the number of people at a London underground station over the course of a day.

The graph compares different methods of transport used in the US over the last century - train, bus and air.

The graph compares the amount of water used for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes.
There are two ways to write about this graph:

Tourism in Dubai, 1990-1994

Dubai Tourism, 1990-1994
The graph shows the numbers of Russian and others tourists in hundreds of thousands visiting Dubai between 1990 and 1994.
Annual fish catch (millions of tonnes): North America

Heart Attacks by Age and Gender, USA


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Heart Attacks by Age and Gender
The graph shows how age and gender influence the frequency of heart attacks in the US.

Fertility Rates (Births per Woman) in Gulf Countries, 1990-2000



Click here to see a sample text

Fertility Rates
The chart shows striking changes in the fertility rate of women in six Gulf countries – Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain between 1990 and 2000.

Oil Production


HCT Graduates
Graduates from the Higher Colleges of Technology's Women's and Men's Colleges, 1999

The chart shows male and female graduates from the Higher Colleges of Technology colleges in the UAE.

Internet Usage in Taiwan by Age Group, 1998-2000


Internet Usage in Taiwan by Age
The graph shows changes in the age profile of Internet users in Taiwan between 1998 and 2000.

Computers and Internet in the Arab World


Computers & Internet in the Arab World
The chart shows striking differences in the level of computer and Internet penetration in the Arab world.




US Spending Patterns 1966 - 1996
The piecharts show changes in American spending patterns between 1966 and 1996.

[Anonymity]

The suggestions here seem to be dedicated to IELTS academic writing tasks. I know some knowledge and tips are common to different type of IELTS test takers, but

Do you plan to add something for another type of IELTS exam - general writing?

[April]

Hi simon,

I purchased your ebook 4 days ago but still dont receive my copy yet..pls kindly sent it asap.i have my exam in 2weeks.
Thanks

Apri

[April padilla]

ieltssimon@gmail.com sent to my email april_padilla20@yahoo.com.ph
I already received the receipt of my payment.

[Simon]

April,

Thanks for getting in touch with me here. I even put a message for you on the website on Thursday:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2013/02/message-for-april-padilla.html

I've sent the ebook and replied to all of your emails, and I think my replies are probably in your junkmail - maybe you have the highest security settings on your email.

Please check your junkmail, and email me again. If you still can't find my messages, please write to me here in the comments again.

Thanks

Simon

[Vic]

Hi, Simon.
I wonder how you would paraphrase the following question. (IELTS 7 P.78)

'The chart below shows information about changes in average house prices in five different cities between 1990 and 2002 compared with the average house prices in 1989'

[SRG]

Hi Vic,

Mr. Simon has already written that essay.

Here is the link:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2011/09/ielts-writing-task-1-house-prices-full-essay.html

SRG

[dom]

hi simon.my question is kinda unrelated to the post but i wanted to ask how much influence do writing task 1 and 2 have on the writing band score...i recently gave a the ielts test. i did the task 1 fairly well but i took too much time
for it hence screwing but task two..id personaly feel that i culd get more than 7 in task one and bout a 5 for my performance in task two..so the over all score ll be around what?? ive heard that task 1 counts onli one third of score..so it wont help my band score much..please clarify