Comparisons in IELTS writing task 1 academic.Updated: July 2025
It’s common in IELTS writing task 1 to get multiple charts such as 2 or 3 pie charts, or a bar graph and a table, or maybe 2 line graphs and so on. In this post, I will deal with 3 pie charts with 4 categories.
Always take time to analyse the task before you start writing. In writing task 1, I advise around three to four minutes of planning time.
Model answer for an IELTS advantage disadvantage (outweigh) essay.Updated: February 2024
One of the most difficult essay types for many band 6 students is the ‘outweigh’ essay, which is an advantage disadvantage essay that is asking your opinion about which side you think is stronger.
The keyword in the task is ‘outweigh’. So you must cover the advantage and the disadvantage in this essay and clearly state your opinion. Do not only write about the advantages. you will need to cover both sides for a higher score in task response.
How to use IELTS vocabulary accurately when describing data.Updated: July 2023
In IELTS writing task 1, vocabulary accounts for 25% of your marks. Being able to use a wide variety of vocabulary accurately will help your score. I did a post on this before about using specific vocabulary in the academic task 1 writing section click here to see that post.
Model answer for a two-part question essay on homes and housing.This task was in the Cambridge IELTS 16 book about learning the background of ones home.
At first, you must look at the general topic, which in this case is about housing, then analyse the task to find out what you need to write about and the type of essay it is. In this case, it has two questions in the instruction words so this is a two-part question essay (direct questions essay). Take a look at how I have structured this and given specific examples to support the main ideas.
IELTS two-part question essay on renting or owning a home.Updated: September 2024
A two-part question essay is pretty straightforward. Simply answer the first question in main body one, explain and give an example and then answer the second question in main body two. In the thesis statement briefly answer both questions. See the structure and the model answer below. The task is from Cambridge IELTS 15.
Writing task 1 process: How instant noodles are manufactured.Updated: October 2023
This task is from Cambridge IELTS 15 page 71. Before you begin writing it is important to analyse the task for a few minutes.
In this case, it’s a process diagram where I will need to use the passive voice grammar and sequencers to show the steps. You can see more detail on the grammar and vocabulary needed for this kind of task in this post here.
Natural process diagram in IELTS.Updated: September 2024
In IELTS writing task 1 process diagrams you will often see a diagram on how something is made or how something works with all the steps included.
Something that used to be quite common in IELTS was a natural process diagram such as the lifecycle of a butterfly, a honey bee or a weather cycle showing evaporation and rainfall. It’s still worth practicing writing about natural processes in case one comes up again in the exam.
As mentioned in other posts regarding IELTS academic writing task 1, data can be either static or dynamic. Static data shows no changes over time, you may get a table or a graph where you need to make comparisons. However, it is important to analyse the task first as in this model answer below the data changes over time. So this is using trends language as it is dynamic data.
Here is a model answer based on an essay topic from the Cambridge IELTS 15 textbook on the role of newspapers and books in the future. It’s an opinion essay and in this type of essay, you need to clearly state your opinion throughout the response.
The answer is quite long at over 300 words so I would advise aiming for under 300 words as you will only have 40 minutes to write the essay.
Improving your vocabulary for IELTS writing.Updated: October 2023
I often mark IELTS essays and I tend to find the same words keep coming up in the writing, such as ‘a lot of’ / ‘humans’ / ‘nowadays’ / ‘like’. Actually, these are not wrong, and using these in your sentences would not be considered grammatically incorrect.
However, the IELTS examiner is checking to see if you can use a wide range of vocabulary especially collocations. If possible, try to avoid overusing these words to help get a better vocabulary score… See the post below for more details.