IELTS Task 1 Graph Report – Past and Predicted figures or Projections 

This task on face value looks to be quite simple but apparent simplicity could easily confuse an IELTS candidate. 

Once I started looking at the question in more detail, it appeared that the task is more complex and there is a clear strategy to answering this question as well as specific requirements for a high-scoring report.

I am confident this approach is the best method for the type of information and the time allowed to answer the question.

There might be another method, but I believe this to be a high-scoring report.

Preparing to Write the IELTS Report

The first thing I did was to read the question slowly and carefully.

This gave me all the information that I needed in relation to the task requirements. 

I noted that the topic was oil consumption and the categories were divided into consumers rather than countries or continents. 

The dates are also mentioned in the question and it was clear that the dates range from 2009 to 2030. 

This has a clear consequence as to the requirements of the task and the choice of grammar I would need to use depending on the figures and features in the graph.

First of all, I noted down the consumers which were the USA, China, the Middle East, and Western Europe and Japan combined which I found unusual. 

I also noted the measurements which ranged from zero to 12 and noted that there is no unit of measurement, just simply a number.

I then checked the date range which was 2009 to 2030.

I decided that because of changes in tense and the clear categories, it would make sense to report each individual consumer on its own and in one paragraph. 

This would help structure my writing and show progression which would improve my IELTS band score.

Then I double checked the key with the representation on the graph and started to consider my overview.

An overview was not generally clear and so I would need to make more of a passing or generalised comment which was; there was a predicted decline in all of the countries, bar one.

Another noticeable feature for the overview was that the USA, as a consumer, consumes far more oil than the other three categories of consumer.

Then I noted that currently we are in 2022 and I drew a line which represented this date on the paper. 

This would mean that I could report consumption in the past using the past simple, projected figures using a future tense and if needed, I could use the present tense to refer to now.

Once I had drawn the line however, there did not seem to be any reason to use the present tense as there were no notable features in or around 2022.

It was at this point that I noticed a contrast between the USA and Western European and Japan. The contrast was that in the lead up to 2014, while the USA increased, Western Europe and Japan were already in decline.

It was at this point, 2015, where a decline started to take place for the USA. 

Therefore I changed my tack or strategy and decided to report these two figures (USA/ Western Europe and Japan) within one paragraph making sure each change was reported. 

I also noticed that consumption generally rose in China and the Middle East.

In fact, it’s predicted that by 2025 China’s figures will peak before they then decline. In contrast, consumption by the Middle East will continue to rise but at a more gradual pace. 

This led me to the conclusion that these figures could be reported in a similar paragraph together. 

The next stage was to construct some sentences using the past tense which would refer up to 2022 and then to consider future tenses and even the future present perfect to describe projected figures as in the example ‘will have fallen to just over 3.5’ and ‘there has been a steady decline since 2009’. 

I felt that the image was quite simple but this graph’s main concern was to consider my ability to use tense for a number of different situations.

The biggest challenge I faced was avoiding being repetitive. Therefore I kept the description to a minimum. 

If there were small or minute changes within a category, I would probably skip reporting these, focusing only on the main figures.

In fact, I wrote directly on the paper at each and every significant change, the number and the year, for example, (in 2009 the figure for the USA was nine) and (in 2015 this was 10).

This made it much easier to consider the overall grammatical aspects of the language I needed to use. 

I didn’t spend too much on the introduction and attempted to paraphrase most of the sentences by changing the word order and the position of the dates. 

Then I focused on providing a concrete and clear overview that mentions the two features I had already decided upon.

Finally, I moved on to the mechanical process of writing and reporting the key details, paying attention to the tense before moving on to the last paragraph. 

Because of the complex nature of the writing, I allowed seven minutes at the end to check for spellings, but also to check for punctuation and grammatical sense and grammatical agreement. 🙂

Two Tables in a TASK 1 Question

The graph below shows information about the total oil consumption of four major consumers from 2009 to 2030.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and making comparisons where relevant 

My IELTS report writing sample. 

The line graph gives information about the consumption of oil in four different regions from 2009 until the present day and the predicted figures until 2030. 

Overall, the USA has been the biggest consumer of oil by far and while this use is predicted to decline, it will remain the largest consumer until 2030. Another noticeable trend is that general oil consumption is predicted to decrease apart from in one country.

In 2009, oil consumption in the USA was around 9 million barrels per day. This figure rose to around 10 million barrels per day by 2015, before beginning to fall. By 2025, consumption is predicted to have fallen to around 8 million barrels per day and is likely to be just under this number by 2030. In contrast, oil consumption in Western Europe and Japan was around 4 million barrels per day in 2009 and has been in a steady decline since then. Figures are predicted to reach a low of 2 million barrels by 2030.

Oil consumption in China and the Middle East was around 2 million barrels per day in 2009. While China’s consumption is estimated to peak at 4 million barrels in 2025, by 2030 the figures for China will have fallen to just over 3.5. In comparison, the figures for the Middle East increase steadily over the whole period from 2 million barrels to 3 million barrels in 2030. 

Word Count 235  

Adapted from General IELTS Tasks online 

I’m Jonathan, an online-IELTS preparation specialist.

I help IELTS students achieve the IELTS score they need with courses, training, feedback and advice.

I have taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

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IELTS Task 1 Table Report – Sales figures of two products in two periods

In this task, I found that the information is laid out in such a way that there could be two approaches to structuring a high-level IELTS report.

This is only the approach that I took to answering and writing this IELTS question from Cambridge English IELTS and you could write a different report.

Whether that report would score a 7 is debatable. 

I am confident this approach is the best method for the type of information and the time allowed to answer the question.

For example, I decided to include the additional or differing information in the final paragraph.

First of all, I read the question and established that there were two dates or periods. Then I noted that there were two categories, bananas and coffee.

I also noted the number of categories which was five, and, by chance, I noticed that they do not run in the same order, for example.…..

Was there a reason for this? 

As the products or crops were different, I decided that I would not compare coffee with bananas but focus on coffee in 1999 and 2004 and then do the same for the second category, bananas.

It would make sense for these to be in separate paragraphs.

This would make the structure logical and the writing progressive as I would be describing similar data in each paragraph.

Good structure and progression could also improve my IELTS band score. 

I made a mental note that all the dates were in the past, and there was no connection or reference to the present time.

This means the grammar would likely be straightforward and be limited to the Past Simple by only to referring to the two dates.

No need for Perfect or Past Perfect tenses today!

Then I spent some time looking at the figures and decided that while there might appear to be some similarities most of the figures are ranked.

Ranking the figures means that I could just focus on the large numbers, the medium sized numbers and the smallest. 

I also decided that I would limit the language to describing increases and decreases (because the figures relate to amounts).

Again, I decided that most of the figures should simply be reported, from the highest to the lowest.

After describing the figures in decending order, I would then decribe the figures that are different to the others, namely Swedish and Danish banana figures.

I did not spend too much time writing the introduction but I did point out that the figures were ranked.

My biggest concern was to make sure that the introduction was clear and to the point.

I reported in my overview that there were general increases (sales increases) but there were two exceptions to this, Sweden and Denmark.

Next, I described that data as I saw it and by rank and I did this for both paragraphs. 

I made sure that I reported all of the figures in both years and for both categories.

Only in the last paragraph did I say that there was a decrease in the sales of two categories.

In order to meet the word count requirements of the task, each body paragraph had a small introductory sentence at the beginning.

Reporting just the figures would not show progression and it would be obvious the writing would be below the 150 words.

The biggest challenge I faced was trying to avoid the phrase ‘millions of euros‘.

If you repeat a phrase or word too often, or use a phrase from the question a number of times, there is risk of repetition or it ‘standing out negatively’. 

I had to accept that measurements and the currency were important so I would need to craft my words to avoid any issues, although there may be some.

I did this by simply reporting ‘the numbers’, or mentioning figures as ‘euros‘, once it was established that the figures were all in ‘millions of euros‘, for example, ‘from 0.8 to 1 million Euros in Sweden‘, ‘1.5 to 20 million Euros‘, ‘from 1 to 5.5 million‘.

🙂

Two Tables in a TASK 1 Question

The tables below give information about sales of Fairtrade-labelled coffee and bananas in 1999 and 2004 in five European countries.   

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and making comparisons where relevant 

My IELTS report writing sample ‘in my own words’. 

The two tables contain the sales data from Fairtrade coffee and bananas in 1999 and 2004 in relation to five European nations and additionally ranks the highest figures recorded in 2004.  

It is clear that overall sales of coffee and bananas have increased across the five countries except for Sweden and Denmark where the sales of bananas decreased.  

By looking at Fairtrade coffee sales we can see that there were small increases in sales volume in Sweden Belgium and Denmark over the period. Sales increased from 0.8 to 1 million Euros in Sweden, 1 to 1.7 Euros in Belgium and there was a small increase from 1.8 to 2 Euros in Denmark. There was a larger increase in Switzerland where sales doubled from 3 to 6 Euros, however it was the UK that saw the most dramatic rise, increasing from just 1.5 to 20 million Euros.  

When looking at the sales of Fairtrade bananas, we can also see two notable increases. In this case, it is Switzerland that records the largest increases from 15 to 47 million while the UK recorded the second largest increase from 1 to 5.5 million. Belgium also saw a similar increase to the UK where its sales rose from 1 to 4 million. Finally, two countries saw a decrease in banana sales. Sales in Sweden dropped from 1.8 to 1 million and there was a larger decrease in Denmark where sales went from 2 to 0.9 million Euros.  

Word Count 243  

Adapted from Cambridge English IELTS 10, 2015  

I’m Jonathan, an online-IELTS preparation specialist.

I help IELTS students achieve the IELTS score they need with courses, training, feedback and advice.

I have taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

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Task 1 household consumption and emissions in Australian pie charts

The advice I am give here is only the approach that I took to answering and writing this IELTS question from Cambridge English IELTS.

By following the method I outline, you can develop your own strategy to answer IELTS visuals and essays. 

Of course, it is perfectly possible to answer the question differently.

However, I consider the approach below to be the best method for the type of information and the time allowed to answer the question.

The first step to the task was to read the question before even looking at the visual information. 

This was to establish how to understand the relationships between the pictures.

I made a mental note that one chart was concerned with the use or the consumption of energy, and that the second was the result, or the emissions of the previously noted consumption percentages.

Next, I established that there is no date or time period given to either of the charts.

The implication of this was that the tasks require a comparison between the figures in the two charts only.

I also noted that that as no time is given then I should use the present tense only to report any differences or changes.

Before I started writing anything, I spent some time looking at the figures in the first chart, and noted the largest percentage, the percentages that were large and similar, and then looked at the lowest figures.

I noted that the information is displayed slightly differently in the second chart, but I repeated the process and noted the largest percentage, the percentages that were large and similar, and then looked at the lowest figures so I was able to compare the use and results from use directly.

From this, I was able to establish the basis of my overview, which was that generally use results in high or comparable emissions, except for one category.

I remembered that the overview should not talk about the key figures directly, but should only report a noticeable trend, change, step or feature.

The feature is noticed was “that emissions resulting from the consumption of power for heating was very, very low” and I decided I could discuss this and the key figures at length in one of the paragraphs to follow. 

This meant I would reach my word count. and fulfil the task requirements.

Then I started writing the introduction but I did not spend too much time writing here.

I concentrated on making sure that the introduction was clear and to the point.

I already understood my overview and wrote this trying to make this clear and to the point by not including any figures.

Then, to keep the writing simple and to show progression, I reported from the highest to the lowest the figures found in the power consumption chart.

In order to compare or contrast, I then reported the figures in the second chart in a similar way from the highest to the lowest. 

To signal that I was comparing or contrasting, I also used a contrasting linking word at the beginning of the paragraph.

In the paragraph, I noted that the highest consumption resulted in the highest emissions BUT then went on to show that the other figures in the emissions chart, as a percentage, were higher than the comparable consumption figures.

I was careful not to speculate or introduce any personal knowledge about this subject and simply reported the figures or facts.

Finally, to sum up and make a connection with my overview, I noted an interesting discrepancy which was that while the consumption of the last figure was high, as a percentage, its actual resulting emissions percentage was very low indeed. 🙂

Two Pie Charts in a TASK 1 Question

The first chart below shows how energy is used in an average Australian household. The second chart shows the greenhouse gas emissions which result from this energy use.  

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and making comparisons where relevant 

My Sample Answer for this IELTS Task 1 Chart

The charts show the energy consumption of an average Australian household and the proportion of resulting gases from each type of activity.  

Overall, it is clear from both charts that heating in general results in proportionately less of the resulting gas emissions, whereas refrigeration, lighting and the use of other appliances result in higher emissions proportionally. 

By looking at the average energy use of an Australian household we can see that heating takes up the lions share and is the largest percentage at 42% This is followed by the heating of water which stands at 30%. The use of other appliances is much smaller at 15% Refrigeration accounts for 7 percent, followed by lighting and cooling at 4% and 2% respectively.  

By comparison when looking at the emission of greenhouse gases it is clear that the heating of water results in the largest emissions at 32%. Other appliances and refrigeration account for much higher emissions than their energy use. For example, other appliances account for 28 percent of emissions but just 15 percent of energy use and for refrigeration, the figures are 14 and 7 percent respectively. Emissions from lighting is also high, at 8 percent compared to 4 percent of energy use while emissions from cooling (3%) is almost comparable to the energy used at 2 percent. A last point to make is that while heating accounts for 42 percent of energy used, it only results in 15 percent of greenhouse emissions.  

243 Words 

Adapted from Cambridge English IELTS 10, 2015 

I’m Jonathan, an online-IELTS preparation specialist.

I help IELTS students achieve the IELTS score they need with courses, training, feedback and advice.

I have taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

Sign up to the Newsletter