IELTS Writing Task 1 Academic For Beginners in 2026

0:00you've just found the Ultimate Guide to

0:02task one academic writing this is the

0:04longest most detailed most comprehensive

0:07guide to task one anywhere on the

0:09internet it will help you succeed by

0:11sharing with you the tips and strategies

0:13and structures that only band 8 and N

0:16students really understand we'll also

0:18share one simple structure that you can

0:20use for any task one question and walk

0:23you through step by step exactly how to

0:26use it so without further Ado let's get

0:28into it

0:31tip number one is to understand what the

0:34task requires you to do which is simply

0:36describe information say exactly what

0:40you see why are they testing you on this

0:44because when you move to a new country

0:46you're going to have to look at

0:48information and then convey that

0:50information to other people do not make

0:53it more complicated than that many many

0:56students will spend you know half an

0:58hour looking at the data to find you

1:01know this thing within the data that is

1:03not really there the students that get a

1:06bond eight the students that get a bond

1:07n look at the data pretty quickly pick

1:10out the key things and then put those

1:13key things on paper do not over

1:16complicated they are not going to give

1:18you higher marks for doing some data

1:22analysis and finding something there

1:24that no one has ever find before that's

1:26not what they're testing it is not a PhD

1:29the pieces it is just testing your

1:32English level tip number two is to do

1:35task two first do not do task one first

1:39why is this well if you do task two

1:42first you're more likely to get it done

1:44in under 40 minutes that leaves you 20

1:48minutes to focus on task one and if you

1:52only have 20 minutes at the end what

1:55that does is it forces you to simplify

1:57everything because you only have 20

2:00minutes that means that you will analyze

2:03the data quickly and you will pick out

2:05only the main key features and then you

2:08will write about them if you do task one

2:11first the opposite is going to happen

2:13students that do task one first tend to

2:16overanalyze the data make it more

2:19complicated than it needs to be write

2:21way too much and then they have messed

2:24up task one and they have also messed up

2:27task two because task two is requires 40

2:32minutes for you to focus on and get a

2:33good score so if you do task two first

2:37get it done in 40 minutes then you will

2:40force yourself to do task one in under

2:4220 minutes and you'll do it the right

2:44way you'll do it the way that bond8 and

2:46bond n students do it which is within 20

2:49minutes in a simple straightforward way

2:52tip number three is have one structure

2:54for all of the different types of

2:56questions that might come up this is

2:58going to do a few different different

3:00things number one when you're dealing

3:02with a complicated complex situation you

3:05want to remove as much complexity and as

3:08much stress as possible so if you have

3:11to learn separate strategies and

3:13separate structures for you know eight

3:16or nine different questions that might

3:18come up that is just adding in way too

3:21much complexity into an already complex

3:24thing keep it simple by what learning

3:27one structure and applying that to every

3:30single question that comes up this makes

3:33your job easy to do during your

3:36preparation time and it makes your job

3:38much easier on test day and anything

3:41that removes complexity and makes your

3:43job easier whilst at the same time

3:46improving your score is a great thing

3:48tip number four is to practice overviews

3:52and writing overviews more than anything

3:54else all right there are other things

3:55that you need to do but if you really

3:58nail the overview it makes everything

4:01much much much easier so what you should

4:03do is go on to our website go on to is

4:07advantage.com I can't speak for other

4:10websites but there you will find real

4:13Bond n samples and the bond n samples

4:15will have Bond nine overviews in them

4:19find where they are find the actual

4:21question but don't read the overview

4:23don't read the sample what you're going

4:25to do is get as many as you need as many

4:28of those questions as you need and then

4:31look at the data and try to write the

4:35perfect overview once you have done that

4:37then you can compare your overview with

4:39our overview if it's pretty much the

4:42same then you've done a great job but if

4:44there are some differences in the key

4:46features then you can go and look and

4:49think where did you go wrong how can you

4:51improve in the future and if you use

4:53that system over and over and over again

4:55then overviews become pretty simple tip

4:58number five is to use approxim ations

5:00when you are describing data in the

5:03details paragraphs so often you will get

5:06charts for example like a line graph for

5:08example and it will be very difficult

5:11for you to see exactly what the data is

5:14and this leads to two problems number

5:16one you spend way too much time thinking

5:19about what that is and problem number

5:21two students often will try and write

5:23the exact figure and that exact figure

5:25will be wrong so for example you could

5:28write around 2,500 or just over 2,500 or

5:33approximately

5:342,500 all of these are going to be

5:37correct but if you write

5:412,497 and it's not really that number

5:44then that is wrong so again it's about

5:46doing things that make your job easier

5:49and lead to higher scores tip number six

5:51is something not to do do not consider

5:54your opinion or why this data is

5:58happening students will often look at

6:00data and start to think H I think this

6:02is happening because of this reason or H

6:05this might have been because of this

6:07thing they're not asking you to

6:09interpret the data they are asking you

6:11to convey the data just say what you see

6:15so if you start to think about why and

6:18you start to formulate opinions it does

6:20two bad things number one you're using a

6:23brain power that you don't need to use

6:25up think of your brain as a battery all

6:28right there is only a certain amount of

6:30charge in that battery if you are

6:32thinking about lots and lots of

6:35different things that you don't need to

6:37think about on test day it is draining

6:39that battery the second problem is it

6:42doesn't ask you to give your opinion so

6:44if you give it you're wasting time and

6:47you are actually lowering your score for

6:49task achievement because they didn't ask

6:52you for your opinion they asked you to

6:54Simply summarize the data so don't do

6:57things you don't need to do don't drain

6:59your battery and don't give the

7:01examiners things that they're not

7:03looking for give them exactly what

7:05they're looking for tip number seven

7:07have your writing checked by a real

7:09professional that could be me that could

7:11be another teacher who is a real

7:14professional they were an ex examiner

7:16they know what they're doing if you do

7:18this you're going to save yourself a

7:20huge amount of time and money because

7:22you were dramatically increasing your

7:24chances of getting the score that you

7:26need you are definitely and I say this

7:29because I nearly 20 years of experience

7:31looking at these things every single

7:33student that we work with no matter how

7:36much preparation they put in no matter

7:38how intelligent they are are making

7:40mistakes silly mistakes that they are

7:42unaware of I guarantee this is happening

7:45with you and the more of these mistakes

7:47you make the lower your score and they

7:49are so easy to fix but you can't see

7:52them so hire a real professional to look

7:55at your writing point out your mistakes

7:58and then you won't make those on test

8:00day tip number eight is all about word

8:02count the appropriate word count and how

8:04you should consider word count when you

8:07are practicing so The Sweet Spot is

8:10between 150 and 200 don't go below 150

8:15you haven't put enough on paper and if

8:18you're going over 200 you're just

8:20writing way way way too much so in

8:23between 150 and 200 if you're 2011 or

8:26202 don't freak out about it it's

8:28generally The Sweet Spot but what you

8:31should be doing is if you're doing the

8:34paper based test use the real answer

8:36sheets and what that will allow you to

8:39do is it will allow you to eyeball judge

8:44exactly where you are when you're

8:46writing what we get students to do is

8:49kind of count what does 50 of your words

8:52look like so if you have three blocks of

8:54those 50 that means that you are around

8:58150 words you probably probably need to

9:00write a little bit more so it allows you

9:02to quickly judge your word count you

9:05shouldn't be counting every single word

9:07on test day you just don't have time to

9:10do it so using that technique with the

9:12paper base test will help you do that

9:14the second thing you can do is if you're

9:16doing the computer-based test is don't

9:18have the word c there because when

9:20you're practicing and you're constantly

9:22looking at the word c it means you're

9:25focusing more on the word c than

9:27actually doing what you should be doing

9:30Turn the word kind off and get used to

9:33turning it on only at the end and what

9:36that will do is it will train you to

9:38know when you have gone over 150 words

9:42cuz if you are finishing and every time

9:45you're at 130 140 then you can analyze

9:48it and see where you need to add in a

9:50little bit more detail or if at the end

9:53you're at like 250 300 then you can

9:58recognize that and recog ize that you're

10:00writing about way too many things number

10:02nine is all about paraphrasing we will

10:04go into more detail on paraphrasing in

10:07the rest of this video but what you can

10:10do is just get real practice tests and

10:14paraphrase all of them all right and

10:17what you will do is if you look at it

10:20paraphrase it check the grammar check

10:22the vocabulary is correct and then you

10:25will start to see patterns so you could

10:27actually get you know get a book

10:29and just have all of your paraphrases

10:32beside each other or in a Word document

10:35whatever you want to do but you'll start

10:37to see the same words come up again and

10:40again and again and again you can't do

10:42this with task two but you can do this

10:44with task one you know for example chart

10:47is going to come up again and again and

10:49again and then what you can do is you

10:50can note down these common words that

10:52come up and just add in the correct

10:54synonyms this is going to make your job

10:56much much easier on test day because you

10:59will be able to change those words

11:02automatically without really thinking

11:03about them tip number 10 don't write

11:06everything that you see and hope for the

11:08best this is a strategy that a lot of

11:11students use hope is not a good strategy

11:14you're not going to get lucky all right

11:16what a lot of students believe is you

11:18know task two is worth double task one

11:21isn't really worth much I don't like

11:23these charts what I'll do is I'll just

11:25write as much things as they pop into my

11:28head hopefully I'll get lucky it's kind

11:31of like throwing darts at a dartboard

11:33and hoping that you hit the bullseye you

11:36probably won't instead follow the system

11:38follow the structure that we're going to

11:40teach you in the rest of this

11:44video Problem number one why do I have

11:46to do this so this problem is not to do

11:50with your linguistic ability your

11:52grammar your vocabulary nothing to do

11:54with that but it is one of the main

11:55reasons why students fail to get the

11:58score that they deserve with task one

12:00academic which is you know why do I have

12:02to do this this is stupid I don't like

12:04this and what that does is it creates a

12:07barrier to you actually learning it and

12:10doing very well in it so let me tell you

12:13a quick story when I was a teenager I

12:16hated learning French I wasn't good at

12:19it and what I always said was I have no

12:22intention of going to France why do I

12:24have to learn French I hated it my

12:27French teacher hated me and out of all

12:30the subjects that I did in school it was

12:33the only one that I didn't get an A in

12:36and that probably isn't because I'm dumb

12:39like if I got an A in every other single

12:42subject it was because of this mindset

12:44block what you need to do is remove that

12:48completely from your vocabulary from

12:51your mindset because if you keep telling

12:53yourself why am I doing this I hate this

12:56I'm not good at it you will never ever

12:59ever improve because in order to improve

13:01you're going to have to spend time

13:03working on this and in order to do that

13:06you have to see the point in it why are

13:09you doing it and there's two ways of

13:11solving that number one don't see it as

13:13describing a bunch of charts and data

13:16and processes that you're unfamiliar

13:18with and you'll never use see it as

13:21describing information and no matter

13:23what job you do in the world no matter

13:26what you will do in the future you will

13:28have to describe cribe information to

13:31other people when you move and live in

13:33an englishspeaking country so do not see

13:35it as something you hate see it as a

13:38function an everyday function of

13:40something that you are going to use cuz

13:42I guarantee no matter what you do you

13:45will have to describe information and

13:47that is all their testing Can you look

13:49at information understand it and then

13:52describe that information number two see

13:55that you have a huge advantage over

13:57other students because 99% of students

14:01hate this task and don't actually put in

14:04any effort if you change your mindset to

14:07this is just describing information and

14:10if I learn how to do it I'm going to

14:12have a better score than 99% of other

14:15students and you will then you'll be

14:17able to use it as a stepping stone to

14:20your dream life in that new country view

14:23it that way and you will remove that

14:27problem the second big problem that we

14:29see with our students is getting lost in

14:32the data spending too much time trying

14:35to understand the data there is a phrase

14:37in English paralysis by analysis

14:41paralysis means that you don't move and

14:45Analysis means that you are looking at

14:48information too much paralysis by

14:50analysis in the next part of this video

14:53we're going to show you an easy way to

14:55overcome paralysis by analysis but right

14:58now all all you have to do is be aware

15:00of it the third biggest problem is going

15:03over the time limit so for task one you

15:06will have 20 minutes and task two you

15:09will have 40 minutes what most students

15:11do is they do task one first and they go

15:14over the 20 minute Mark what that does

15:17is it does two very bad things the more

15:20time that you spend on task one

15:23generally the worse your score is going

15:25to be I know that sounds weird I know

15:27that sounds counter Inu

15:29but it is true generally the students

15:32that get the band eights the band 9es

15:34they are always under 20 minutes the

15:37second B bad thing that will happen is

15:39you will ruin your chances of getting a

15:41good score in task two because it does

15:45require at least 40 minutes in the next

15:48section we're going to show you how to

15:50always finish below 20 minutes the

15:53fourth big problem is underestimating

15:56the significance of part one what do I

15:59mean by that well what you will hear a

16:01lot of the time is that part one doesn't

16:03really matter it doesn't really

16:05contribute to your score because task

16:08two is worth double and when people hear

16:11that it's worth double what they do is

16:13they focus nearly all of their time

16:16studying for and preparing for task two

16:20but thinking of it as it's double

16:23doesn't really help because our brains

16:24are not very good at visualizing that a

16:28better way of thinking about it is what

16:30is true which is part one task one is

16:34one3 and task two is worth

16:382/3 if you think about it that way

16:40you'll see that 1/3 is a very very

16:43significant part students that disagree

16:45with me when I say that I say okay give

16:47me onethird of the money in your bank

16:49account or if I went into your bank

16:52account and took one3 of your money

16:54would you be okay about that it's

16:56insignificant right they're like oh no

16:58one3 is actually a huge amount more

17:01students fail writing as a whole because

17:04of part one because of task one than

17:06they do because they did badly on task

17:09two even though it's worth only a third

17:13if you do bad in it if you don't do as

17:15well in it then you're dragging down

17:18your whole score so what you need to do

17:21is prepare at least a third of your time

17:24for task one so if you have 100 hours to

17:29prepare you should be spending at least

17:3133 or to 35 hours preparing for task one

17:37and the rest of it for task two you

17:39don't have to prepare 100 hours that is

17:42just to demonstrate the point the fifth

17:44big problem that we see is there's a

17:46huge amount of misinformation about the

17:48structure for task one academic and if

17:52there is a lot of misinformation that

17:54leads to a lot of Confusion And if you

17:57are confused on TES day then your

17:59writing will be confused because your

18:02writing is a direct reflection of your

18:05thinking confused thinking confused

18:07writing confused writing low score so

18:11what you need to do is go into the test

18:14100% sure and certain about what you

18:17need to do and the biggest

18:19misconceptions and the biggest worries

18:20that we see are surrounding the

18:22structure about the overview some people

18:25say you need to write an overview some

18:27people say you need to write a conclus I

18:28usion some people say you should put the

18:31overview after the introduction some say

18:33it must be at the end and if you are

18:36listening to you know five different

18:38teachers telling you five different

18:39things you're going to go into the test

18:43very very confused in the rest of this

18:45video we'll show you one structure that

18:48has produced hundreds and probably more

18:50than 100 thousands of band 78 and N

18:53students just follow that structure and

18:55you will remove all of this confusion

18:57number six students being unfamiliar

19:00with the specific grammar and vocabulary

19:03required to describe data and to

19:06describe changes this isn't something

19:09that students write about every day and

19:11there are very very specific grammar and

19:14vocabulary structures that you need to

19:16be aware of don't worry all you have to

19:18do is learn them and we'll include that

19:20in the grammar and vocabulary guide for

19:22you problem number seven is writing a

19:25pure overview the overview is the most

19:28important part part of your task one

19:30report because it actually says in the

19:33markting criteria that you need to write

19:35a good clear overview to get a seven or

19:37above if we look at the official

19:40markting criteria for task one it says

19:42present a clear overview of main Trends

19:45differences or stages in other words you

19:48are going to get a bond six or a bond

19:51five if you don't write a clear overview

19:54but don't worry we'll cover that in the

19:56rest of this video Problem number eight

19:58is writing inaccurate data so you

20:00include some of the data but the data

20:02that you include is inaccurate so this

20:06normally comes not from the student

20:08being dumb and not understanding the

20:10data and cuz the data is quite

20:13straightforward normally 99% of the time

20:16it comes from time management issues or

20:19stress issues doesn't matter who you are

20:22it doesn't matter how good you are at

20:24English or how intelligent you are if

20:26you put someone under stress

20:29and rush them you know put them under

20:32time pressure they're going to make

20:34little mistakes so we're going to show

20:36you how to improve time management

20:39reduce stress and also use something

20:41called approximations to really improve

20:45the accuracy of your data later on in

20:47the video number nine is being

20:49overwhelmed with all of the different

20:51types of questions you might get line

20:54graphs you might get bar charts you

20:56might get P graphs you might get tables

20:58or a mixture of those you might get a

21:00process you might get a map and for

21:02anybody this can be completely

21:04overwhelming and how we solve this is we

21:07treat every single one of them in

21:10exactly the same way number one by

21:13understanding that all they are is just

21:15visual representations of data and

21:18information and all we have to do is

21:21convey that data to The Examiner and the

21:24second way that you can overcome this

21:26problem is by just using one structure

21:28one structure for all of the different

21:31types of charts and graphs and bar

21:33charts and whatever you get and we'll

21:35cover that in the rest of this video

21:37Problem number 10 the last problem is no

21:40one there to check your mistakes it

21:42doesn't matter who you are or how smart

21:44you are or how much preparation you put

21:46in you're guaranteed to make mistakes

21:48because we all make mistakes and I

21:51totally understand why many of you do

21:53not hire a real professional to actually

21:56check your work but let's be honest none

22:00of you are completely penniless if you

22:02want to do a test that costs

22:05$250 and you want to get on an airplane

22:08and take you to a foreign country you do

22:11have some money and which is more

22:13expensive hiring a real professional

22:15teacher to check your work and make sure

22:18that you don't fail the test or go and

22:21fail the test multiple multiple times

22:23you know it's pretty easy to figure out

22:25the answer to that question if you're

22:27going to hire someone make sure sure

22:28that they are an ex examiner and they

22:31are a real professional teacher not some

22:34clown on the internet that you know

22:36tells everybody that they're the best I

22:38teacher in the world most of them are

22:40not if you want to get oneon-one help

22:42from us and get us to check your work we

22:45do have those Services if you want but

22:47if you don't want to use us that's fine

22:49too but feel free to get in touch with

22:51us if you want our

22:54help so what we're going to do now is

22:57give you some real examples of all the

22:59different types of charts and graphs and

23:03plans and maps that you might get for

23:05task one academic and then I'm going to

23:07give you some really useful tips on how

23:10to understand these graphs really really

23:13easily they look intimidating they look

23:16complex but once you understand a few

23:18simple things they become much much

23:20easier to understand I'm going to use

23:22the real Cambridge books to show you

23:24what they actually look like I would

23:26highly recommend getting these books

23:28because not just for writing but for

23:30listening reading speaking you get the

23:32real reliable practice questions okay so

23:34the first one we're going to look at is

23:36a line graph over time so we have the

23:39question prompt and the instructions at

23:42the top here and then we have a line

23:44graph over time very very common another

23:47one that you might see is a bar chart so

23:50again we have the question up here and

23:53then we have the information here so we

23:54have bars comparing different things you

23:57might also will get a pie chart like we

24:00have here normally it will be multiple

24:03pie charts so we have two pie charts

24:05here and in this one you have six

24:08different pie charts I know that looks

24:10very intimidating don't worry we'll show

24:12you how to really easily understand

24:15these in the rest of the video you might

24:17also get multiple data sources or

24:20multiple sources of information so here

24:22we have two different pie charts and

24:25we've got a table giving us data here

24:28you could have something like this where

24:29we have two different line graphs or you

24:32could get a map or a plan as you can see

24:35here this is a plan of an airport

24:37normally it will show you a before and

24:40after this is what it looks like now

24:43this is what it is going to look like in

24:45the future and finally you might get a

24:48process normally this is to do with

24:50manufacturing or making something like

24:53here this is showing you how to make

24:55sugar and it's normally a multi-step

24:57process showing you how something is

25:00made or a process producing something

25:03and at this stage students are normally

25:05freaking out and they're like how can I

25:07answer all of these different types of

25:10question how can I understand all of

25:12this data first thing to remember that

25:14will make this much much easier is why

25:17are they putting this data into graphs

25:20why do we make line graphs bar charts

25:23pie charts so what you're doing when you

25:25make a line graph like why do we make a

25:27line graph why do we make a bar chart

25:29why do we make a pie chart we do this so

25:32that the people viewing the pie chart or

25:34whatever it is can understand the data

25:37more easily if you flip your the switch

25:41in your mind from this is really

25:43confusing and I know nothing about this

25:45to oh great it's a line graph it's a pie

25:47chart it's a bar graph this is making my

25:50life much much easier that is why we do

25:53this now if you don't believe me well

25:55think about how bar charts and L graphs

25:58are created we put raw data into an

26:01Excel spreadsheet and then that Excel

26:05spreadsheet makes a lovely presentable

26:08easy to digest graph for us imagine if

26:11they just gave you the raw data that

26:14would be terrible that would be very

26:15unfair so instead of thinking I can't

26:19understand this and I don't know

26:20anything about this think oh here

26:23they've made it easy for me to

26:24understand this thing the next thing is

26:27to understand the difference between

26:29static data and dynamic data let me

26:32explain what that means so dynamic means

26:35overtime so for example with this one

26:38this is from 2010 to

26:412017 this is dynamic data they're

26:43showing you the changes that happen over

26:46time now if we compare that with this

26:49bar chart this is static data it is not

26:53over time it is not showing you changes

26:55over time it is showing you a snapshot

26:58of One Moment In Time and that brings us

27:01on to the most important thing that is

27:03going to help you easily understand this

27:05graph purpose what is the purpose of

27:08making this chart or this graph in other

27:11words why did the person who made this

27:14why did they make it don't think of it

27:16as an ielt question think of it as

27:20someone has given you this to help you

27:22understand this why did they make it

27:24well let's have a look at these two

27:26graphs so the chart below shows results

27:28of a survey about people's coffee and

27:30tea buying and drinking habits in five

27:33Australian cities so we have three

27:35categories here bought fresh coffee in

27:38the last four weeks bought instant

27:40coffee in the last four weeks went to a

27:42cafe for coffee or tea in the last four

27:45weeks so the purpose of this data is

27:49twofold there's two things here one is

27:52to compare the five Australian cities so

27:56it is comparing Sydney Melbourne

27:58Brisbane Adelaide and Hobart and then

28:00within each City it is to compare these

28:04three categories of coffee or tea

28:06drinkers now let's compare that with

28:08this line graph over time this Dynamic

28:11line graph over time the graph below

28:13shows the number of tourists visiting a

28:15particular Caribbean island between 2010

28:18and

28:192017 so we have visitors on cruise ships

28:22visitors staying on the island and then

28:24total so why did the person make this

28:27what is the purpose of this data well

28:29below here we have the date over time so

28:32it is to show changes over time and it

28:36is also to compare the number of people

28:38staying on cruise ships with the number

28:40of people actually staying on that land

28:43so we will show the changes over time

28:46and then compare those two categories of

28:48people so by understanding the purpose

28:51it helps us focus in hone in on what the

28:54most important data is and to understand

28:57the graph much much easier now let's

28:59have a look at something a little bit

29:01more complex so the chart below shows

29:03what anthropology graduates from one

29:05university did after finishing their

29:07undergraduate degree course the table

29:10shows the salaries of the Anthropologist

29:12in work after 5 years so this is a pie

29:15chart so what they're doing is they're

29:17showing the proportion of the different

29:19categories here so what is the purpose

29:21of showing the different proportions

29:23well we can compare all of these

29:25different things so we can just compare

29:28you know more than 50% of people were in

29:30full-time work compared to just 15% in

29:33part-time work so we are comparing those

29:36three or four or five things if we look

29:38at the table it's really comparing these

29:41three different types of employment

29:43freelance Consultants government sector

29:46and private companies and then we are

29:48comparing how much money each of those

29:50sectors can make what is the purpose of

29:53this well this is showing you how to

29:55make instant noodles in a factory not in

29:58your kitchen why would somebody make

30:00this well if somebody wanted to set up a

30:03factory making instant noodles this

30:05would be quite helpful so it is helping

30:08simplify the whole process of making

30:11noodles so instead of looking at it and

30:13going I don't know anything about

30:15noodles all I know about noodles is how

30:17to eat them this is actually trying to

30:20simplify the whole process of

30:23manufacturing instant noodles to help

30:25you understand so don't over accomplish

30:28at it just look at it it's pretty simple

30:30why would somebody make this map well

30:33they tell you exactly why they made it

30:36because they want to compare what it

30:37looked like in 2007 compared to what it

30:40looked like in 2010 you don't need to be

30:44an architect or someone who designs

30:47hospitals you just need to show the

30:49difference because that's the purpose to

30:51show the difference what's the purpose

30:54of a bar chart to compare the different

30:56categories what's the the purpose of a

30:58line graph to show changes over time

31:01what's the purpose of a pie chart to

31:04compare the different portions by

31:07understanding why they made it the

31:09purpose it becomes very very easy to

31:12understand the key things within that

31:14data and another way to simplify this

31:16whole process is to have one structure

31:19for all of the different types of graph

31:21map process doesn't matter what it is

31:24you just use one structure let's have a

31:26look at that now so for task one

31:28academic we call this our pyramid

31:30structure and it'll become clear why we

31:33use this pyramid structure in a second

31:36so if we start up here this is our first

31:40paragraph This is Our introduction and

31:44all the introduction is is a paraphrase

31:46of the question statement what do I mean

31:48by that well if you have a look here the

31:50chart below shows the percentage of

31:52households in owned and rented

31:54accommodation in England and Wales

31:56between 1918 and 2011 for your

31:59introduction all you're going to do is

32:01take this question statement not this

32:04just this bit and you're going to

32:06paraphrase it you're going to State it

32:08in your own words so that it means the

32:10same thing using different words if that

32:12sounds complicated don't worry about it

32:14we're going to show you in more detail

32:17how to do that later in the video now we

32:19move on to paragraph 2 this is our

32:22overview and an overview is simply the 2

32:25to four could be two could be three

32:28could be four most important things so

32:32you look at the map or the plan or the

32:34bar chart or the line graph and you pick

32:37out the two or three or four most

32:40important most significant features of

32:43that information and you put it in your

32:45overview you do not include any detail

32:48you do not include any data and there

32:50are two ways that we teach students how

32:53to think about this we'll go into more

32:55detail later in the video but just to go

32:57go through this very quickly if I put a

33:00gun to your head and said you can only

33:03pick two or three or four of the most

33:05important things about the data gun to

33:08your head you have to do that what would

33:11you pick or another way to think about

33:13it a less violent way to think about it

33:15would be if you were writing for a

33:18newspaper for example so often you will

33:21see newspaper headlines and what the

33:24whole article is based on is a bar chart

33:27or a line graph or some kind of data

33:30that has come out recently and because

33:33people who read newspapers don't want to

33:36sift through all this data what the

33:38headline normally does is it gives

33:41people the most important thing one or

33:44two or three most important things most

33:46striking thing about the data so if you

33:49were writing for a newspaper what would

33:52the headline be or if you were giving

33:55this to your boss so if you were working

33:57for the CEO of a big company they employ

34:00you to do the work for them they're

34:03you're not going to send them a bar

34:05chart you're not going to send them a

34:06line graph you're going to send them a

34:08line graph and say so you don't have to

34:11read this and understand it here are the

34:13most important points think about it

34:15that way that makes the overview much

34:17simpler okay so paragraph 1 paragraph 2

34:20then we have details one and we have

34:26details two so it's a four paragraph

34:29structure introduction overview details

34:32one details 2 and this is where you go

34:34into detail on the main features so

34:37you're not writing everything what

34:39you're doing is you're summarizing the

34:41main features the key features you're

34:43going into detail on those in the

34:46details paragraphs why do we do that

34:48because for every question it always

34:50says summarize the information by

34:52selecting and Reporting the main

34:54features and make comparisons where

34:56relevant every every question says

34:58exactly the same thing it does not say

35:01write everything that you see summarize

35:04select and then report the key main

35:07features and that is why it is the shape

35:10of a pyramid the introduction has no

35:13detail whatsoever it's just one sentence

35:16introducing what the thing is about

35:19overview is a little bit longer but

35:21again no detail it only contains the

35:23most important features it is an

35:25overview of those and then in the

35:28details paragraphs then we go into more

35:31detail it is longer we include data we

35:34include more specific things one

35:36question we often get asked or two

35:38questions really is no conclusion no you

35:41do not put a conclusion for task one

35:43academic a conclusion is a summary of

35:46your opinion there is no opinion here

35:49you are simply reporting exactly what

35:52you see it has no opinion there is no

35:55summary of opinion therefore there is no

35:57con conclusion this confusion comes from

36:01I hate to say it but it's true there are

36:03a lot of teachers out there that don't

36:05really know what they're doing and they

36:06get confused between an overview and a

36:09conclusion and then they tell their

36:11students oh you must put a conclusion

36:13here because they're getting mixed up

36:14between overview and conclusion and

36:16they're getting mixed up between task

36:17one and task two so it just creates a

36:20lot of confusion and a lot of failure

36:23don't do that it is going to lead to

36:25failure a lot of students also ask about

36:28the position of the overview like should

36:30I put it here or should I put it at the

36:32end it really doesn't matter what

36:34matters is the quality of your overview

36:38what features do you pick what do you

36:41put into your overview doesn't really

36:43matter the position of that overview on

36:46test day we want to minimize the number

36:49of things that we are thinking about so

36:50that we can focus on the most important

36:53things don't go into the test thinking

36:55about conclusions and overview use and

36:58where should I put it just learn one

37:00thing memorize it and do it on test day

37:03that is going to minimize the amount of

37:05thinking that you have to do and it will

37:07allow you to really focus and really

37:09think about the things that need

37:11thinking

37:13about so what I'm going to do now is use

37:16this structure apply it to a real

37:20question and show you step by step how

37:23to write a band n answer so the first

37:25thing we're going to do something

37:27that'll a lot of people Overlook is read

37:29the question and think about the meaning

37:31of the question so don't look at the

37:33data first that will cause overwhelm it

37:36will cause confusion just break

37:39everything down into baby steps so let's

37:42start off with baby step number one the

37:44question so it states here the graph

37:46below shows the number of tourists

37:48visiting a particular Caribbean island

37:50between 2010 and

37:532017 summarize the information by

37:55selecting and Reporting the main featur

37:57features and make comparisons where

37:59relevant each question will always have

38:02two parts for task one it will have the

38:06question prompt and then it will have

38:08summarize the information by selecting

38:10and Reporting the main features and make

38:12comparisons where relevant this bit here

38:16this never changes this is always the

38:18same this will be different what we need

38:20to do is read this and understand

38:22everything so the graph below shows the

38:24number of tourists so pretty straight

38:27forward most people who are hoping to

38:29get a 7 eight or n will understand that

38:32visiting a particular Caribbean island

38:34so even if you don't know what the

38:37Caribbean is or you've never heard of

38:39the Caribbean or the Caribbean as they

38:41say in America it's just number of

38:44people visiting an island if you see a

38:48word and you don't understand don't

38:49freak out and be like oh my God I don't

38:52understand this I'm going to fail you

38:54don't actually need to know what

38:56Caribbean means in order to get a bad

38:58nine for this question then between 2010

39:02and 2017 so we understand everything

39:05that's going on we can move on to the

39:07next step the next step is don't look at

39:10the actual data look at the information

39:13surrounding the graph or whatever it is

39:16so we have the title here we have the

39:19xaxis we have the y axis and then we

39:22have the key here so it's really

39:24important that we read this and

39:26understand it now we're taking a long

39:27time to do this right now but if you get

39:29into the habit of following these steps

39:32you'll be able to do these pretty much

39:34instantly on test day it's all about

39:37practice and making this a habit so

39:40number of tourists visiting a Caribbean

39:42Island 2010 2017 so there's nothing that

39:46is different here if there was something

39:48a little bit different we would have to

39:50look at it again maybe think about it

39:52what is the difference between this but

39:54here it's exactly the same information

39:58millions of tourists so it's saying one

40:00so we're not going to write one tourist

40:02or you know 3.5 tourists 3 and a half

40:05people didn't visit the island it's 3

40:08and A2 million all right so millions of

40:11visitors we need to put that into our

40:13answer when we're writing about it next

40:15we have 2010 to

40:182017 so this shows that it is a dynamic

40:21chart it is showing change over time

40:25then we need to look at the key here so

40:27we have visitors staying on a cruise

40:29ship the little squares the little

40:31triangles people staying on the island

40:34and then the total number here the

40:37little circles so because we have three

40:39separate categories here what this is

40:41telling us is this is not only showing

40:44change over time it is comparing three

40:47different things and then when we look

40:49at it in a little bit more detail we can

40:51see that the total is the number of

40:54cruise ship visitors and the number of

40:56people standing on the island that is

40:59these two put together so really when we

41:02start thinking about purpose it's by

41:04understanding all of this information

41:06that we start to think about purpose why

41:09did this person make this graph don't

41:12think of it as an I test think of it as

41:15a real graph why would somebody make

41:17this and that brings us on to step three

41:20understand the data from a high level

41:23right so we're not looking at individual

41:25data points we're going to zooming out a

41:2830,000 ft View and we're looking at the

41:31overall trend for this data there's

41:34three different ways that we teach our

41:36students how to understand this data

41:38first of all imagine that you are

41:41reading a newspaper headline so often

41:44you will read newspapers and a lot of

41:47the stories will be uh about a release

41:50of data so recent data shows this or a

41:53survey shows this and it won't actually

41:56show the graph because people are too

41:59lazy to read and understand graphs what

42:01it will do is the newspaper reporter

42:03will look at the data and they'll come

42:05up with two or three or four of the most

42:08important things and they'll normally

42:10put those in the title so if you were

42:12looking at this data what would the

42:15title be of the newspaper report so it

42:17would probably say something about the

42:19total number of visitors continuing to

42:22rise steadily and it would probably say

42:24something about you know that big rise

42:26is not necessarily coming from people

42:29actually staying on the island that's

42:31because there has been a big big

42:33increase in the number of people

42:34visiting by cruise ships so if you were

42:37writing a newspaper report about this

42:39the headline would probably be something

42:41like number of tourists increases

42:44dramatically mostly due to people

42:47visiting on cruise ships or something

42:49like that that's the first way to think

42:51about it so the second way if you don't

42:53like that way you can think of this

42:55alternative way if you could only say

42:58two to four things about this data so

43:02two three or four things so I literally

43:04put a gun to your head and say you must

43:07give me two to four things you could

43:10only say that what would they be you

43:12would probably say well the total number

43:15of people is increasing the number of

43:17people staying on the island increased a

43:20little bit but it's kind of remained

43:22pretty steady and then if we look at

43:25cruise ships the third thing we would

43:26say is is you know it did remain pretty

43:28steady um between 2010 and 2013 but then

43:32we see a big big rise and it's actually

43:35overtaken people staying on the island

43:38so a big thing here is if we look at

43:40this part of the data is you know people

43:43staying on the island that used to be

43:44number one but now it's number two most

43:47people now stay on cruise ships and that

43:51has been a change since we started in

43:532010 so you can see by using these

43:55techniques what we're doing is we're not

43:57getting lost in the data we're looking

43:59at it from a high level we're looking

44:01down and seeing what's going on from

44:04that Vantage Point another way that you

44:06could do this is this is a third way you

44:09don't have to use all three some people

44:11use just one some people use two or

44:13three if you were to write a report for

44:16your boss so why are they giving you

44:19stuff like this well I is not only

44:22testing your ability to go to university

44:26and inter interpret data like this at

44:28University it is testing your ability to

44:31interpret data and report it to your

44:34boss your supervisor whoever it is when

44:36you move to that new country a lot of

44:38jobs are looking at data or information

44:42in some way it doesn't have to be line

44:44graphs just looking at information and

44:46then summarizing that for your boss so I

44:49am a lot of people's boss and if I asked

44:54my employees to give Give me the main

44:58points of this graph and they gave me 20

45:01different points I would probably fire

45:03that person or they would be you know

45:05doing a little bit of training because I

45:07don't pay people to tell me everything

45:11that is in a graph I pay people to

45:13summarize the most important points so

45:16if your boss said to you have a look at

45:18this data and just tell me what are the

45:21most important things about this what

45:22would you say well you would probably

45:25say the exact same things the total

45:27number of people is going up and this is

45:30due to the fact that there has been a

45:32big increase in the number of people

45:34visiting on cruise ships and it used to

45:37be that not many people visited on

45:39cruise ships and now it has actually

45:41overtaken the number of people that are

45:44visiting and staying on land so what

45:46have we just done there we have got our

45:49overview the overview is the most

45:51important paragraph in the entire report

45:55you cannot get a bnet eight or 9 if you

45:58don't write a good overview what I've

46:00done there is I've forced you to pick

46:02out the most important overall points

46:06that you're going to put into your

46:07overview so by analyzing the data in

46:10that way you started to think about the

46:12most important things in the most

46:15important paragraph the overview we'll

46:18look at that in a little bit more detail

46:20but when we come to writing our overview

46:23we'll see that it is very very easy

46:25because we have analyzed the data in

46:27that way and you don't become good at

46:30overviews by writing lots of overviews

46:33you become good at overviews by

46:35following these steps you cannot write a

46:37good overview if you don't understand

46:39the question prompt if you don't

46:41understand the data if you don't look at

46:43it from a 30,000 ft view the next thing

46:46we're going to do is we're going to

46:48break each part of the data into chunks

46:52so how do you eat a steak do you pick up

46:55a steak and try and shove it into your

46:56mou no you will choke you'll never be

46:59able to eat it you cut it into pieces

47:01you cut it into chunks that's exactly

47:04what we're going to do with this data to

47:06make it easier to understand and easier

47:09to organize so what we're going to do is

47:11there's three lines here let's take the

47:13first line which is the total number so

47:16what we're going to do is we're going to

47:17use two rulers to show you how to do

47:20this chunking so we're only going to

47:22focus

47:24on total number little C here so we look

47:28at this entire line and we

47:30think how could we break this into

47:33chunks well if we start here in 2010

47:38we'll see that it

47:40increases and then it stops increasing

47:42here in 2014 so here is our first chunk

47:47of data total number of visitors between

47:492010 and 2014 increases then if we look

47:53here 2014 to 2016 or you could you could

47:56do 2015 to 2016 doesn't really matter

48:00this is not an exact science or anything

48:02like that but between 2014 and 2016

48:06stays relatively stable and then between

48:102016 and

48:122017 there is a big big increase

48:15actually the biggest increase so by

48:17breaking it down into three chunks it

48:21makes it much more manageable more

48:23digestable that's why I gave you the

48:26steak cutting analogy then if we look at

48:29visitors staying on the island we'll see

48:31that between 2010 and 2011 stays pretty

48:34much the same then between 2011 and 2013

48:38there is an increase and then between

48:412013 and

48:432017 it stays pretty steady there is a

48:46little dip in 2016 but again don't over

48:49complicate this every time I show this

48:51to students especially people who who

48:53are quite mathematically inclined

48:57they will spend way too much time

49:00getting lost in the data we're trying to

49:02chunk things to make it easier to eat

49:05not to make it more

49:06complicated then if we look at visitors

49:10staying on a cruise between 2010 and

49:132013 kind it fluctuates a little bit but

49:17stays relatively low then between 2013

49:21and 2017 we see a nice steady increase

49:25so now let's zoom out a little bit again

49:27I know I'm going very very slowly I

49:29realize that let's zoom out and let's

49:33have a think about what we understand

49:35now and compare that with most students

49:38so what we understand is we understand

49:39the question we understand everything

49:43about the graph all of the information

49:46we understand the key trends the overall

49:49things the overview that we're going to

49:51put together and we understand the data

49:55we've chunked it we've made it easy to

49:59understand now compare that with what

50:01most students do most students will look

50:03at this and go oh I don't know anything

50:05about the Caribbean I hate this oh I

50:08don't understand uh what's going on and

50:11then they start to panic and don't know

50:13what's going on and then their writing

50:15will be a reflection of their thinking

50:18if you follow these steps your writing

50:21will be very well organized clear and

50:24easy to understand what is the main

50:26difference between band 78 and n and

50:29students that get a band four five or

50:32six 7 8 and N isn't better in terms of

50:37it has amazing language and they've

50:40spotted something in the data that no

50:42one has ever seen before no it is just

50:45really clear well organized easy to

50:48understand how do you get there you get

50:51there by following those steps the next

50:53step is to look for any important or

50:56relevant comparisons because if we have

50:58a look at the question prompt and make

51:00comparisons where relevant where

51:03relevant means if there are comparisons

51:06talk about them if there aren't any

51:08relevant comparisons then you don't have

51:10to talk about them so let's have a look

51:12and see and remember purpose why are

51:15they showing you this data it is to

51:17compare visitors staying on cruise ships

51:20with visitors staying on the island so

51:22comparisons are probably going to be

51:24between those two so the key comparison

51:27here is at the beginning most people

51:29stayed on land there weren't that many

51:32people visiting comparatively there

51:34weren't that many people visiting on

51:36cruise ships but by the end there were

51:39more people visiting via a cruise ship

51:43than staying on land those are our key

51:46comparisons told you it's not that

51:48complicated so now we have all this

51:50information now it's time to start

51:52writing so if we have a look at our

51:55pyramid here we need to write our first

51:57paragraph which is our introduction

51:59which is just taking the question and

52:01paraphrasing it let's do that so you're

52:03going to take this first sentence and

52:05you're just going to write it using

52:07different words that mean the same thing

52:10as this so your new sentence should use

52:13different words but it should mean

52:15exactly the same thing let's show you

52:16how to do that so we're going to change

52:19the graph we can't change the you know

52:21you have to keep things like articles

52:24and prepositions you have to keep the

52:26those in sometimes it's not about

52:27changing every single word but we've

52:30changed the graph to the line graph

52:33we've used different words to say the

52:35same thing it is not paraphrasing is not

52:38about changing the and then changing

52:41graph and then changing below and then

52:42changing shows that's not how you

52:45paraphrase shows we're going to change

52:47that to presents we don't have to write

52:51below because there will be nothing

52:53below shows presents means exactly the

52:56same thing we're using synonyms we're

52:59going to change the number of tourists

53:01to the number of visitors and you'll

53:04notice what I'm doing again I'm not

53:06looking at individual words I'm chunking

53:09this sentence so the graph is one chunk

53:13I've changed that to the line graph

53:15shows that's one chunk I've changed that

53:18to presents the number of tourists

53:20that's a third chunk I've changed that

53:22to the number of visitors and I'm doing

53:25that for two reasons number one one it

53:27is much easier and number two one of the

53:30worst pieces of advice that any teacher

53:32can give you is you must change every

53:35word and you must change every word in

53:37order that is impossible and if I can't

53:40do that you won't be able to do that so

53:43you know teachers shouldn't be teaching

53:44you methods that are impossible visitors

53:49to uh specific specific particular

53:54synonyms Caribbean we cannot change

53:57Caribbean Caribbean is the Caribbean

53:59we'll change Island to destination and

54:02we'll change between 2010 and 2017 to

54:07from

54:112010

54:12to

54:142017 so what we need to do now is we

54:17need to look at that sentence and

54:19compare it with our sentence does it

54:23mean the same thing yes it does are

54:25there any ground mistakes are there any

54:27vocabulary errors in there no there's

54:30not we can move on the next step is to

54:33write our overview and we've already

54:35thought about our overview so it should

54:37be quite easy to write we always start

54:39our overview with overall don't learn 17

54:43different ways to do that just overall

54:45comma begin your overview so if we have

54:48a look here at our pyramid we need to

54:50pick up the two to four most important

54:52things we're not going to include any

54:54detail and we can use one of those meth

54:56methods that we talked about before so

54:58if this was a newspaper headline if we

55:00were writing to our boss if we could

55:02only talk about two three or four things

55:04what would we write about we're

55:06definitely going to say the number

55:08overall increased that's kind of the

55:11most obvious standard thing so we're

55:13going to include that so let's put that

55:15in so overall the total number of

55:17visitors increased throughout the given

55:19period so from 2010 to 2017 the period

55:22that we have been given it increased

55:26doesn't need to be any more complicated

55:27than that then what we said was most

55:30people stayed on the island at the

55:34beginning but people visiting via cruise

55:37ship that really increased and overtook

55:40and became number one by the end of the

55:43period so we need to put that into our

55:47overview so despite the majority staying

55:50on land initially as we can see here

55:52initially means at the beginning of the

55:54period this was Sur P so it overtook by

55:58those arriving on cruise liners in the

56:00final 2 years if we have a look again at

56:03our little checklist did we say the two

56:06to four most important things yes number

56:09one total number increased number two

56:12most people stayed on the island in the

56:15beginning number two number three by the

56:18end of the period most people visited

56:21via cruise ships those are the three

56:23most important things no detail we

56:25didn't include any detail whatsoever

56:27we're going to put that into our details

56:29paragraphs and that's us done now we can

56:31move on to the next step so the next

56:33step is to decide how you're going to

56:36organize your details paragraphs we're

56:38not just going to go in and write

56:40everything that we know about the data

56:42and put it into two paragraphs remember

56:45we're being judged on our organization

56:47of this information so what we need to

56:49do is look at the data and think what is

56:51The Logical way to write about this and

56:54that brings us back to purpose and the

56:58key things about this so what are the

57:01key things the most important is number

57:04of overall people increased throughout

57:07the period and then compare the two

57:10different categories so The Logical the

57:13obvious way to organize the details

57:17paragraphs remember we always have two

57:18details paragraphs is in the first

57:21details paragraph we're going to write

57:23about the number of people visiting over

57:26all and then in the second details

57:28paragraph We are going to compare these

57:31two so let's write our first details

57:33paragraph about the number overall so in

57:36the real test what I would be doing is

57:38just focusing on this line and then I

57:41would be chunking that information so

57:44I'd be saying okay between 2010 and 2015

57:48it's steadily increased you want to

57:50write about that then kind of

57:54plateaued and then we seen our biggest

57:56increase between 2016 and 2017 going to

58:00take that chunking I'm just going to put

58:02it on paper what chunking also does is

58:05it encourages you to write only about

58:08the most important data so we're not

58:10going to write about in

58:132010 it was this and then in 2011 it was

58:16this and then 2012 it was this and then

58:182013 it was this and 2014 it was this

58:21it's not asking you to write about

58:23everything summarize the information

58:26select and Report the main features if

58:28we just look at the line the main

58:30features are in 2010 it was this and

58:33that increased to here then it plateaued

58:37and then we had a big increase so we're

58:39going to focus in on that

58:41data so let's start off at the

58:44start total

58:47number the island in

58:502010

58:53was it's pretty clear this is buying on

58:55one 1 million now we need to describe

58:58what happened between 2010 and 2015 this

59:02figure

59:05annual to

59:07reach

59:102.75 in

59:132015 we don't know that it's exactly

59:162.75 cuz it's kind of in the middle here

59:19but we can get around that we can become

59:21accurate by just saying approximately

59:24around so we've just described Des our

59:26first chunk now let's describe our

59:28second chunk it

59:31plateaued at this level in

59:332016 before experiencing its largest

59:38increase so of all this data this was

59:41the biggest one year increase so we

59:43should mention that between

59:462016 and 2017 soaring

59:52dramatically to its peak

59:56so Peak tells the examiner that we're

59:59aware that this is the biggest number of

1:00:013 and2

1:00:03million so you can see the chunking just

1:00:05makes it very very easy now we need to

1:00:07write about both people staying on

1:00:10cruise ships and staying on land and we

1:00:12need to compare those so let's start at

1:00:14the start most people stayed on land at

1:00:17the beginning of the period let's talk

1:00:19about that in 2010

1:00:22most resided on the island around 3/4 of

1:00:28a million you can write 3/4 as words if

1:00:32you want because I'm running out of uh

1:00:34room here on the page I'm just putting

1:00:363/4s but you know as long as the

1:00:38examiner can read it and understand it

1:00:40and it's clear then don't worry about

1:00:42the difference between words and numbers

1:00:45so with around 3/4 of a million

1:00:47remaining on land so I don't think it's

1:00:50that significant that you know between

1:00:522010 and 2011 I kind of plateaued and

1:00:55then before then it kind of increased I

1:00:58think what we can just say is for this

1:01:01data it peaked so the maximum number

1:01:04peaked in 2013 I think that's more

1:01:06significant so this peaked in

1:01:112013

1:01:121.5 million and hovered around that

1:01:16level

1:01:18for the remainer

1:01:21of the period so it peaked in 2013

1:01:26and then it stayed in and R there like

1:01:29hovered in and R there until the end and

1:01:32some of you might say well why didn't

1:01:34you say between 2013 and 2015 it stayed

1:01:38the same and then it dipped done in 2016

1:01:41and then it increased in 2017 we don't

1:01:43need to go into that much detail because

1:01:46that chunk between 2013 and 2017 the

1:01:50most significant thing about that is

1:01:52that it remained pretty much the same a

1:01:54slight dip is not that important

1:01:56remember we're only putting in the key

1:01:59information now let's talk about cruises

1:02:03the number opting to visit on cruises

1:02:09fluctuated between quarter and half a

1:02:15million so you have around a quarter of

1:02:17a million here and it pops up to half

1:02:20quarter half fluctuates in and around

1:02:23out between 2010 and 2013

1:02:26I'm putting a plus in there forgive me

1:02:29just cuz I'm running out of room

1:02:30normally you would put and don't put

1:02:33Plus in the real exam and then after

1:02:362013 we can see that it starts to

1:02:38increase and then overtakes number of

1:02:41people staying on land here so we need

1:02:42to describe that in 2014 there was a

1:02:48sharp escalation and

1:02:52cruise visitors a trend which continued

1:02:56year on year reaching

1:03:001.5 I'm going to put mil here in the

1:03:03real test you would write the full

1:03:05million in 2016 and culminating at 2

1:03:11million in

1:03:142017 the

1:03:17highest of any category I'm putting any

1:03:22category here I'm talking about the two

1:03:25Cate

1:03:26visitors on cruise ships staying on the

1:03:29island we're not including total here

1:03:32because that's kind of its separate

1:03:33category and total is part of those two

1:03:36so you know some people in the comments

1:03:39are going crazy now relax in

1:03:44any year just had enough space to finish

1:03:48that off so by the time you write your

1:03:50last word and put a full stop there

1:03:54should be around you know between

1:03:5615 to 18 minute Mark something like that

1:03:59so you'll have a few minutes at the end

1:04:01or maybe just one minute at the end to

1:04:04read it and check it make sure you

1:04:06didn't make any mistakes and then move

1:04:08on what I would also recommend you do in

1:04:11the real test is just skip a line

1:04:14between each paragraph just makes it

1:04:16easier for the examiner to understand

1:04:18where one paragraph ends and the next

1:04:21begins and removes any chance that they

1:04:24would Mark you down for that I haven't

1:04:26done that especially between my two

1:04:27details paragraphs that is on purpose

1:04:31because this isn't a real test this is a

1:04:32YouTube video and I was running out of

1:04:37room so now it's your turn what I'm

1:04:40going to do is I'm going to give you

1:04:42this sample question and I'm going to

1:04:45walk you through step by step exactly

1:04:48what you should do now if you want you

1:04:51can pause the video at any time don't

1:04:53worry about this this is totally normal

1:04:55when you're learning a new technique

1:04:57learning a new strategy take as much

1:04:59time as you want or if you want to go

1:05:02quickly just go through it straight away

1:05:06but I would recommend after each step

1:05:08pause and then we will go on to the next

1:05:11step you can just play press play again

1:05:14okay so let's have a look at the

1:05:16question step number one read the

1:05:19question prompt do you understand all of

1:05:22the words step number two read the

1:05:25information

1:05:26in the graph read the title do you

1:05:29understand what that means read the Y

1:05:32AIS and the

1:05:34xaxis what does it say there and look at

1:05:38the different

1:05:39categories understand the difference

1:05:41between these categories step number

1:05:43three look and understand the data at a

1:05:47very high level the goal here is not to

1:05:50look at individual data points is to

1:05:53look at it from that 30,000 ft View and

1:05:56think about these three questions what

1:05:59would the newspaper headline be if this

1:06:02graph or chart was in a newspaper what

1:06:05would the headline be question number

1:06:07two if you could only say a few things

1:06:10about this you could only say two or

1:06:13three things about this data what would

1:06:16it be and number three if you were

1:06:18working for someone if you had to

1:06:20summarize this information for your boss

1:06:23what two or three things would you send

1:06:26to your boss one key thing to remember

1:06:28at this stage is don't get lost in the

1:06:30data and the easiest way not to get lost

1:06:33in the data is to force yourself not to

1:06:36spend too much time looking at it in

1:06:38general students that spend too much

1:06:40time looking at data perform worse than

1:06:45students that just look at the data for

1:06:47you know 1 to three minutes quite

1:06:49quickly and pick out the most important

1:06:51things step number four break the data

1:06:54into chunks so if this is a line graph

1:06:57for example look at each line and try

1:06:59and break it down into chunks step

1:07:03number five are there any relevant

1:07:05comparisons think about why they made

1:07:07this graph did they make it to compare

1:07:11things if they did what are the most

1:07:13striking the most relevant the most

1:07:16significant comparisons okay now you

1:07:18should have fully understood all of the

1:07:21data do not spend any more time looking

1:07:24at it and thinking about about it step

1:07:26number six now it's time to start

1:07:27writing get your pen piece of paper and

1:07:30write out your introduction what you're

1:07:32going to do is you're going to take the

1:07:34question prompt and you're going to

1:07:36paraphrase it paraphrasing does not mean

1:07:38change every single word in order it

1:07:41means change enough of the words so that

1:07:45it means exactly the same thing so write

1:07:47it in your own words but make sure that

1:07:50it means the same step number seven now

1:07:53it's time to write your overview skip a

1:07:56line start a new paragraph and write

1:07:59overall comma and then put in two three

1:08:02or four of the most significant overall

1:08:06features of the data or the map or the

1:08:09plan if you are uncertain or you don't

1:08:11know what to write go back to the

1:08:14questions those three questions and the

1:08:16comparisons what are the most important

1:08:18things put that down don't overthink it

1:08:21what a lot of students think is that

1:08:24because this is an test that they must

1:08:27write something high level or complex

1:08:30most of the time the overview contains

1:08:33really obvious simple straightforward

1:08:35things don't second guess yourself and

1:08:37think that it's too simple it normally

1:08:39isn't step number eight decide how

1:08:42you're going to organize your details

1:08:44paragraphs what is the most logical way

1:08:47of organizing your details paragraphs

1:08:50what are you going to put in paragraph

1:08:52number one details paragraph number one

1:08:55and details paragraph number two if you

1:08:58don't know what these are put yourself

1:09:01in the shoes of the reader what will

1:09:04make it easy for the reader to

1:09:06understand step number nine now it's

1:09:08time to write our two details paragraphs

1:09:12skip a line after your overview and

1:09:14write your first details paragraph if

1:09:17you don't know what to write go back to

1:09:19that chunking of the information you're

1:09:22not writing about everything you're just

1:09:24separate ating it out into chunks and

1:09:27writing about it in that way now that

1:09:29you've finished your details paragraphs

1:09:31go and check that all of the information

1:09:34is accurate that the data is accurate if

1:09:37you're unsure remember to add in

1:09:39approximations last step check your

1:09:41grammar check your vocabulary check your

1:09:43spelling there's any mistakes in there

1:09:46that you can fix fix them and now you're

1:09:49done okay so now what I'm going to do is

1:09:52I'm going to give you a checklist I'm

1:09:54not going to give you a sample answer

1:09:57sample answers are good they do have

1:09:59value but on test day you will not have

1:10:03a sample answer so students that get

1:10:06used to sample answers and just copying

1:10:08sample answers don't do as well as

1:10:11students that use both sample answers

1:10:13and checklists and in general students

1:10:16that get a band eight or get a band nine

1:10:18for task one they use more checklists

1:10:21why because on test day you can use a

1:10:24checkl to make sure that you've done

1:10:27everything correctly you cannot use a

1:10:30sample answer it's just not how it's

1:10:31going to work on test day we want to

1:10:33recreate test day during our preparation

1:10:36time as much as possible so what I want

1:10:39you to do is take your task one report

1:10:43that you just produced and I want you to

1:10:46apply this checklist and if you get

1:10:48something correct give it a tick that's

1:10:52good but if you didn't get something

1:10:54that's even better because why do we use

1:10:57checklists we use checklists not to give

1:11:00ourselves a pat on the back and say you

1:11:02know good boy good girl we're not

1:11:04children here what we're trying to do is

1:11:06find out the stuff that we didn't do

1:11:08well to uncover our mistakes because

1:11:10those are golden that's where the real

1:11:13Improvement comes so if you get

1:11:15something wrong good then next time you

1:11:18can get that correct and then before

1:11:20your test what you should be doing is

1:11:23doing this under 20 minutes and being

1:11:26able to apply this checklist yourself

1:11:29and be able to take everything and then

1:11:31you know you're ready so let's start off

1:11:33with our introduction look at your

1:11:35introduction look at the question prompt

1:11:38does it mean the same thing if it does

1:11:41good if it doesn't then you need to work

1:11:44on your paraphrasing normally students

1:11:47that need to work on their paraphrasing

1:11:49it's normally because they have been

1:11:51told by other teachers that they must

1:11:53change every word or they must use

1:11:55complex vocabulary or complex grammar

1:11:57the best way to improve your

1:11:59paraphrasing is number one through

1:12:01practice number two just simplify

1:12:03everything and don't be afraid to repeat

1:12:06some of the words paraphrasing again I

1:12:09know I'm repeating myself here is not

1:12:11avoid changing every single word look at

1:12:13your introduction again are there any

1:12:15spelling or grammar or vocabulary

1:12:18mistakes in there if there are fix them

1:12:20don't worry about it and the solution to

1:12:23having lots of grammar and vocab errors

1:12:26is number one practice number two

1:12:28improve your grammar improve your

1:12:29vocabulary if you need help with that we

1:12:32do have our VIP course or you can get in

1:12:34touch with us and you know we can help

1:12:37you in different ways but the way that

1:12:39you can help yourself for free today

1:12:41instantly is simplify everything it is

1:12:44not essential to get a bound eight or

1:12:46nine for every single word to be a band

1:12:49nine high level word you know words like

1:12:52the a to these are the most common words

1:12:55in the English language the greatest

1:12:57writers of all time use them all the

1:12:59time next have a look at your overview

1:13:03is it clear where your overview begins

1:13:07in other words is your paragraphing

1:13:10clear did you skip a line between your

1:13:12introduction and your overview it should

1:13:14be super clear to The Examiner next on

1:13:16the checklist for your overview did you

1:13:18begin your overview with overall comma

1:13:21next did you include any data so it's

1:13:24okay if you you maybe included a a date

1:13:27that's not really data but you shouldn't

1:13:29really include any data points from the

1:13:32graph next have I included two to four

1:13:36key features if you've only got one

1:13:38that's not enough but if you've included

1:13:40like five or six different things that's

1:13:43way too many sometimes it's two

1:13:45sometimes it's three sometimes it's four

1:13:47looking again at your overview are the

1:13:50features that you included the most

1:13:52significant features and finally have

1:13:55you made comparisons were relevant just

1:13:57a little tip on this it is often a good

1:14:00idea to leave this and do it with what

1:14:04we call Fresh eyes so if you are

1:14:07practicing it is a good idea just to

1:14:09leave this for a few hours or maybe

1:14:11return to it the next day or a few days

1:14:13later because often you will see things

1:14:16and identify things that you didn't see

1:14:18the first time so students often say you

1:14:21know how will I know if these are key

1:14:23features look at it with fresh eyes now

1:14:26let's move on to the checklist for

1:14:28details paragraphs number one is your

1:14:30paragraphing clear is it clear where the

1:14:33overview ends and the first details

1:14:36paragraph begins and is it clear where

1:14:39the first detail paragraph ends and the

1:14:43second one begins next is the way that

1:14:46you have organized information in your 2

1:14:49details paragraph is that logical again

1:14:52a good way of doing this is to go back

1:14:54and read read it with fresh eyes read it

1:14:57a few hours later read it the next day

1:15:00does it make sense to you is it easy for

1:15:02you to understand if it is not easy for

1:15:05you to understand it will definitely not

1:15:08be easy to understand for another human

1:15:10being next is did you only include the

1:15:13most significant the most relevant

1:15:15information in your details paragraphs

1:15:18if you have put everything in there and

1:15:21it's way too long then that is a clear

1:15:23indication that you put in too much is

1:15:26my data accurate go and check every

1:15:29single data point that you put in your

1:15:31details paragraph double check it with

1:15:34the data is it accurate and have you

1:15:36made comparisons where relevant okay

1:15:39let's zoom out now and look at your

1:15:41whole task one report number one is your

1:15:44paragraphing clear I know that I have

1:15:46repeated myself I've mentioned this a

1:15:48few times but it's really the easiest

1:15:50marks that you can get and it's the

1:15:52easiest way to lower your score as well

1:15:55number two did I follow the structure so

1:15:57the structure that we gave you in this

1:15:59video is not a suggestion it is a

1:16:02prescription you should follow it

1:16:04exactly what a lot of students do is

1:16:07they look at a structure and they

1:16:10generally follow it they don't follow it

1:16:12exactly if you went to the doctor and

1:16:14the doctor told you to do something you

1:16:17would do it exactly you wouldn't

1:16:18generally follow their advice and also

1:16:21this is based on what thousands of

1:16:23students have done to get the score that

1:16:26they need also what a lot of students do

1:16:29is they follow five six different

1:16:30teachers especially on YouTube they all

1:16:33have a different strategy I'm not saying

1:16:35you have to follow me but I do have more

1:16:38band seven eight and N success stories

1:16:40than any other IELTS teacher in the

1:16:42world so it's probably a good idea to

1:16:45follow someone who has actually helped

1:16:47students do what you're trying to do

1:16:50next count the total number of words is

1:16:53it between 15 and 200 if it's under 150

1:16:58that is a major problem that you need to

1:17:00address you're probably not writing

1:17:02enough in your details paragraphs if you

1:17:04are going way over 200 like if you're

1:17:072011 206 like that doesn't really matter

1:17:10but if you're at like between 210 and

1:17:13you know over uh that means that you're

1:17:16writing too much in your details

1:17:17paragraphs last but not least is my

1:17:19spelling is my grammar is my vocabulary

1:17:23accurate remember that structure and

1:17:26organizing the information and

1:17:27identifying the key features and all of

1:17:30these things are only really half of

1:17:32your marks 50% of your marks will come

1:17:35from accurate clear appropriate grammar

1:17:39and vocabulary and just to remind you

1:17:42we're not looking for Perfection here

1:17:44what we're looking for is progress if

1:17:47you made mistakes now that is great

1:17:50because you now know what your

1:17:51weaknesses are and you can work on those

1:17:54weaknesses and improve if you want our

1:17:56help doing that or if you want us to

1:17:58help you with other types of task one

1:18:01then we do have our VIP course we also

1:18:02have a correction service or we have

1:18:05other free courses always feel free to

1:18:07get in touch with us Chrisi

1:18:09advantage.com we answer 100% of the

1:18:12emails that we receive always feel free

1:18:14to send us an email so that was the

1:18:16beginner guide to task one if you want a

1:18:19more advanced lesson click here and I'm

1:18:21going to show you how I would transform

1:18:24a band Six task one response to a band

1:18:28eight or nine click on here and I'll

1:18:30show you exactly how to do that