IELTS Writing Task 1 Academic: Charts, Maps and Processes

An IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 report describes a graph, table, chart, map or process in at least 150 words, in about 20 minutes. The sentence that decides the band is the overview: the main trends or differences in a line or two, which the band descriptors require from Band 7. Around it, select the key features, compare them with exact figures, and give no opinions or reasons.

150

words at least, in about 20 minutes

1/3

of the Writing band: Task 2 counts twice as much

criteria, starting with Task Achievement

kinds of figure, from line graphs to maps

What does Academic Writing Task 1 ask you to do?

Task 1 asks you to describe visual information in your own words: one or more graphs, charts or tables, or a diagram of an object, device, process or event. IELTS asks for at least 150 words in about 20 minutes, in an academic or neutral style, and states that Task 2 contributes twice as much as Task 1 to your Writing score.

Every Task 1 question ends with the same instruction: summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Each of those words is a marking point. Summarise means you do not describe everything. Selecting means you choose. Comparisons means figures set against each other, not listed one by one.

In practice the figure is one of seven kinds, and each has an overview it usually needs:

Figure	What the overview usually says
Line graph	Which lines rose, which fell, which ended highest
Bar chart	The largest and smallest categories and the widest gaps
Pie chart	The biggest shares and, with two pies, which grew and shrank
Table	The highest and lowest figures across rows and columns
Process diagram	How many stages there are, where it begins and ends
Maps and plans	What was built, what was removed, what stayed
Mixed charts	The main point of each figure, in one overview

What is an overview, and why does it matter so much?

An overview is a sentence or two that states the main pattern of the whole figure without any detail: the biggest trend, the clearest difference, the overall change. It is the single feature the band descriptors use to separate Band 7 from the bands below it.

The descriptors put it plainly. At Band 7 an Academic report "presents a clear overview, the data are appropriately categorised, and main trends or differences are identified." At Band 6, "a relevant overview is attempted." At Band 5 there may be "a tendency to focus on details (without referring to the bigger picture)." A report can be accurate, well organised and long enough, and still be held at Band 5 or 6 for want of two sentences.

Here are two overviews of the same graph, which you will see in full below:

Weak overview

Overall, there were four types of cycle journey and the numbers changed a lot between 2014 and 2024, with commuting at 32,000 in 2024.

It says nothing about the pattern: every graph has categories that change. And the one figure it gives is detail, which belongs in the body.

Clear overview

Overall, commuting was the main reason for cycling in every year except 2020, when it fell sharply while leisure cycling peaked.

It names the main trend and the exception to it, in words a reader could check against the graph at a glance, with no numbers at all.

How do you choose the key features?

Key features are the parts of the figure a reader would mention first: the highest and lowest values, the overall direction of each trend, any point where lines cross or rankings change, and any figure that breaks the pattern. Everything else is detail you can leave out.

A practical way to find them in the two or three minutes you have for planning:

Read the title, the axes and the units
Know exactly what is being counted (journeys, tonnes, percentages) and over what period. Most wrong figures in Task 1 come from reading the unit wrongly.
Find the extremes
The highest and lowest values, at the start and at the end. In a table, look along each row and down each column.
Look for movement and crossings
Which lines rose, fell or stayed flat, and where any two lines change places. A crossing point is almost always a key feature.
Group what behaves alike
Two lines that rose together belong in one paragraph. This grouping is what the descriptors mean by data that are appropriately categorised.
Pick the figures that prove each point
For every feature you will mention, note one or two numbers that show it. Those are the only numbers you need.

How should a Task 1 report be organised?

A Task 1 report needs four short paragraphs: an introduction that says what the figure shows, the overview, and two body paragraphs that each describe one group of key features with figures. There is no conclusion; the overview does that job.

Paragraph	What it does	Length
Introduction	Says what the figure shows, in your own words	1 sentence
Overview	States the main trends or differences, without figures	1 or 2 sentences
Body 1	Describes the first group of key features, with figures and comparisons	3 or 4 sentences
Body 2	Describes the second group in the same way	3 or 4 sentences

The division between the two body paragraphs comes from your grouping. In a line graph it might be the two biggest lines and then the two smallest. In a bar chart, the categories that rose and those that fell. In maps, the north of the site and the south. Coherence and Cohesion rewards a reader being able to see why each paragraph exists.

When the question gives two figures, a bar chart with a table for instance, the shape stays the same: one introduction that names both, one overview that gives the main point of each, then a body paragraph per figure. Link the two only where the data really connects them. A table is the exception to selecting lightly: it usually holds more numbers than any report can use, so be stricter, not kinder, about which ones you quote.

A worked example: one graph, one Band 8 report

The graph below was made for this guide. Give yourself two minutes with it before you read the report: find the extremes, the crossing point and the groups.

Average cycle journeys per day in one city, by purpose, 2014–2024

Commuting
Leisure
Shopping
School

Written for this guide. The graph shows the average number of cycle journeys made per day in one city for four purposes between 2014 and 2024.

A Task 1 report on the cycling graphWritten for this guide, the way a Band 8 candidate would answer179 wordsBand 8

The graph below shows the average number of cycle journeys made per day in one city for four purposes between 2014 and 2024. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The line graph shows how many cycle journeys were made each day, on average, in one city for four different purposes over the ten years from 2014¹.

Overall, commuting was the main reason for cycling in every year except 2020², when it fell sharply while leisure cycling peaked. By the end of the period commuting had risen well above its earlier level, whereas school journeys remained the least common throughout.

In 2014, commuters made around 18,000 journeys a day, twice as many as leisure cyclists³. Commuting then rose steadily to 25,000 in 2018 before dropping to 14,000 in 2020. Over the same two years, leisure journeys climbed from 12,000 to 22,000, briefly overtaking commuting⁴. After 2020 the two trends reversed⁵: commuting recovered to 27,000 in 2022 and reached a high of 32,000 by 2024, while leisure cycling eased back to 17,000.

The two smaller categories changed far less.⁶ Shopping trips grew slowly but consistently, from 7,000 to 11,000 over the decade. School journeys stayed at between 5,000 and 6,000 a day, apart from a dip to 3,000 in 2020⁷.

1“over the ten years from 2014” The introduction says what the graph shows in new words. Words copied from the question are discounted, so it is never pasted in.
2“Overall, commuting was the main reason for cycling in every year except 2020” The overview: the main pattern and its one exception, with no figures. This is the clear overview Band 7 asks for.
3“twice as many as leisure cyclists” A comparison inside one sentence, rather than two separate facts for the reader to compare.
4“briefly overtaking commuting” The point where two lines cross is a key feature. Name it.
5“After 2020 the two trends reversed” Two lines that moved together are described together, so the paragraph reads as one story.
6“The two smaller categories changed far less.” A topic sentence that sorts the data into groups: what the descriptors call data that are appropriately categorised.
7“apart from a dip to 3,000 in 2020” The exception is reported in a phrase, without a paragraph of its own.

Look at what the report leaves out. It never gives the leisure figure for 2016 or the shopping figure for 2018, because neither shows a key feature. It mentions 2020 in every paragraph because that year is where the pattern breaks. And every number it gives proves a point the paragraph is making.

How do you write about trends and comparisons accurately?

Accurate trend language means the right verb for the change (rise, fall, level off), the right preposition for the figure (to for the new level, by for the size of the change) and the year at each end of the period. The descriptors reward this under two criteria at once: accurate data under Task Achievement, and precise word choice under Lexical Resource.

These are the slips that come up most in Task 1 reports, each with the version an examiner would accept:

Said, and better

Trend language on the cycling graph

Leisure journeys raised to 22,000.Leisure journeys rose to 22,000.
Raise needs an object (you raise something). For a figure going up on its own, use rise, rose, risen.
Commuting increased by 32,000 in 2024.Commuting increased to 32,000 in 2024.
To gives the new level; by gives the size of the change. Commuting went up by 5,000 between 2022 and 2024, to 32,000.
There was a dramatic decrease of commuting.There was a sharp fall in commuting.
A fall, a rise or an increase takes in before the thing that changed. Dramatic is fine when the change really is unusual; sharp is the plainer word.
Shopping trips grew from 7,000 to 11,000 in 2024.Shopping trips grew from 7,000 in 2014 to 11,000 in 2024.
A change has two ends. Give the year of each, or the reader cannot tell how fast it happened.
School journeys were the less common.School journeys were the least common.
Comparing more than two things takes the superlative: the most, the least, the highest.
The percentage of commuters went up.The number of commuting journeys went up.
Read the axis. These figures are journeys in thousands, not percentages, and the wrong unit is an inaccuracy the examiner will notice.
Commuting fell in 2020 because many people worked from home.Commuting fell to 14,000 in 2020.
The graph does not give reasons. A cause you supply yourself is information that is not in the figure, and Task 1 asks you to report what is.

Comparisons are where a report rises above a list. Put two figures in one sentence and say how they relate:

Ratios: twice as many as, half the number of, three times higher than.
Gaps: 10,000 more than, a difference of five percentage points.
Rankings: the second most common, the least popular, overtook.
Approximations: just under a third, roughly 18,000, well over half. Approximate when it helps the reader, and quote the exact figure when the point depends on it.

How do you describe a process?

A process diagram has no numbers to report, so the overview counts the stages and says where the process begins and ends, and the body describes every stage in order. The passive voice keeps the focus on what is being processed, and sequence words and clauses show the order.

How rainwater is collected and used in a house

When the tank is full, extra water flows away to the drain.

Written for this guide. The diagram shows how rainwater is collected and used in a house.

The opening of a process reportIntroduction, overview and the first stages, written for this guide94 words

The diagram illustrates how a house can collect rainwater and use it for purposes that do not require drinking water.

Overall, the process has six stages¹, beginning with rain landing on the roof and ending with the water being used for toilets, laundry and the garden.

First, rainwater runs off the roof into the gutters, from which it is carried down the side of the house² by a downpipe. It then passes through a filter, where leaves and dirt are removed, before being stored³ in an underground tank that holds up to 3,000 litres.

1“the process has six stages” A process overview counts the stages and says where it begins and ends.
2“is carried down the side of the house” The passive keeps the focus on the water, which is what the diagram is about.
3“before being stored” A sequence shown by the grammar, not only by First, Then and Next.

Three things catch candidates out with processes:

Missing stages. Unlike a graph, every stage of a process is a key feature. Leaving one out is an omission.
Inventing detail. Describe only what the diagram shows. If it does not say how the filter works, neither do you.
Sequence words only. First, then, next and finally are fine, but four sentences that all start that way are mechanical. Vary it with clauses: after being filtered, once the tank is full, before it reaches the house.

How do you describe maps?

A map question shows the same place at two times, and the report describes what was built, what was removed and what stayed the same, using the language of location. The overview names the main kind of change; the body places each change on the map.

A riverside site in 2005 and 2025

2005

2025

Station Road and the river are unchanged.

Written for this guide. The maps show the same riverside site in 2005 and in 2025.

An overview for these maps might read: overall, the site changed from industrial to residential and recreational use, with the factory and warehouses replaced by flats, a health centre and a park, while the road and the river were unchanged.

The body then needs two sets of language:

To say	Use
Where	to the north of, alongside the river, in the south-east corner, opposite, next to
Built	was built, was constructed, a new footbridge was added, was laid out
Removed	was demolished, was knocked down, made way for, disappeared
Changed	was converted into, was replaced by, was reduced in size, was extended
Unchanged	remained, stayed in the same place, was retained

Choose one direction of travel and keep to it: describe the site from north to south, or follow the road, so that the reader can picture each change in turn.

What loses marks in Task 1?

Most lost marks in Task 1 come from a handful of habits, and every one of them can be checked in the last two minutes:

No overview, or one that is really a detail. This alone can hold Task Achievement at 5 or 6.
Listing every number. The descriptors call recounting of detail "mainly mechanical" at Band 5.
Wrong figures or units. Inaccurate data is named in the descriptors at every band from 6 down.
Opinions and reasons. Task 1 describes what is there. Causes you supply are not in the figure.
Copied wording. Any copied rubric must be discounted, so a pasted introduction earns nothing.
Fewer than 150 words. A short report gives the examiner too little evidence of range.

For how each criterion is applied, band by band, see the Writing band descriptors in plain English. For how the Task 1 band combines with Task 2, see how IELTS band scores are calculated.

Try it on a full paper

Writing · 60 minutes

A band for each task, your own sentences corrected, a Band 8 sample.

See the Writing tests Sit one free

A fountain pen lying on a sheet of lined paper with blank lines, beside a small brass timer on a wooden desk

The Writing test library prints every Task 1 figure, sorted by type, so you can practise the kind you find hardest: line graphs, bar charts, process diagrams or maps. To have a report you have already written checked against the figure, including whether its numbers match, use the Academic Task 1 checker.

Where to check this

Every rule in this guide comes from these official pages. Test centres can differ on dates and arrangements, so check yours too.

IELTS Academic test format: Writing · IELTS
IELTS Writing band descriptors · IELTS
IELTS scoring in detail · IELTS

Questions people ask next

How many words should an IELTS Academic Task 1 report be?

At least 150 words, written in about 20 minutes. Most strong reports land between 160 and 200 words: enough to give an overview and support the key features with figures, and short enough to leave 40 minutes for Task 2, which counts twice as much.

Does a Task 1 report need a conclusion?

No. What it needs is an overview, a sentence or two stating the main trends or differences. You can put it straight after the introduction or at the end. A conclusion that only repeats the details does not count as an overview.

Should I give my opinion or explain the reasons in Task 1?

No. Task 1 asks you to report what the figure shows. Opinions and causes you supply yourself are information that is not in the figure, so they add nothing to Task Achievement and can count against accuracy.

Do I have to mention every number on the chart?

No. The task asks you to select and report the main features. Choose the figures that show each key feature, such as the highest, the lowest, a crossing point or the start and end of a trend, and leave the rest out.

Can I copy the wording of the question in my introduction?

Not word for word. The band descriptors state that any copied rubric must be discounted, so copied words earn nothing. Say what the figure shows in your own words: change the structure and swap the key nouns and verbs.

Written by SpeakMetry Team

The team that builds SpeakMetry's mock tests writes these guides. Every rule is checked against the official IELTS, British Council and IDP pages listed in the guide, and every example question, passage and sample answer was written for the guide it appears in.

Writing Task 1 Academic: How to Describe Any Chart, Map or Process