Task 1

• You need to describe a Pie Chart, Line Graph, Bar

Graph, Map, Process, or a Table that is given in the
question

• Word count is (150 – 180)

• Total time is 20 minutes

Are you doing IELTS (GT) General
Training or Academic?
 Structure
• Introdution – Paraphrase the question prompt in 1 sentence

• Overview – Write the word ‘Overall’ in the beginning. Then, only

write about the most important information i.e. highest/lowest
data, rising/ falling trend or similarities/differences. Numbers are
not necessary to be mentioned here (e.g.: 45 %, 1985, etc)

• Body Paragraph 1 – Describe only one set of information in detail

(using numbers as examples).

• Body Paragraph 2 – Describe another set of information in

detail(using numbers as examples)
 Diagram types

• Static diagram – only 1 year mentioned or no

year is given

• Dynamic diagram – two different years are

mentioned
• Helpful language to describe figures:
• 4 % - a tiny fraction/a tiny portion/a very
small proportion/ an insignificant
minority/an insignificant proportion
• 15 % - a small portion/ a small minority
• 24 % - almost a quarter
• 25 % - exactly a quarter
• 26% - roughly one quarter
• 32% - nearly one-third, nearly a third
• 49% - around a half, just under a half
• 50 % - Exactly a half
• 51 %- just over a half
• 70 % - a large proportion
• 72 % - nearly three quarters/a significant
majority/a significant proportion
• 77 % - approximately three quarters/more
than three quarters
• 79 % - well over three quarters
• 89 % - a very large proportion
• Make your writing look natural rather than
only collection of numbers (sentence after
sentence)

• For this, you can use grammatical range and

connectives to sound natural.
 Strategies

Spend a minute studying the diagram

Break it down piece by piece to understand the rising,

falling, and steady trends (E.g: sudden rise and sudden fall)

Imagine that you are explaining the diagram to someone

else

Then Describe Key features Only

 Assessment Criteria

1. Task Achievement (Respond to the question) - 25

%

2. Coherence and Cohesion (flow) - 25 %

3. Lexical Resource (vocabulary) - 25 %

4. Grammatical Range and Accuracy - 25 %

 Paraphrasing techniques

1. Use Synonyms

2. Change the Word Order

3. Change the Form of the Word

4. Change from Active to Passive

 Important Vocabulary
• Verbs:

Illustrates
Depicts
Presents
Compares
Demonstrates
Outlines
 Verb Synonyms

• Increase: rise/go up/jump/move

upward/soar/climb/surge

• Decrease: fall/decline/plummet/plunge/drop/
Reduce/go down/downward

• Steady: remain unchanged/ constant/the

same/stable/static
 Adverbs

• rapidly/sharply/significantly

• gradually/steadily

• slightly/mildly/ moderately/

• nearly/approximately/roughly

• almost/about/around
 Plan before you start writing

• Never give your opinion

• Don’t judge the diagram from your pre-existing

knowledge or guesses

• You only need to describe the given facts in a

systematic way.
 Common Mistakes
• The pie chart illustrates about the …..
• The line graph describe about the …..
• The Pie charts illustrates the ….
• Overally, The sales of coffee rose up/ climbed up/jumped up
in …..
• In Overall, The coffee was increased and tea was decreased
in the US and the switzerland
• Overall, It can be seen that the percentage of..
• The percentage of students fell down
• The percentage of sales was rised in …….
• The percentage of water used was decreased
 Common Mistakes
• overall The sales of coffee was jumped down in two
country where as tea fell down
• The population of Europe was the highest in 2001.
• The population of Europe was increased to …. In 2001
• There was a rise in population in Europe

• Generally, words in the diagram are written in

capital letters but you need to write them in small
letters in your answer
 Task 2 (Essay Writing)

• Total word count is: 250-290 words

• Total paragraphs: 4

1. Introduction
2. Body Paragraph 1
3. Body Paragraph 2
4. Conclusion

• Total time: 40 minutes

 Strategies
• First of all, read your question prompt very carefully
and in detail

• Identify the keywords in the prompt and questions

• Then, plan your essay by creating its structure in your

question paper so that it would be easy to follow later
on

• Doing this will also keep you from going off-topic

 How to improve my writing?

• Work on your single sentence

• Then work on your single paragraph

• Understanding the question is very important
before you start writing the essay so read the
question very carefully and underline the
keywords/direction words

• Question: Environmental issues such as climate

change have always been an international
problem because governments are not imposing
harsh punishments against offenders. To what
extent do you agree or disagree? Support your
answer with specific reasons and examples.
• Understanding the question is very important
before you start writing the essay so read the
question very carefully and underline the
keywords/direction words

• Question: Environmental issues such as climate

change have always been an international
problem because governments are not
imposing harsh punishments against offenders.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Support your answer with specific reasons and
examples.
 Questions asking opinion

• Give your opinion

• Do you agree or disagree?

• To what extent do you agree or disagree?

• Do you think ……. ?

• Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

• Are there more benefits or drawbacks?

• Is this positive or negative?

• Do you think this is a good thing?

 Introduction
• 1) Paraphrase the statement of the question (write the prompt in your own words)
• 2) Write a thesis statement (your opinion/argument) along with 2 reasons (in brief)

Body Paragraph 1
• 1) Write a topic sentence (1st reason) to support your thesis statement
• 2) Explain/expand it with supporting sentences
• 3) provide 1 relevant example to support your reason (1-2 sentences maximum)
• 4) Write the final result supporting your reason (e.g: Therefore, it can be said that..)

Body Paragraph 2
• 1) Write a topic sentence (2nd reason) to support your thesis statement
• 2) Explain/expand it with supporting sentences
• 3) provide 1 relevant example to support your reason (1-2 sentences maximum)
• 4) Write the final result supporting your reason (Hence, this is a clear indication that..)

Conclusion
• 1) Restate your opinion (paraphrase your opinion in brief)/(Starting phrase: In conclusion, ..)
• 2) Summarize both the body paragraphs /(give your opinion if asked)
• 3) Write a concluding sentence (it is optional)
• Some people believe that unpaid community
service should be a compulsory part of high
school programmes.

Do you agree or disagree?

• Paraphrase of the prompt: It is argued by some that volunteering should be made part of the
school curriculum. Thesis statement: I completely agree with the suggestion because Reason
1: it helps pupils develop soft skills and Reason 2: helps them gain much needed work
experience.

• Topic sentence: Education should not be limited to strictly academic pursuits and those in
education should also develop life skills, such as teamwork, empathy and self-discipline, and
one of the best ways to hone these aptitudes is through community service. Supporting
sentence: Serving those less fortunate than ourselves teaches us many lessons including how
to work with people from other backgrounds and the value of hard work, thus enabling us to
hone these skills before becoming an adult. One example: For example/instance, many young
people from wealthier countries take a gap year and help those less fortunate than themselves
to increase their gratitude for what they have and improve their work ethic. Concluding
sentence: Therefore, doing free community service is tremendously helpful to develop a wide
range of skills of students.

• Topic sentence: Many colleges and companies are also increasingly looking for this type of
experience. Supporting sentence: Most school leavers have the same grades and charitable
works can help set you apart from other students when making college applications. One
example: To illustrate, Cambridge and Oxford receive thousands of applications from straight-A
students every year and can only accept a small percentage of applicants. Concluding
sentence: What one has done outside the classroom is often the thing that differentiates
him/her from everyone else and gets the person that coveted spot.

• In conclusion, teenagers should be made to partake in unpaid work as part of their schooling
because it will help them learn things they wouldn’t ordinarily learn from their teachers and it
will also boost their chances of getting into third level education.
• Don’t give a broad/vague reasons to support
your thesis statement but narrow it down to
specific/relevant reasons

• Try to link your topic sentence with

(relevant/appropriate ideas and example) not
an irrelevant or vague one

• Try to find the warrant (connection) between

your reason and the supporting sentences in
a paragraph
• Make sure that you write the essay in a balanced way

• You can do this by first of all mentioning one positive

point about the other side of the argument. Then provide
supporting points about your side of the argument

• Don’t provide extreme views while supporting your

reasons
 For Grammatical Range, Use:
• Compound sentence

• Complex sentence

• Conditionals: If, unless, provided that, etc

• Relative pronouns: which, that, who, when, where, etc

• Conjunctions: while, whereas, although, similarly, not only …. but also,

neither…nor, either….or, etc

• Pronouns: this, that, these those, they, them, their, it, its, etc

• Passive structure: is/are (it should be) (it needs to be) +v3 or has been+ v3
• Simple Sentence
• The government should develop the country.
• A simple sentence has one independent clause. (independent clause gives a complete
meaning)

• Compound Sentence
• The government should set up industries and the citizens should work hard.
• A compound sentence includes more than one independent clause, connected by a
coordinating conjunction like: (and, but, for, nor, or, so, or yet).

• Complex Sentence
• I prefer to read books that are bestsellers.
• A complex sentence includes one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. (A
dependent clause is one that cannot stand alone.) Types of dependent clauses include
relative clauses (It is the country where people mostly travel to), adverb clauses (Petrol prices
are rising now because there is conflict in Ukraine), and noun clauses (I don't know what to do
next).

Compound-Complex Sentence
• Although I prefer to read current bestsellers, I do like to read old Agatha Christie mysteries, and
I also like some 20th-century science fiction.
• Compound-complex sentences take a bunch of clauses (multiple independent clauses, and
one or more dependent clauses).
• 1st Conditional sentence: Structure

• If+ simple present, simple future

• If + the government develops new tourist

sites in the rural areas, a lot of visitors will
go there which will significantly improve
the financial condition of those places.
• Use of technology is beneficial for students in many
ways. First of all, it (instead of repeating “Use of
technology”, you can use the pronoun “It”) helps them
to gather information related to their study very fast.

• In my opinion, putting a ban on the sales of alcoholic

beverages is necessary. It will significantly reduce
alcohol consumption to a great extent which is good for
the public’s health. Similarly, this also means that their
hard-earned income will not be wasted on such
products.
• 1. Words of similarity: similarly, in the same
way, in similar fashion, likewise, moreover,
furthermore, in addition, etc

• 2. Contrasting words: but, however, yet,

still, nonetheless, nevertheless, in contrast,
on the contrary, on the one hand, on the
other hand, although, though, even though,
even if, whereas, while, etc

• 3. Pronouns: It, its, they, them, their, etc

 Things to note
• Do not write the essay in bullet points

• Do not start your introduction with an opinion (e.g.: In my opinion,…)

• Start your introduction with a general statement and then paraphrase the question

• Only then write your opinion along with two reasons in your introduction itself

• Do not write in Capital letter after comma

(Mistake: Firstly, Education is important …)

(Correct: Firstly, education is important …)

• Never write: ‘you’ ‘your’ ‘our’ in the essay

• In their place, you can write: one should develop

one’s country …../ Or a
person/people/they/their/them should work
hard ….

• Never write: If a student goes abroad, he will get

a lot of opportunities.

• Instead write: If a student ….., he/she will…

• Do not start your body paragraph with: ‘For
example’

• Give example only in the middle or end of the

paragraph in order to prove your point

• Write your example in 1 or 2 sentences only

• Do not give a long example

Do not write a new point in your conclusion

• Only summarise your body paragraphs

• Do not write ‘In conclusion’/ ‘To conclude’, etc in your body
paragraphs

• Write Proper nouns in Capital letter (e.g: Nepal, America,

Kathmandu, New York, David, John, etc)

• Do not write ‘i’ when talking about yourself

• ‘I’ is always capital when talking about yourself/ even in

the middle of a sentence

• Do not write ‘english’/ ‘spanish’/ ‘american’when talking

about a language or people

• Always write ‘English’/ ‘Spanish’/ ‘American’ even in the

middle of sentence
• Introduction length: 3 to 5 lines

• Body paragraph 1 and 2 length: 13-15

lines

Conclusion length: 3 to 5 lines

• Giving opinion: In my opinion,……
: In my view, …..
: I think that …..
: I believe that ……

• 1st Body Paragraph: To begin with, …..

: First of all, ……..
: Firstly, …….

• 2nd Body paragraph: Similarly, ……/ However,

……/ On the other hand, ……..

Conclusion: In conclusion, …./ To conclude, ……/ To sum up, ……

• Emigrate – Leaving one’s country
• Example: Many people had to emigrate from
Europe during the Nazi period

• Immigrate – Coming to a new country

• Example: He immigrated to Brazil in search of a
better life.
• Informal Formal
stuff things, possessions
folks friends, people
kids children, pupils, students
guys youngsters, people
old people senior citizens
cops the police
bad guys offenders, lawbreakers
it is ok/alright to … it is acceptable to …
great, awesome preferable, desirable
rubbish, useless unacceptable
nasty, bad harmful, dangerous
fed up dissatisfied with
buck money
 Helpful synonyms
• People – individuals, locals, natives, etc

• Students – learners, pupils, graduates, undergraduates,

post graduates, etc

• Problem – difficulty, troubles, hurdles, plight, nuisance,

hindrance, worry, setback, challenge, etc

Solution – key to …, answer to …, etc

• These words are frequently misused while talking about people

• Citizen: This refers to people specifically as residents of a place. It does not refer
to people in general.
• Folk: This is actually a good word but it is quite informal and can sound a little
strange out of certain contexts.
• Generation: This refers to a group of people by their approximate age. It does not
refer to individual people.
• Humans: This is quite scientific. If you say “humans”. It can be used correctly, but
be very careful with it.
• Individuals: This refers to people as individuals and is not a replacement for
people. It can occasionally be used as such, but only when stressing their
individuality.
• Population: This is a group of people in a particular place. It refers to them by
where they live and, although it can sometimes be a good synonym, it is easily
misused.
• Public: This can refer to a group of people but it does have a specific meaning and
cannot always replace people.
• Society/ community:

If you are talking generally about people, then just say “people”. You don’t
always need a synonym. Remember that you can also use pronouns and
omission if you want to avoid repetition.
• Correct use of synonyms of people:

• People continue to produce a vast amount of waste, which is badly damaging the
planet.
• Let’s replace “people” with “humans” because we are talking about people as a
species. This means it is ok to use a more scientific term:
• Humans continue to produce a vast amount of waste, which is badly damaging the
planet.
• Here’s another:
• People living in urban areas tend to suffer more from respiratory illnesses.
• For this we could use words like “population” and “citizen” and “resident,” as long
as we change the grammar to fit:
• Residents of urban areas tend to suffer more from respiratory illnesses.
• Urban populations tend to suffer more from respiratory illnesses.
• In big cities, the citizens tend to suffer more from respiratory illnesses.
• (Note that “populations” is used to refer to more than one population. It does not
mean each person individually.)
• It is also fine to use “Individuals” when we are emphasising people as distinct
entities rather than a group:
• In order to prove his theory, the researcher contacted fifteen individuals with the
condition and asked them for permission to look into their medical history.
Here, it is clear that we are not just talking about a faceless mass of people but
rather fifteen specific (but unnamed) individuals.