IELTS Writing Task One: Writing an Overview

IELTS Writing Task One: Writing an Overview

The OVERVIEW should be your second paragraph and you should do the following:

• Always try to write two sentences. This forces you to describe two main or general features of the graph, chart or diagram.

Multiple Choice

How many sentences should your overview have?

• One

• Two

• Three

• Four

The OVERVIEW should be your second paragraph and you should do the following:

• Don't put any numbers in your overview. Save specific numbers for the 'details' paragraphs.

Multiple Select

You should include numbers in your overview?

• True

• False

The OVERVIEW should be your second paragraph and you should do the following:

• If the graph or chart shows a time period (e.g. years), look for the overall change from the beginning to the end of the period (e.g. from the first year to the last year).

The OVERVIEW should be your second paragraph and you should do the following:

• Look for overall trends, and ignore individual figures that don't fit the trend. For example, if a graph shows a rising trend overall, you can ignore a specific year when the figures decreased - save that year for your 'details' paragraphs.

Multiple Select

I should look for OVERALL trends?

• False

• True

The OVERVIEW should be your second paragraph and you should do the following:

• If no time period is shown, you can't look for trends. Instead, look for differences and similarities between items.

The OVERVIEW should be your second paragraph and you should do the following:

• Start your overview with a simple phrase that clearly shows the examiner that this is your summary paragraph e.g. Overall we can see that...

Open Ended

What word IS THE BEST WORD you should start an overview with?

The OVERVIEW should be your second paragraph and you should do the following:

• If there are two different charts, write one overview sentence about each chart.

• If there are more than two charts, they must be connected in some way, so look for two main features overall.

The OVERVIEW should be your second paragraph and you should do the following:

• If the task is to describe a diagram or map that compares things, you can mention the main differences and maybe the number of differences and / or similarities between the two diagrams.

The OVERVIEW should be your second paragraph and you should do the following:

• If the task is to describe a process diagram, you can mention the total number of stages in the process and say where or how the process begins and ends.

Open Ended

What should your overview DO and NOT DO?