IELTS writing task 1 in the IELTS Academic exam is a bit tricky since here you are required to first analyse the figures and then put only the important highlights into writing. If you have been scoring less than 6 Band in IELTS writing task 1, you need to seriously work on a number of flaws in order to achieve at least Band 7. So, let us find out what you have to do in order to improve your IELTS writing task 1 score in the Academic module.

1. Analyse Before Writing

The major mistake that candidates appearing in IELTS exam do is that they do not analyse the question and immediately start writing. In this way, you would be missing out some important key features which are extremely important to get minimum 7 Band in IELTS writing task 1. For example, in order to describe a bar chart, you should first read the question properly to know the main information given in the chart because this would be helpful for you to write introduction. Then, check x-axis and y-axis to look for units which you need to mention along with figures and also, know the differences for writing mathematically.

For instance, a graph with x-axis as 2010, 2012 and 2014 is having difference of 2 years. So, you may use the terms, “after 2 years” while describing the trend.

2. Mention only Important Feature

Some students have misconception about describing the things in IELTS writing task 1. In order to write the minimum number of words, they tend to describe the diagram the way it is, without analysing it and drawing out important insights.

For example,

Percentage of children interested in Science subject is 50 in the year 1990 which increased to 60 in 2000 and then again there was increase in the percentage to 70 in 2010. After wards, it would be raised to 80% in the year 2020.

Rather than writing all the details as above, first the trend should be analysed to be described as below:

It can be observed from the graph that interest of children towards Science subject is increasing consistently (50% in 1990 to 80% in 2020) by 10%.

3. Paraphrase, Compare and Contrast

One of the important skills required in IELTS writing task 1 response is to paraphrase the information given in the question. You can use synonyms, change the word order or convert active to passive statements, but make sure that you do not copy the question as such. Secondly, make comparison to look for similarities in the trend in bar chart or line graph and mention that as key feature. Then, keep an eye on the differences in the graph as well that will be really important highlight to be included in your IELTS writing task 1 response.

For example,

Consumption of food is gradually increasing in country A while in Country B, it is declining.

4. Reviewing At the End Proofreading your work is extremely essential because with this, you can yourself find a lot of mistakes in your writing. This review is really going to make a drastic difference in your band score performance. When we write, we do make mistakes related to grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, tense, spelling mistakes and others which can only be corrected if you give a second look on it. Hence, you should save 1-2 minutes at the end to review your IELTS writing task 1 response, for sure.