How to Write IELTS Writing Task 1 (Charts and Letters)

What Task 1 is

The Writing test gives you 60 minutes for two tasks. Task 1 is the shorter one: at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. It is worth half as much as Task 2, so it makes up a third of your Writing score. That is why stopping at 20 minutes matters as much as writing well: five extra minutes on Task 1 come out of Task 2, which is worth twice as much.

Academic and General Training share the same Listening and Speaking tests; Reading and Writing differ. In Writing, the difference is Task 1. Task 2 is an essay in both, and the time and word count are the same.

The General Training letter has its own section further down. For the full comparison of the two tests, see IELTS Academic vs General Training.

How Task 1 is marked

As in Task 2, four criteria count 25% each, but the first one is Task Achievement instead of Task Response. It checks whether you selected the key features, gave an overview and supported them with figures (for a letter: purpose, all three bullet points, tone). The other three (Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy) are the same criteria as in Task 2.

The public band descriptors for Academic Task 1 say, at band 6, "A relevant overview is attempted", and at band 7, "It presents a clear overview, the data are appropriately categorised, and main trends or differences are identified." So without an overview, Task Achievement cannot go above 5. An answer with no figures at all is held at 5 too.

Academic: a report in four parts

The descriptors don't set a number of paragraphs, but these four parts are the easiest way to select, group, give an overview and quote figures in 20 minutes without dropping anything. There is no conclusion: the overview does that job, and an opinion or a cause added at the end is simply information the data doesn't contain.

Introduction: one sentence in your own words

Say what the visual shows: what, where, when and in what unit. Words copied from the question are not marked and do not count towards your 150, so rewrite them, changing the sentence structure rather than swapping single words.

No background and no preview: finish it within a minute. Paraphrasing techniques are covered in how to paraphrase properly (Korean).

Overview: two sentences, no numbers

The overview is the most important paragraph in Task 1. It tells someone who has never seen the chart what it shows, without a single figure. Two or three points are enough:

• the overall direction: did most things rise or fall?
• the two ends of the ranking: the highest and the lowest
• an exception or a reversal: one item moving against the rest, or a change in the ranking

Starting with Overall lets the examiner find it at once. Put it straight after the introduction: when time runs out, the last paragraph is the one that gets cut. How to write a Task 1 overview (Korean) has examples for every chart type.

Task 1 overview Cover the chart and say its two biggest features in two sentences, without a number. Those two sentences are your overview. If they won't come, you are not ready to start writing.

Two body paragraphs: group, select, add figures

The body paragraphs prove the overview with numbers.

1. One group per paragraph. Put together items that moved the same way, belong to the same category, or share a time period.
2. Figures for every feature you mention. Not every value: the start and end, the highs and lows, the size of the biggest change, where the ranking changed, and any item that moved against the others.

The body paragraph I correct most often reads the chart from left to right. Every number is right, yet nothing has been selected. The descriptors call that kind of description "mechanical" and place it at band 5.

Choosing figures Not sure whether a number belongs in a Task 1 body paragraph? Ask which sentence of your overview it proves. If the answer is none, leave it out.

Language for change and comparison

To avoid repeating one verb, alternate verb + adverb with adjective + noun. Rose sharply and a sharp rise mean the same thing in a different shape.

Percent is not percentage points. If a figure goes from 31% to 47%, it rose by 16 percentage points, not by 16%.

Tense

Describe the visual itself in the present (The table compares…); only the facts inside it take the tense of their dates. If one graph covers past years and a projection, switch to will or is expected to where the projection begins.

Task 1 on the computer

Since 22 March 2026, IELTS in Korea has been computer-delivered only, at both IDP and the British Council.

• The chart is on screen; your notes go on paper. The test centre gives you paper and a pen, but only what you type on screen is marked.
• The word count is shown on screen. Just check you are past 150.
• There is no spell check. Check words you often misspell (percentage, government) and any names from the chart yourself at the end.
• Check your figures against the data. Switching between the chart and your text, it is easy to take the 2015 value from the 2010 column.

For the screen layout and a two-week adjustment plan, see the computer-delivered IELTS guide (Korean).

A worked example, start to finish

The question and data below were made up for this guide. They are not real statistics. The countries are deliberately called A, B and C. The numbers are consistent with each other, so you can check every figure in the answer against the table.

The question

The table below shows the percentage of households with
a home internet connection in three countries in 2005,
2010, 2015 and 2020.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the
main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

The data (made up for this example, not real statistics)

The first three minutes: notes

Top: A, every year (62 → 93)
Last → overtakes: C 8 → 74, passes B (70) in 2020
Biggest change: C +66 points
A and B: both +16 in first 5 years, slower after 2010

Overview: all rose, A always top / C from last to past B
Body 1: A and B (ahead early, slowing)
Body 2: C (late start, fast after 2010, overtakes)

The model answer (177 words)

The table compares the proportion of homes that were connected to the internet in three countries at five-year intervals between 2005 and 2020.

Overall, internet access increased in all three countries, and Country A had the highest rate in every year shown. The most striking change was in Country C, which started with by far the lowest figure but had overtaken Country B by the end of the period.

In 2005, 62% of homes in Country A were already online, exactly twice the proportion in Country B (31%). Both figures rose by 16 percentage points over the next five years, but in each case growth slowed after 2010. By 2020, Country A's rate had reached 93%, while Country B's stood at 70%.

Country C followed a very different path. Only 8% of its homes had internet access in 2005, and the figure had reached just 18% by 2010. After that, however, it climbed steeply, to 45% in 2015 and 74% in 2020, which put Country C ahead of Country B and only 19 points behind Country A.

Word count: 177 (introduction 23, overview 46, body 1 53, body 2 55). No opinion, no guessed cause, no conclusion.

Why this overview

It puts the table's three biggest facts (all three countries rose, A stayed on top throughout, C went from last to ahead of B) into two sentences without a number. The first sentence carries the direction and the ranking; the second carries the change in rank. Had overtaken (past perfect) goes with by the end of the period because it means C was already ahead by then.

Why the paragraphs are grouped this way

A and B were both ahead in 2005, both rose by 16 points in the first five years, and both slowed after that. Same shape, so one paragraph. C did the opposite, starting late and speeding up, so it gets a paragraph of its own, and its first sentence (Country C followed a very different path.) tells the reader the group has changed. One paragraph per country would be listing rather than grouping. Grouping by time would also work, as long as each paragraph holds one group.

Figures left out, and figures calculated

None of A's and B's 2010 and 2015 values (78, 88, 47, 60) appear. What matters there is not the values but the pattern (both rose by 16 points in the first five years and then slowed), so one sentence does the work of four numbers. All four of C's values are used, because the table's key feature (a late start, a speed-up, an overtaking) rests on each of them.

16 percentage points and 19 points behind are calculated from the table. Both can be checked straight from it, so they belong in a Task 1 answer; that is different from adding information the data doesn't contain.

General Training: the letter

General Training Task 1 gives you a situation and three bullet points, and you write a letter that covers all three. A typical question looks like this (made up for this guide):

You recently moved into a rented flat, and the heating
has stopped working.

Write a letter to your landlord. In your letter
  - say when you moved in
  - describe the problem with the heating
  - say what you would like the landlord to do

The reader decides the tone

Decide the tone before you write anything. It depends on one thing: your relationship with the reader.

The more formal the letter, the more indirect the request (I would be grateful if you could…), but in every tone say clearly what you want. Korean learners sometimes pile up polite words, as in I would be extremely and deeply grateful if you could kindly…, which reads as awkward in English. Even in a formal letter, one polite phrase per request is enough.

Keep the tone to the end. A letter that opens with Dear Sir or Madam and ends with Thanks a lot! has a tone that slips. In the public descriptors, a consistent and appropriate tone is a band-7 feature, and a letter that leaves out a bullet point or uses the wrong tone cannot go above 4 for Task Achievement.

The order of a letter

Dear ______,

Purpose: 1 or 2 sentences (why you are writing, up front)
I am writing about … / I'm writing to tell you …

Bullet 1: 2 or 3 sentences
Bullet 2: 2 or 3 sentences, one concrete fact (a date, a place, a number)
Bullet 3: 2 or 3 sentences, a clear request

Closing: 1 sentence (hoping to hear back, to meet, etc.)

Yours faithfully, / Yours sincerely, / Best wishes,
Your name

Take the bullet points in the order the question gives them, one paragraph each, and don't write addresses or a date: the question doesn't ask for them. This skeleton is an order of paragraphs, not a set of sentences to memorise. Paragraph plans for each letter type (complaint, request, apology, invitation) are in the General Training letter guide (Korean).

The 20-minute plan

You can do the two tasks in either order. I recommend Task 2 first, so the task worth twice as much is done while your head is clearest. The full 60-minute plan is in Writing timing and word count (Korean).

Six mistakes that cost marks

An opening like The given graph elucidates… fits any chart, so it reads as memorised; start with a plain verb and this chart's content instead (The table compares…). The reason is in why memorised sentences lose marks (Korean).

150 words is the minimum printed in the instructions. A shorter answer leaves too little evidence for the higher bands, and in practice it usually lacks the overview or the supporting figures, which costs Task Achievement. Going far past 200 words costs you something else: time from Task 2.

What to remember

• Task 1 is about 20 minutes and at least 150 words. It is worth half of Task 2, so stop at 20 minutes.
• Academic: a one-sentence introduction, an overview with no numbers, two body paragraphs with one group each. No conclusion, no opinion.
• Without an overview, Task Achievement cannot go above 5. Write it even when time is short.
• Select your figures: the start and end, the high and low, the biggest change, where the ranking changed.
• With no spell check, use the last three minutes to check your figures and spelling against the chart.
• General Training: let the reader decide the tone, and give each of the three bullet points its own paragraph.

What to read next

1. How to write a Task 1 overview (Korean): practise the most important paragraph on every chart type.
2. Task 1 chart types (Korean): the figures and phrases each chart type needs, including maps and processes.
3. The General Training letter (Korean): the next stop for General Training candidates.
4. Writing timing and word count (Korean): how Task 1's 20 minutes fit with Task 2's 40.
5. The four Writing criteria (Korean): what each criterion looks at.
6. Punctuation, capitals and spelling (Korean): the marks that leak quietly on a screen with no spell check.