The Task One Answer Sheet is designed as shown.

!Space for
Personal Details!

(Space for Admin. Details]

Exercise 1
What is the minimum number of words for Task One?
How many words per line do you write?
Thus, at least how many lines should you write for Task One?

Now think about the following.

1. A good piece of writing must be paragraphed.
2. An IELTS writing task will have several paragraphs, perhaps about four paragraphs for
Task One. The modern way of paragraphing is to leave a line between paragraphs (since
it looks clearer).
3. A good answer will be a little longer than the minimum word length .

S Thus:
:.::
.....

Add 5 more lines to the number of lines for Task One to allow for the paragraph breaks

......

and extra length.

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Now, count this total number of lines on the writing answer sheet in the previous diagram.

Mark the point on the second page at which you end.

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Task One requires a minimum of 150 words. When using wider margins (which is recommended
to make the writing look clearer), most people write about 10 words per line, making 15 lines.
Adding 5 lines for paragraph breaks and extra length gives about 20 lines for Task One. Counting
these through the writing answer sheet gives the result as shown.

!Space for
Personal Details!
I

Usi ng
wider

Well over the Task One length requirement

Easily enough, for Task One, the top of the second page shows that you should be well above
the word limit. In the IELTS test, you do not need to count words (since this wastes time), but
you should write your Task One answer to at least reach this point on the second page . We
can combine the equivalent tip for Writing Task Two [Book 4, Tip 1] to create the following
recommended procedure for the whole IELTS Writing Test.
Start Test
Note

1. Begin your first task [Task One or Task

Two].
2. Finish Task One past the top part of the
second page (by 20 minutes) and Task

If you still have some time, you need to make a judgement about whether your answer should be improved
or not by extra writing since this may take away the
chance to sufficiently complete the other writing task.

Two past the middle part of the second

page (by 40 minutes) [See Book 4] .see note

For Task One, if your extra writing consists only of fluff

on right-hand side

[See Tip 6] or a repetitive 'conclusion' [See Tip 5] or a

3. Go to the other task; begin writing.

badly written final thought [See Tip 18], then your

4. Finish this task at the recommended point.

answer is not improved at all, and you should finish the

See note on right-hand side

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sentence and move to the other task. However, if your

extra writing consists of further summarising or we/15. Divide the time left into two halves.

written final thoughts, then the answer is improved.

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6. Check/correct/add to/improve the task you

Nevertheless, if you have reached the Task One 20-

have just finished (with one half of the

minute, or Task Two 40-minute , time limit, and have

time left).

written to the recommended point, you should not try

7. Check/correct/add to/improve the other

task (with the remaining time).

End Test

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any long writing additions until the other task is dealt

with.

There are three ways to think about this. I will call them Arguments 1, 2, and 3.

Argument 1: Do Task One First

This argument says that Task One is shorter, requires less words, and so you will finish it quicker.
This gives you a good feeling, which will help you in the second task, Task Two. You should do
Task One first because it was made Task One for this reason. One comes before Two; the 'easier'
task comes before the 'difficult' one.
This argument - Argument One - sounds simple enough, but too simple, since it is affected by
1. the next argument, Argument 2;
2. the fact that Task One is not always easy or straightforward for all students.

Argument 2: Do Task Two First

Task Two requires twice the time as Task One. In the one-hour test, you are recommended to
spend 1/3 of the hour (20 minutes) on Task One and 2/3 of the hour (40 minutes) on Task Two.
Mathematically, then, if you receive Band Score 5 on Task One and 6 on Task Two, your score is
likely to be:
(1/3 of 5) + (2/3 of 6)

1.67 + 4 = 5.67

This would certainly be put down to 5.5 since you cannot receive quarter scores.
However, if you achieve Band Score 5.5 on Task One and 6 on Task Two, the maths gives an
overall score of 6. So, if the difference between your Task One and Task Two scores is half a
band score, it is your Task Two score which will determine your overall score.

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Also, many students are slow writers and go overtime, leaving less time to complete their second
writing task. On which task would you prefer to have less time: the one that has more weight
(Task Two), or the one that has less weight (Task One)? Obviously, if you had to write a hurried
answer, under time pressure, you should do that in Task One, since it has less weight.

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This argument, Argument Two, recommends that you do Task Two first. This is a good argument,
but it is affected by the fact that the maths that we did only works if
1. the difference between your Task One and Task Two scores is half a band score;
2. you are good enough at Task Two to score a reasonable score. As we found out, if the
difference between scores is one full band score, then it makes no difference which task
you do first.

Argument 3: Do the Easier Task First

If we do the easier task first, we
1. make efficient use of the time by completing the writing task quicker;
2. gain a good feeling , which will help us with the next writing task.

So, this argument, Argument 3, suggests that if you feel more able to do Task One, do Task One
first. Similarly, if you feel more able to do Task Two, do Task Two first.
This is a strong argument, but it is affected by
1. Argument Two;
2. the difficulty in knowing which task you are naturally better at. Remember also, this may
depend on the exact tasks on the day you do the IELTS test, meaning you need to spend
some time examining them both , since their content and nature may affect your decision
about which one is likely to be easier for you.

Conclusion
I The conclusion is that it is your decision. Practise some systems, and see what works for you.

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Of course we should study the task carefully, but also, in the case of graphs, bar charts, and
tables of figures, we should immediately read the axes. Axes, pronounced 'aksees', is the plural
for axis and refers to the Y (up/down) and X (left/right) sides of the task. Keep in mind that there
is another word 'axes', pronounced 'aksez', which is the plural of the wood-cutting tool 'axe',
pronounced 'aks'. Perhaps you should check them both in a dictionary right now.
By reading the axes, we will know exactly what we are dealing with, and this is necessary to
a good understanding and a good answer. As simple as this tip sounds, students often make
mistakes.

Exercise 2
Look at the following Task One items, and decide what is wrong about the sample introductions.
A. Bankrupt Businesses
(thousands)

B. Population of
Murrabit (thousands)

20

10

60

C. New Houses
(thousands)

30
90

95

05

85

90

95

00

00

05

D. Visitors to Byron Bay in One Day

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Graph A

The graph shows how the bankrupt businesses change from 1990 to 2005.
Graph B

Here is a summary of how the people of Murrabit varied in the period 1985 to 2000.
Graph C

The graph compares the growth in new houses in the time 2000 to 2005.
Table D

The variation in the tourists in Byron Bay can be summarised as follows.

The problem with all these introductions is that they do not exactly describe the axes. Graph
A does not show how the bankrupt businesses change; it actually shows how the number of
these businesses changes (or the degree of bankruptcy/business failure)*. Similarly, Graph B
does not show how the people varied; it shows how the population, or the number of people,
varied (or the fluctuation in the demographic size)*. Graph C gives information on the number
of new houses (or the degree of/variation in residential construction)*, while Table D makes a
comparison of the numbers of tourists by age who visit specific destinations (or rates of customer
patronage)*.
Students of English often write misleading (and sometimes funny) sentences such as, 'The
tourists had sharp fluctuations', or 'The largest people complained', or 'The houses fell down', or
'The bankrupt businesses grew strongly'. These students did not read the X and Y axes properly.
Read these axes and study the task carefully.
*As Tip 10 and 11 will explain, we can begin increasing our variety of words from the beginning.

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Let us begin with a sample Task One question - a line graph, as shown.
Profit ($000s)
100

--- --- ---

---

_- - - Dandenong
------ ---

----- --- -

Gee long

- - Noble Park
Quarters

Exercise 3
Part One
The following short description is grammatically correct, and in some ways, it is well-written,
but in many other ways it is not.
1. What is the major problem with this description (as shown in italics)?
2. How can you fix it?

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Tip 4 is that we should write formally, since IELTS writing is formal. This means:
1. We should write in paragraphs. It is better to use the modern style of paragraphing, leaving a line between each one so that it looks clearly paragraphed.
2. We should try not to use
informal words, such as 'a lot' and 'okay';
general, common , or less defined words, such as 'thing' or 'stuff';
informal grammar, such as first-person plural pronouns ['we' and 'us'], the secondperson pronoun ['you'], 'have got', 'pretty much' as an intensifier, and 'like' as a
preposition;
spoken English phrases, such as 'anyhow' and 'take a look at';
multiple-word verbs, such as 'goes up' and 'ends up'. These verbs can usually be
replaced with a more formal single word.

How do I know all this? Well, the word 'appropriate' is used several times in the public version
of the IELTS band descriptors, as well as the words 'style', 'flexibility', and 'collocation' [=
putting words together well]. But mostly, formal words and grammar result in a greater range
of words and grammar. The Vocabulary-Range descriptors (shown just before Tip 10), and the
Grammatical Range descriptors (shown at the start of Tip 12) tell us how important this is.

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It is also better not to use contractions; that is, do not join two words into one word with an
apostrophe - for example, 'does' and 'not' into 'doesn't'. This is because contractions are not
always considered formal, and also because they are only counted as one word, whereas the full
form is obviously two words, helping us to reach the writing length requirement in a quicker
time.

Part Two
Complete the following table, changing the inappropriate informal English (in italics) into formal
English more suitable to IELTS writing. Then look at Appendix 2.
Informal English

1.

Noble Park footy club

2.

has got a big decline,

3.

esp. at the end,

4.

just like Geelong in the third quarter.

5.

You can see that it sinks like a rock

6.

to about 9,

7.

whi le Geelong is about 58 -

8.

49 units higher than Noble Park,

9.

but about 41 units lower than Dandenong .

10.

But take a look at Dandenong.

11 .

It's pretty much different al/ over.

12.

It's wonderful, actually, that's for sure ,

13.

obviously going up lots.

14.

And it increases more and more

15.

, and in the end it tops them all.

Appropriate Formal English

Now, let us move back to the short answer that we gave in Exercise 3, Part One. Remember, we
had to make the words and phrasing more formal. It should be easier for you now. Try again, and
put in logical paragraphing, and then look at the sample answer at the beginning of the next tip,
with all the changes shown in italics.

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