Task 1 · by section

Task 1 introduction — the words this part of the exam actually needs

This is the language for one job: it restates what the visual shows, without reusing the words printed above it. The first sentence of every Task 1 response. It is also the sentence most likely to be copied straight from the paper, which is why it needs its own vocabulary: the label above the chart is not yours, and words taken from it are not counted as your language.

The long versionwhat it is, what it costs, where it stops

21 entriesin 4 groups, each with its pattern

Guided practice3 steps, you write, then you compare

3 exercisesevery wrong option explains itself

Start here · the long version

What task 1 introduction really asks you to write

The opening sentence of a Task 1 response says what the visual is, what it shows, and over what period — in words that are not the ones printed above it.

Why this one sentence has its own vocabulary

Every Task 1 paper hands you a title, and every title is a trap. It is right there, it is accurate, and copying it produces a first sentence that took no effort and earns no credit: words lifted from the question paper are not counted as your language. A response can therefore open with a perfectly true sentence that contributes nothing at all to the assessment.

What makes this fixable is that the sentence only ever does three jobs. It names the visual, it says what the visual does with its data, and it frames the period or the categories. Three jobs means three small sets of words, and those sets are almost entirely predictable — which is why this is the cheapest vocabulary in the whole exam to learn and the most reliably rewarded.

The one thing that must not move is the data itself. Figures, units, years and place names are copied deliberately and correctly. Paraphrasing “54%” is not vocabulary work; it is inventing data.

Name the visual

“line graph”, “bar chart”, “table”, “process diagram”. Use the right one — a bar chart is not a graph in an examiner’s reading.

Say what it does

“illustrates”, “compares”, “gives information about”. This is where the title’s verb gets replaced.

Frame the period

“between 1990 and 2020”, “over a twenty-year period”. Years stay; the framing around them changes.

Never paraphrase data

Figures, units and proper nouns are copied exactly. Rewriting them invents numbers the chart does not contain.

What a good opening is not

It is not an overview. The introduction says what the visual is; the overview says what it shows. Merging them costs you the overview, which is the single most heavily weighted feature of a Task 1 response, and it is a mistake that looks like efficiency while you are making it.

It is also not a place for judgement. “The graph shows a worrying rise in obesity” has added a word the chart cannot support. Task 1 reports; it does not evaluate.

What it costs you to skip this

A copied first sentence is a sentence the examiner cannot count towards your Lexical Resource, and it is the first thing they read. It also sets the tone for the response: a paper that opens by repeating the title tends to keep repeating it, and the word-count target then gets met with the paper’s own words rather than yours.

Where it stops applying

Do not paraphrase what is data. Years, figures, units, currencies and proper nouns stay exactly as printed — a “paraphrase” that turns 2015 into “the mid-2010s” or £ into dollars has changed the chart. And do not stretch this into two or three sentences: the introduction is one sentence, and the space belongs to the overview.

Examples · why precise words score better

The same sentence, twice

Lexical Resource is not a count of long words: it assesses range, precision and control. The fastest way to see that is to watch one sentence become precise. Nothing was added below except accuracy.

Vague

The graph shows the number of people who visited the museum from 2010 to 2020.

Task 1 introduction

Precise

The line graph illustrates museum attendance over a ten-year period, from 2010 to 2020.

“The graph shows” is the title’s own verb and the vaguest available noun. Naming it a line graph, replacing “shows” with “illustrates” and compressing “the number of people who visited” into “attendance” moves every word that could move — and both years stay exactly where they were.

What the precise version earns
precision · range · collocation. No page here promises anyone a score: these are the things the criterion looks at, and they are the things you can control.

The bank · grouped by the job each word does

21 entries, and the pattern each one demands

Knowing a word and not its pattern is what produces a sentence that reads like a translation. The preposition, the verb form and the article are the part that carries the marks.

What the visual does

These replace the verb in the printed title, which is almost always “shows”.

illustrate

Safe to use

Takes a noun or a “wh-” clause: “illustrates how the process works”. The most reliable replacement for “show”.

depict

Safe to use

Takes a noun: “depicts the layout of the site”. Slightly more common with maps and diagrams than with figures.

compare

Safe to use

Takes two things: “compares rainfall in four cities”. Only use it when the visual really does set things side by side.

give information about

Safe to use

Takes a noun. Longer than the others and useful when the visual does several things at once.

present / set out

Watch the pattern

Neutral and slightly formal: “presents data on”. “Set out” suits tables and processes better than graphs.

demonstrate

Costs you marks

It claims the visual proves something. Charts display data; they do not demonstrate conclusions.

Naming the visual

Getting this wrong is noticed immediately, and it costs nothing to get right.

line graph

Safe to use

For data plotted over time. Not “line chart” in IELTS convention, and never just “graph” if you can be specific.

bar chart

Safe to use

For quantities compared across categories. “Bar graph” is accepted; “bar chart” is the safer choice.

pie chart

Safe to use

For proportions of a single whole. If there are two pies, they are “the pie charts”.

table

Safe to use

Takes no other word: “the table”, not “the table chart”.

process diagram / flow chart

Safe to use

For a sequence of stages. “Diagram” alone is fine when the paper uses it.

the maps

Watch the pattern

Almost always plural in Task 1, because you are given a before and an after. Writing “the map” usually means you have only described one.

Framing the period

The years themselves never change. What surrounds them does.

between X and Y

Safe to use

Takes two points: “between 1990 and 2020”. Never “between 1990 to 2020”.

from X to Y

Safe to use

The alternative to “between … and”. Do not mix the two halves of the pair.

over a X-year period

Safe to use

Hyphenated, and the noun stays singular: “a ten-year period”, never “a ten-years period”.

over the course of

Safe to use

Takes a noun phrase: “over the course of two decades”. Slightly more formal than “over”.

in a single year

Watch the pattern

Only when the visual has no time axis at all. A chart with one year is not a trend and must not be described as one.

Units and measures

These are copied from the paper, not paraphrased — but they must appear.

measured in / expressed in

Safe to use

Takes the unit: “measured in millions of tonnes”. Naming the unit once in the introduction saves repeating it later.

as a percentage of

Safe to use

Takes the whole: “as a percentage of total energy use”. The “of” phrase is what makes the figure mean anything.

per capita / per household

Watch the pattern

Only if the paper says so. Adding “per capita” to a raw total changes what the chart reports.

figures / data

Safe to use

“Data” takes a singular verb in this register: “the data shows”. “Figures” is plural and often the safer choice.

Watch two · then the mistakes

The words doing their job in a real sentence

Worked example · illustrates · line graph · between … and

The line graph illustrates museum attendance in four European capitals between 2010 and 2020.

Why it works: Three jobs in one sentence: the visual named, its verb replaced, and the period framed. Both years survive untouched, because they are data.

Worked example · the two maps · depict · before and after

The two maps depict the layout of Hartley village before and after its redevelopment.

Why it works: Note the plural and the framing: when no years are given, “before and after” is the only period the visual supports, and inventing dates would be inventing data.

The graph shows the number of visitors to the museum from 2010 to 2020.

This is the title with the word order changed. “Graph” and “shows” are both the paper’s, and nothing here is counted as your language.

Repaired: The line graph illustrates museum attendance over a ten-year period from 2010 to 2020.

The chart illustrates a worrying increase in obesity between 2000 and 2020.

“Worrying” is a judgement, and a chart cannot support one. Task 1 reports what is drawn and stops there.

Repaired: The chart illustrates the change in obesity rates between 2000 and 2020.

Now you try · with the scaffolding on

Build it one step at a time

Write the opening sentence. Three decisions, one at a time — and the figures and country count do not move.

The material

The paper says: “Bar chart: Percentage of households owning a car in five countries, 1990 and 2020.”

Step 1Name the visual and choose its verb

The paper calls it a bar chart. Choose a verb that is not “shows”, and check what that verb takes after it.

Your version0 words · minimum 4

4 more words before you can compare. Writing it yourself first is the whole exercise.

Step 2Rewrite the subject without the paper’s words

Step 3Write the whole sentence, with the years

Exercises · production

Choose the word that does the job and takes the right pattern

Every wrong option is wrong for its own reason, and it says so. Nothing here is scored automatically.

The line graph ______ the number of international students at three universities.

Choose an option first

The figures were recorded ______ 1995 and 2015.

Choose an option first

Energy consumption in the report is measured ______ millions of tonnes of oil equivalent.

Choose an option first

The rest of the vocabulary

Where else these words are needed

Task 1 overview

It states the two or three biggest things the visual shows, without a single figure.

20 entries · 3 exercises Trends over time

It reports change over time: the direction, how big it was, and how fast it happened.

31 entries · 3 exercises Comparisons

It states how two or more things differ, and by how much.

22 entries · 3 exercises Processes

It reports a sequence of stages in order, with the doer left out because nobody is named.

22 entries · 3 exercises Maps

It reports what changed in a place, and exactly where.

22 entries · 3 exercises Task 2 introduction

It restates the prompt in your own words and says, without hedging into invisibility, where you stand.

19 entries · 3 exercises Body paragraphs

It opens a paragraph with one claim, develops it into a chain, and supports it without inventing sources.

21 entries · 3 exercises Task 2 conclusion

It restates the position in different words and closes without introducing anything new.

19 entries · 3 exercises Final revision

It names what to hunt for in the last five minutes, and what to put in its place.

20 entries · 3 exercises