Task 1 · by section

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

This is the language for one job: it states the two or three biggest things the visual shows, without a single figure. The second paragraph of every Task 1 response, and the one the assessment weighs most heavily. It is also the one most often missing, because it feels like repetition when you are about to describe everything in detail anyway.

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

20 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 overview really asks you to write

The overview names the two or three most important things the visual shows, in general terms and without quoting any figure.

Why no figures, and why that feels wrong

The instinct is to prove the summary with a number, and it is exactly the wrong instinct. The overview exists to show that you can look at a visual and say what it means — that you can see the shape of the data rather than only the values in it. A figure in the overview pulls the sentence down into detail, which is Body 1’s job, and it usually crowds out the second big feature you were about to name.

The practical consequence is that the overview needs its own vocabulary, and it is vocabulary of comparison and shape rather than of quantity: which one dominates, what stayed still, what moved together, what moved in opposite directions. If you find yourself unable to write the sentence without a number, that is usually a sign that you have not yet decided what the visual is about.

Shape, not values

“Rose throughout”, “moved in opposite directions”, “remained stable”. None of these needs a figure to be true.

Two or three features

One is not an overview; five is Body 1. Two clear ones beat four vague ones.

Signal it explicitly

“Overall” or “In general” at the start. Examiners look for the overview, and a signposted one is easier to find.

No prediction, no cause

The visual stops where it stops. Why something happened is never on it.

What counts as a “biggest feature”

Three things almost always qualify, and one of them is in nearly every visual. The first is dominance: which category is largest, or which line sits above the others throughout. The second is direction: what the overall movement was, if the visual has a time axis. The third is contrast: two things that behaved differently, which is the feature examiners find most convincing because it cannot be read off a single point.

What does not qualify is anything you would need to squint at. If a feature requires you to compare two nearly identical bars, it belongs in the body paragraphs where you can quote the figures that make the difference visible.

What it costs you to skip this

A missing overview is the most expensive single omission in Task 1, because it is assessed directly and no amount of accurate detail replaces it. A weak one — a single feature, or one buried in figures — costs less but costs consistently, since it is the paragraph an examiner reads to decide whether you understood the visual at all.

Where it stops applying

The overview does not explain and it does not predict. A map of a village that gained a supermarket does not tell you the village grew richer; a graph that ends in 2020 says nothing about 2025. And it does not judge: “a worrying rise” is a claim about the world, not about the chart.

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

Overall, the numbers went up a lot in some countries and stayed the same in others.

Task 1 overview

Precise

Overall, consumption rose steadily in the three European countries, whereas it remained broadly stable elsewhere.

“Went up a lot” reports a direction and a size in conversational English; “rose steadily” reports the direction and the manner in two words. And “whereas” states the contrast the vague version left the reader to assemble — which is the feature that makes an overview worth reading.

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

20 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.

Opening the overview

Signal it. An unsignposted overview is one an examiner may not find.

Overall,

Safe to use

Opens the sentence with a comma. The clearest signal available, and it costs one word.

In general,

Safe to use

Same position, same comma. Slightly softer than “overall”.

Broadly speaking,

Safe to use

Opens the sentence. Useful when the pattern has exceptions you are about to ignore.

It is clear that

Watch the pattern

Takes a clause. Fine once; it asserts rather than summarises, so it cannot open every overview you ever write.

As can be seen,

Costs you marks

Empty: everything in a visual can be seen. It uses four words to say nothing.

Naming what stands out

Dominance is the feature almost every visual has.

the most striking feature

Safe to use

Takes “is that” plus a clause: “the most striking feature is that…”. The standard opener for the biggest point.

by far the largest

Safe to use

Goes before the noun: “by far the largest share”. “By far” does the work of a figure without quoting one.

dominate

Safe to use

Takes an object directly: “coal dominated the energy mix”. Strong, and only true when one item really is well ahead.

account for the majority of

Watch the pattern

Means more than half. Do not use it for the biggest slice when that slice is under 50%.

negligible

Watch the pattern

Before a noun: “a negligible proportion”. It claims the amount is too small to matter, which is a real claim.

Reporting stability

What did not change is a feature, and it is the one most often left out.

remained stable

Safe to use

No preposition: “remained stable throughout”. “Stayed stable” is fine but flatter.

showed little change

Safe to use

Takes no object. Useful when there is movement but not enough to call a trend.

held steady at

Watch the pattern

Takes “at” plus a figure — so it belongs in the body, not in a figure-free overview.

fluctuated

Safe to use

Takes no object: “fluctuated throughout the period”. It means up and down with no net direction, which is not the same as stable.

plateaued

Watch the pattern

Means it rose and then flattened. Wrong for something that was flat from the start.

Reporting shape and contrast

Contrast is the feature that is hardest to fake and best rewarded.

an upward / downward trend

Safe to use

Takes “show” or “follow”: “showed an upward trend”. A trend is the whole shape, not one movement.

followed a similar pattern

Safe to use

Takes “to” for the comparison: “followed a similar pattern to that of…”. Note “that of”, not “that from”.

moved in opposite directions

Safe to use

Takes no object. The single most useful overview phrase, because it reports two things at once.

whereas / while

Safe to use

Joins two clauses with a comma before it. The connector that turns two facts into one contrast.

the gap widened / narrowed

Safe to use

Takes “between”: “the gap between the two widened”. Reports a relationship changing, which no single figure can.

Watch two · then the mistakes

The words doing their job in a real sentence

Worked example · Overall · rose · the gap … narrowed

Overall, car ownership rose in every country surveyed, although the gap between the highest and lowest narrowed considerably.

Why it works: Two features in one sentence: a shared direction and a changing relationship. Neither needs a figure, and the second could not be read off any single point on the chart.

Worked example · dominated · whereas

Overall, coal dominated the energy mix at the start of the period, whereas renewables had become the largest single source by its end.

Why it works: “Dominated” reports size without quoting it, and “whereas” carries the reversal. This is the shape of the data, which is exactly what an overview is for.

Overall, the figure for Japan was 54% in 2020, which was the highest.

A figure in the overview. It pulls the paragraph down into the detail that belongs in Body 1, and it uses the space where the second feature should have been.

Repaired: Overall, Japan recorded by far the highest figure throughout the period.

Overall, the trend will continue to rise in the coming years.

The visual stops where it stops. A prediction is a claim about data that is not on the paper.

Repaired: Overall, the trend was upward throughout the period shown.

Now you try · with the scaffolding on

Build it one step at a time

Write the overview: two features, no figures.

The material

A line graph shows internet use in three countries from 2000 to 2020. All three rise. Country A starts lowest and finishes highest; Country C rises slowly and finishes lowest.

Step 1Name the feature all three share

One thing is true of every line. Write it as a full clause, with no numbers.

Your version0 words · minimum 6

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

Step 2Name the feature that separates them

Step 3Join them into one overview

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.

Overall, production remained ______ throughout the period, with no month varying by more than 2%.

Choose an option first

The two lines ______, with imports rising as exports fell.

Choose an option first

The most striking feature ______ renewables overtook coal in the final year.

Choose an option first

The rest of the vocabulary

Where else these words are needed

Task 1 introduction

It restates what the visual shows, without reusing the words printed above it.

21 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