Task 1 · by section

Processes — the words this part of the exam actually needs

This is the language for one job: it reports a sequence of stages in order, with the doer left out because nobody is named. Any process diagram or flow chart, and the manufacturing and natural cycles that appear most often. It is the one Task 1 visual with no figures at all, which changes what the vocabulary has to do: there is nothing to quantify, so everything rests on sequence and on the passive.

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

22 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 processes really asks you to write

Process language reports what happens at each stage, in the order it happens, using the passive because the diagram shows actions without showing who performs them.

Why the passive, and why it is not optional here

A process diagram shows things being done and almost never shows who does them. Clay is extracted, mixed and fired; nobody in the diagram is doing the extracting. That is the exact situation the passive exists for: it lets a sentence report an action whose agent is unknown, irrelevant or obvious. Writing “workers extract the clay” invents a doer the diagram does not contain, and writing “the clay extracts” is not English at all.

This makes the process the one Task 1 visual where the passive is the default rather than a choice. It also means the grammar has to be reliable across many sentences in a row: the right form of “be”, the past participle, and the preposition the verb carries with it. “Is transferred to”, “are removed from”, “is passed through” — the preposition is part of the verb and survives into the passive.

The second half of the vocabulary is sequence. With no figures to anchor a paragraph, the only structure available is order, and a reader who loses the order has lost the whole description. Signalling it explicitly at each transition is not padding here; it is the organisation the criterion is looking for.

The passive

“is heated”, “are collected”, “is then transferred to”. The default voice, because the diagram names no agent.

Sequence markers

“initially”, “subsequently”, “once this is complete”. The only structure a process paragraph has.

Present simple

A process is a general truth, so it stays in the present: “is heated”, not “was heated”.

The parts

“stage”, “phase”, “by-product”, “raw material”. Naming them lets you refer back without repeating a whole clause.

Linear or cyclical, and why it matters from the first sentence

Processes come in two shapes and the difference decides your opening and your closing sentence. A linear process starts with a raw material and ends with a product; a cyclical one returns to its starting point, and saying so is one of the features an overview is expected to name. Describing a cycle as though it ended is a misreport of the diagram, and it is the single most common structural error on this visual.

The vocabulary for each is small and specific. Linear: “the process begins with”, “the final stage”, “the finished product”. Cyclical: “the cycle repeats”, “returns to”, “the process then begins again”.

What it costs you to skip this

Without the passive, a process description either invents people who are not in the diagram or produces sentences that are not English. Without sequence markers it becomes a list of facts in no stated order, which is a Coherence problem rather than a lexical one — and a reader who cannot follow the order cannot check whether the description is accurate at all.

Where it stops applying

A process has no quantities, so trend and comparison vocabulary has nothing to attach to: there is no “rose sharply” in a diagram with no axis. It also has no causes beyond the ones drawn — the diagram shows that heating follows mixing, not that heating is caused by mixing. And do not add stages the diagram does not show, however obvious they seem: an implied step is an invented one.

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

First they take the clay out of the ground, then they mix it with water and after that it goes in the oven.

Processes

Precise

Initially, clay is extracted from the ground and mixed with water, before being fired in a kiln.

The vague version invents a “they” the diagram never shows, and strings three stages together with “then” and “after that”. The precise one uses the passive throughout, names the equipment correctly, and compresses three stages into one sentence with a single sequence marker.

What the precise version earns
precision · register · 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

22 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.

Sequencing the stages

With no figures anywhere, order is the only structure a process paragraph has.

initially / to begin with

Safe to use

Opens the sentence with a comma. Use one of them once, at the actual start.

subsequently

Safe to use

Opens the sentence with a comma, or sits before the verb. More formal than “then” and worth the extra syllables.

once this is complete,

Safe to use

A whole clause plus a comma. Useful when one stage genuinely has to finish before the next starts.

at this stage

Safe to use

Opens the sentence with a comma. Refers back without repeating the previous clause.

simultaneously

Watch the pattern

Only when the diagram shows two things happening at once. It is a claim about the diagram, not a connector.

after that / and then

Costs you marks

Not wrong, and it is the phrase a description falls back on four times in a row. Each use is a place where a precise marker was available.

The passive of process

The default voice here, because the diagram shows actions without agents.

is / are extracted from

Safe to use

The preposition belongs to the verb and survives the passive: “extracted from the ground”.

is transferred to

Safe to use

Takes “to” plus the destination. “Transferred into” changes the meaning to entering a container.

is passed through

Safe to use

Takes “through” plus the thing it goes through: a filter, a screen, a chamber.

is separated into

Safe to use

Takes “into” plus the resulting parts: “separated into three grades”.

is left to + verb

Watch the pattern

Takes a bare infinitive: “is left to dry”, never “left to drying”. Common in drying and cooling stages.

they put / workers take

Costs you marks

Invents an agent the diagram does not show. If nobody is drawn, nobody goes in the sentence.

Naming the parts

Lets you refer back to a stage without repeating the whole clause.

stage / phase

Safe to use

Countable: “the third stage”, “an initial phase”. “Stage” is the safer default in Task 1.

raw material

Safe to use

Usually plural: “the raw materials”. Names what enters the process before anything is done to it.

by-product

Watch the pattern

Hyphenated, and it means something produced alongside the main output. Not a synonym for waste.

the finished product

Safe to use

Takes “the”. Names the output of a linear process, which is where the description ends.

component

Safe to use

Countable. For a part that is combined with others rather than transformed.

Opening, closing and looping

Linear or cyclical is a decision you make in the first sentence and honour in the last.

the process begins with

Safe to use

Takes “with” plus a noun: “begins with the extraction of clay”. Note the noun form after it.

consists of X stages

Safe to use

Takes “of”, never “in”. Counting the stages in the overview is a feature worth naming.

the final stage

Safe to use

Takes “the”. Only true of a linear process — a cycle has no final stage.

the cycle then repeats

Safe to use

No object needed. The closing sentence of any cyclical process.

returns to

Safe to use

Takes “to” plus the earlier stage: “returns to the atmosphere”. The verb that makes a cycle a cycle.

Watch two · then the mistakes

The words doing their job in a real sentence

Worked example · Initially · are extracted · transferred to · separated into

Initially, the raw materials are extracted and transferred to a crushing facility, where they are separated into three grades.

Why it works: One sequence marker and three passives, each carrying its own preposition. No agent appears anywhere, because the diagram shows none.

Worked example · Once this stage is complete · is left to evaporate · the cycle begins again

Once this stage is complete, the water is left to evaporate, and the salt that remains is collected before the cycle begins again.

Why it works: “Left to” takes a bare infinitive, and the closing clause reports that the process is cyclical — which is a feature of the diagram, not a flourish.

After that, workers take the clay and they put it into the oven.

Two problems. The diagram shows no workers, so they have been invented; and “after that” is the fallback marker where a precise one was available.

Repaired: Subsequently, the clay is transferred to a kiln.

The mixture is then left to drying for several hours.

“Be left to” takes a bare infinitive, not an -ing form. The “to” here is part of the infinitive, not a preposition.

Repaired: The mixture is then left to dry for several hours.

Now you try · with the scaffolding on

Build it one step at a time

Describe the middle of this process. Passive throughout, no invented people, and a marker at each transition.

The material

A diagram of glass recycling: bottles are collected → they are cleaned → they are crushed into small pieces → the pieces are melted → new bottles are made and returned to shops.

Step 1Report the first two stages in one sentence

Collecting and cleaning. Use one opening marker and the passive for both verbs — and no “they”.

Your version0 words · minimum 8

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

Step 2Report the crushing, with the right preposition

Step 3Close the loop

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 pulp ______ a series of rollers before it is dried.

Choose an option first

Once the mixture has cooled, it ______ set for twenty-four hours.

Choose an option first

______, the raw materials are delivered to the site and sorted by size.

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 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 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