Task 1 — select, report, and write the overview

A rising share does not tell you the number of journeys

• Outcome: select the main features, group accurate comparisons and draft/revise a connected report. Start with Academic Writing orientation and the writing criteria. Original survey: cycling is 20% in 2020 and 35% in 2025; cars are 50% and 40%; other travel is 30% and 25%. Cycling gains share while the others fall, and cars remain the largest category.
• The totals are not supplied. You cannot conclude that the number of cycling journeys rose or that a new cycle lane caused the change. A percentage knows its share of the pie, but not how big the whole pie was.

View the original share diagram at full size

An overview selects the main picture

• In this survey, “Cycling gained share while the other categories declined; cars remained the largest category” summarises the main patterns. “Cycling was 20% in 2020” is one supporting detail rather than the overall comparison.
• Main features depend on the visual: a dominant category, major change, important crossover or stable feature can matter. Do not force a crossover into a chart without one. An overview need not use a prescribed number of sentences.

Group details around meaningful comparisons

• Introduce what the visual shows, give the main picture, then develop useful groups of details. For this survey, compare the rising cycle share with the falling shares; support each comparison with given values.
• One usable structure puts the overview after the introduction and develops two detail groups. It is not a mandatory paragraph recipe. A different visual may need another organisation; listing every value in display order can hide the relationships.

Read labels and totals before claiming an amount

• A percentage-only housing comparison of 26% and 38% of income supports a larger share, but not necessarily a larger amount spent. If total income also changed, the amount depends on both share and total.
• A pie chart can label counts, amounts or percentages. Read its labels and units rather than assuming its shape supplies only shares. When amounts are given, use them; when only percentages are given, keep the claim at that level.

Process and map descriptions follow their actual labels

• A process may supply temperatures, durations or quantities as well as stages. For an original label “Heat water to 80°C, then filter it”, include the relevant temperature and sequence. Use passive forms when the actor is unimportant, and active forms when a named actor matters.
• Maps can compare past, present or proposed layouts. Choose tenses from their dates and status: “In the proposed plan, the entrance will move east” does not claim it has moved already. Describe what is shown without inventing features or changes.

Check detail against the same evidence

• Cycling rises by 15 percentage points to 35%; cars fall by 10 points to 40%. These details support the overview and preserve the supplied units. A share increase alone leaves the absolute journey count unresolved.
• Format checked on 19 October 2026: official IELTS Academic Writing guide. Our survey, process and map snippets are original teaching examples; the short checks do not predict a band.

View the original survey case at full size

Different measures can produce different leaders

• Worked static comparison: the original chart below gives reading seats and computers at three libraries in 2025. A weak overview, “North had the most facilities in every category”, misreads the computer bars. A more accurate excerpt is “North had the most reading seats, whereas East had the most computers; South had the fewest seats.” Support it with 60 seats at North and 24 computers at East. South and North each had 12 computers. This is one year, so increased would invent a trend.
• Worked mixed-data comparison: a fictional museum had 80 thousand visits and £320 thousand total income in 2019, then 120 thousand visits and £360 thousand income in 2024. “Both rose by the same amount” hides unlike units and bases. A better overview excerpt is “Both measures increased, but visits grew proportionally more.” Visits rose 50%; income rose 12.5%. Income per visit fell from £4 to £3, but that calculated average is not a stated ticket price. Neither excerpt is a complete 150-word report. A confident adjective cannot rescue the wrong denominator; it only makes the error stand taller.

View the library facilities chart at full size

Guided decisions: evidence first, wording second

• Ten original data displays each offer a planning cue. Identify the measure, unit, dates and any projection before deciding what belongs in the overview. Compare endpoints and intermediate observations separately: equal endpoints do not mean the whole period was unchanged.
• These are short decisions about writing. They practise selection, grouping and evidence boundaries; they are not ten complete reports or official multiple-choice Writing tasks. Read the explanation after each attempt and repair the specific issue: a wrong column, an invented cause, a denominator or an unsupported time claim.

Independent decisions across twenty fresh data displays

• The next twenty sources remove the planning cue. Some compare places at one date; others compare sampled times, proportions, rates or mixed measures. Preserve what is actually measured. Visits can include repeated visits; an index is not a count, and current-price sales do not establish inflation-adjusted growth.
• Select the best answer to the current question, then explain why the alternatives distort the evidence or fail its reporting purpose. These twenty decisions do not establish independent report-writing ability or an IELTS band. Break the unit across sessions and keep a short list of the mistakes you need to repair.

Transfer: plan from one shared library table

• Three checks reuse one new loans table: choose an overview, select supporting detail and identify an unsupported addition. It is one shared source, not three independent datasets. Read the units and dates again for each decision rather than carrying a previous question’s wording into the next one.
• A useful report does more than calculate every possible ratio. Choose comparisons that clarify the main pattern, keep the overview consistent with them and omit explanations that the source does not provide. The full writing tasks next ask you to make those decisions yourself.

Write and revise a complete time-series report

• Use the new ferry table in the task. Write your own connected report before opening the models. Official Academic Task 1 asks for at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. You can practise untimed first, then try that allocation; the local activity does not enforce length or assess a band. Notes can help planning, but the report itself needs connected prose.
• Compare the weaker and improved reports only after drafting. Identify what each paragraph does, check its statements against the table, then revise one specific selection, grouping or evidence error in your own work. Other valid organisations and wording can work. Your draft stays on this page; copy it before leaving.

Transfer again: a one-year facilities comparison

• These fresh library-centres tables require a different report from the time series. Read the visit unit separately from the facility counts and plan your own overview. Do not reuse a trend sentence merely because it fitted the previous task. Draft at least 150 words before comparing the complete models.
• Use the annotations and criteria to revise your own report, not to replace it with memorised wording. Completing the checklist records comparison and revision; it does not independently assess your writing, demonstrate proficiency or generate an IELTS mark. If an important measure is absent from your report, repair the coverage before polishing synonyms.

Later review: keep the measure and its base together

• After a break, try the fresh park and music-class checks before reopening worked examples. If you miss one, state exactly which column, quantity or denominator you confused. Then repair that sentence with the correct unit and source values.
• Continue with map comparisons and complete reports, process diagrams and complete reports, the language of change for precise trend sentences or answering the actual Task 2 question for a different writing purpose. General Training learners need purposeful letters, not an Academic visual report.

Select a main picture that your details can support

• Recap: introduce the visual accurately, select its main features, group meaningful comparisons and support them with correct details. Keep counts, shares, rates, sampled dates and projection status attached to their labels. A mandatory paragraph count or a fixed overview location cannot substitute for those decisions.
• Rules checked on 19 October 2026 against the official IELTS Academic Writing guide. All extension data, questions, diagrams and models are original teaching, not official or reserved test tasks. Independent subject, language, key, rights and learner reviews remain pending. No model is assigned a calibrated band, and these self-checks do not predict an official result.

Join two panels without merging their units

• Worked mixed case: North Hall’s admissions rise from 30 to 60 thousand, making it the largest of the three museums in 2024. River House, however, has the highest positive-feedback share at 92%. A useful overview can contrast those leaders while summarising the admissions changes. One panel need not repeat the other panel’s ranking.
• A weak claim, “North Hall was the most successful museum in every respect”, overlooks the feedback panel. Improve the claim by naming the specific measures: the largest admissions total and the highest positive-response share belong to different sites. An enthusiastic therefore cannot invent a missing causal link.

View both panels at full size

• The respondent samples differ: 200 at North Hall, 100 at River House and 250 at Hill Museum. The percentages describe those responses, not all admissions. Even a combined sample calculation would concern the sampled respondents; it would not become an estimate of satisfied admission events without additional evidence.

Read each panel's dates before extending a trend

• For a new two-panel display, note the date range and unit of each panel before drafting. A multi-year visits line does not turn a one-year opening-hours bar into a time series.
• Try the fresh centre decision before reading its explanation. Compare the claims against both panels. A correct first attempt is evidence for this written decision, not a prediction of a full Writing band.

Transfer to a complete mixed-chart report

• Write your own connected English report for the new ferry display in the practice below. Keep the passenger-journey totals separate from percentages of departures; a journey and a departure are different count bases.
• After your attempt, open the weaker/improved comparison, identify one inaccurate claim in your own wording and revise it. Alternative organisations can work. The supplied illustration is not a script to memorise or an independently rated exemplar.

Retrieve the relationship, then change the context

• Tomorrow, return to one of the fresh displays and state an overview without the model. Check which panel supports each clause. A few days later, use another display and explain one cross-panel claim that its data cannot support; then revise a sentence in your report.
• Continue to precise language for change, map reports or process reports for a different reporting problem. General Training uses purposeful letters.
• Mixed-visual scope checked on 20 October 2026 against the official IELTS Academic Writing guide. All three displays, questions and report illustrations are original local practice; independent subject, language, key, rights and learner review remain pending.