IELTS雅思寫作技巧：小作文／圖表題的開場白

IELTS Writing Task 1 Tip:
Have a clear overview!

Where should the overview go?

Two places. 1) The overview can go either at the beginning immediately after your introduction statement. 2) It can go at the end of your description. In this case, it is like a conclusion.

What information should I include in an overview?

Usually, there is one or more general changes over the time of the chart. There is also usually an exception. A good overview will state what is obvious and include the exception.

Examples

Good overview

Generally speaking, the population of the countries will significantly increase while that of Japan will fall slightly over the period.

Incomplete overview
Generally speaking, the population of the countries will increase.

Inaccurate overview (keep it general)
The population of all the countries will increase.

Overview with too much detail (it is no longer an overview)
Generally speaking, the population of the countries will increase by around 10% over the next five years while that of Japan will fall by 6% to around 140 million.

But what about graphs that don’t change over time?

You still need an overview. Instead of talking about trends, make a comparative statement.

Don’t talk about increasing and decreasing!

You need to try to group the information together. If there are different countries try to group the countries into rich / poor or by region.

Example

Indicators	Canada	Japan	Peru	Zaire
Annual Income/person ($US)	11100	15760	160	130
Life expectancy at birth	76	78	51	47
Daily calorie supply/person	3326	2846	1927	1749
Adult literacy rate (%)	99	99	68	34

Good overview

Generally speaking, wealthy countries have a better quality of life than poorer ones.

Incomplete overview

Generally speaking, the richer a country is, the more calories it consumes.

Inaccurate overview (keep it general)

Richer countries consume more calories.

Overview with too much detail
Japan was the richest country, followed by Canada, Peru, and Zaire.

What happens if I don’t include an overview?

Then you don’t do very well on Task Achievement. You may only get a 5 in this area.

What about a map, process or other diagram?

We look at this one later.

IELTS Tip Summary

* Group information

* Use generalizing language e.g. Generally speaking, …

* Include an exception if there is one

* Don’t include numbers – use descriptive words instead