Using a Checklist for Academic Task1
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You are now listening to the IELTS podcast. Learn from tutors and ex-examiners who are masters of IELTS preparation. Your host, Ben Worthington.

In this tutorial, we are focusing on a checklist for Academic Task 1. This will help you because on each of the points that we mention, we're going to give, well, I don't know if on each one, but in most of them, we can give you a real-world example from a sample

answer. So this will help you because you can use this checklist while you're preparing and just see if you're basically just to guide you with your writing. And with us again on this tutorial is Daphne and we'll be going through the points. I'll say one, Daphne will say one and so on and so forth. So hello there, Daphne. How are you doing? Hi, Ben. I'm fine. Thank you. Hi, everybody. Hope you're all well.

And just before we jump into this, in an episode I did, we did a while back, I mentioned my friend who was traveling around Central America. I've been waiting for the end of this story for a long time, Ben. Yeah.

Well, as I said, that he was going around and this is kind of related to Academic Task 1. This is why I wanted to share it. But he went to Barbados. He went to Jamaica. He went to the Bahamas as well. And this is last year. And

At each place, when he was telling me what he was doing there, well, when he was telling me, he told me that, hey, Ben, did you know that a slice of apple pie is $2.50 in Jamaica, $3 in the Bahamas, and $1.50 in Cuba? Wow. Yeah. And...

I asked him, why are you telling me this? And he goes, oh, these are the pie rates of the Caribbean. Sorry about that. That was the most terrible joke.

I'm sorry about that, but I'm glad you laughed. I hope it wasn't just sympathy laughing. No, no, that's good. That's one of those silly jokes that's actually genuinely quite funny. Yes, it is related to, semi-related to IELTS Academic Task 1, but please don't ever, ever use that in your Academic Task 1 answer.

okay let's jump into it without wasting any more time so um on this checklist we've got roughly about 15 points and as i said we're going to back up each point with an example so number one have you paraphrased the rubric or did you just copy paste the title so definitely could you give us a demonstration for this one

Yes, this is really, really important. So whilst you don't have to go as crazy as you would obviously in task two in showing a huge range of vocabulary, you will get more points if you do vary your vocabulary and not just use the same words as are in the question the whole time. Remember, as Ben says quite often, this is a language exam, so you need to show language.

So in your very first sentence, have you paraphrased? So rather than, I'm looking at the line graph we have here, which says the graph below compares the number of visits to two music sites on the web.

So I would be paraphrasing just very simply there by saying the line graph shows how many times two music websites were visited over a period of 15 days. So I'm using the word website instead of music site. I'm using were visited, a nice passive verb, instead of the number of visits. So I'm varying my language and if I can paraphrase, I will. Excellent, yeah. And Gavry,

Just a side note there, that sometimes, as I mentioned when I was describing a natural process or how to describe a natural process, sometimes there might not be another word. For the example I did, I was talking about the life cycle of a tadpole, of a frog, from eggs to fully grown, mature adult frog.

And there is no other word for the word tadpole. There's just one single word. So sometimes there is no choice except to use the words that are in front of you. But in most cases, in a lot of cases, there are synonyms and other ways to describe it. So moving on to step two.

Have actually do you want to say step two please? Well, I'll just up to it. So have you written a clear overview? Good point and very very briefly

this is not a you can't use the words to conclude because to conclude is when you're finishing your argument and you're just basically summarizing your points however it is close and an overview is a summary but it's not a conclusion so just be careful basically avoid the word conclude it's not a conclusion this is a summary and

final point i would i would you i would just use the word overall which i think covers you and also that makes you think overview so just repeating that word over um so overall gives you okay that's my overview you can put this in as your second mini paragraph your second sentence if you like personally i quite like having it at the beginning because it's almost like

more of an intro almost it's like okay this is what you're going to have a look at and then i'm going to analyze it i know ben you prefer it at the end of the um yeah yeah i mean and i know as well uh ellen prefers it at the beginning because she says that if you run out of uh time then you've got at least you've got the overview done uh which is wise and i think your point is is wise as well but i mean you need to try which

as best for you. If you do find that you're running out of time, then maybe put in it at the beginning. If you prefer it at the front, at the start, like Daphne does, do that. I mean, you can do it both ways. I prefer it at the end because it just kind of adds an end. And

If there was one single way to do it, then there wouldn't be any point of Daphne, Ellen or myself existing. There would just be one of us and there isn't. There's three of us, all with our own point of view. I think students do struggle with this because I'm not going to get into it, but both two ways are valid. So number three, have you summarized the information and not just listed every single piece of data?

Do you want to jump into this? Yeah, this is so important. If you go back to the question, every single question says the same thing on Academic Task 1. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. So have you summarized the information?

We don't want every single bit of data in this response. You haven't got time. It's really boring. It will not score you marks on task achievement and task response. You need to summarize. So you need to be able to give the most important things. This is really, really important here.

Don't just tell me everything. I'm looking at the line graph then. So on this line graph that we've got, I'm not going to tell you the pattern of one music website, which is called Music Choice, and then tell you the pattern of the other one, Pop Parade. You'd be asleep in about a minute. I'm going to select data to report.

excellent excellent and number four have you included any information that is not in the data i'll explain this one um i think this could be summarized the curse of intelligence which is something i've never suffered from actually it's a curse i've never had just joking but um

So basically, if you, for example, if we're looking at this sales from different websites of visits to two different music sites,

that if you know for some reason that on day seven it could be a Sunday, that's why visits were slow because not that many people are browsing online. You know this because maybe you've got experience with online music websites. Do not add this extra information because it's not on the chart. You can only report what's on the chart.

That is so, so important. I completely add my stress onto that one as well. This is not about your personal opinion. It is not about visits to the music website fell because it was Sunday and the songs were rubbish that day. That's your opinion, your speculation. This is not the place for that. It's really not. Stick to the facts. Exactly, exactly. And just as, it's probably another point that we're going to cover later on, but it goes back to language because it's,

Sometimes you can, what I see is task two language leaking into academic task one. So just be aware of that. Like, I don't know, as I said at the beginning, to conclude is a very common mistake, a very common phrase to include, which is incorrect for your academic task one. And number four.

No, it's number five, sorry. It's number five, Ben, yeah. Have you left any important data out? Now, the key word here is important data out. Obviously, you're going to leave some important data, some data out because you are summarising and you don't have time. And as we've said, it's very boring to try and tell the examiner everything.

Have you left anything important out? So if we go back to your strategy for planning your academic task one, which we've looked at before, you need to make sure you talk about every single segment on that pie chart. So you can't just forget one because you don't really want to talk about it. You need to refer to all of them at some point or other, even if you're just comparing. So make sure you don't leave anything out. And I'll just jump in there.

there. Daphne said, you've got to include every single point at some point or another. That does not mean we're going to put every single point. We're going to probably group some, maybe the biggest sections, maybe the smallest sections, but at some point, at least we're going to have every data point, but it's not going to be in a boring list style format. So it's a very important balance there that you've got to be aware of.

Which moves us on to number six. Have you listed? Sorry? Yeah, no, I was going to say that moves you nicely on to number six because you mentioned the word list. It does. It's a very graceful transition there. Probably the most graceful one I've done ever. Anyway, sorry. Number six, Daphne.

Have you just listed the information or have you compared it? So two things going back onto the list that Ben just said, this is not about writing a list. The chart did this on day one, that on day two, that on day three. Have you done a list? So no. Or have you compared it? Yes. So if you're comparing where relevant.

So this is where you're going to pick up. So here we've got these two graphs. So I'm comparing they both the trend in both of them was up on day seven a little bit and then a little small decrease between days eight and nine.

one of them increased dramatically music choice increased dramatically on day nine up till day 11 and i'm comparing that to the other one uh pop yep uh and the increase there was day 11 up to day 12. so i'm selecting information to compare and i'm comparing it excellent point there um number seven daphne now seven is to do with the organization

So this is to do with remember how you planned at the beginning. You've worked out what you're going to say. You've chosen the key data. You've got your introduction sentence. You've got your overall. And then this is about the clear organization that you've then got two paragraphs with the really important

the meaty bit, if you want to put it like that way. The most important data you're going to select. This is where you're going to be using your comparative language or your percentages and really showing that you understand what you can see. Excellent point there. Number eight.

have you mentioned any striking features and this goes back to what we were saying in a previous tutorial about getting an overview and a good way to identify the striking features two ways actually number one look for the extremes and that includes the minimums the maximums look for anything that stands out that doesn't really fit into the pattern possibly and the other way is basically just to step back and

and look for sort of like maybe the biggest section, maybe the lowest point, the highest point, but standing back will give you a little bit of distance, not just physically, but mentally as well. So that the striking features, you give them space to jump out basically. Brilliant. Exactly. Exactly.

Okay, number nine. Number nine, avoiding repetition of words and structures. Now, this is very important here. This is somewhere where you can actually show some skill in the language, even if you're possibly a bit less confident in the maths side of these, the task one, you can show skills.

some nice language in here. Okay. So you can, instead of using the word visit to a website, you can talk about clicks. You can talk about, I'm just going back to the model answer. Instead of 15 days, you can talk about the two week time period.

There are various words that you can use. You can talk about visitor numbers, you can talk about followers, you can talk about customers. So this is just really about have you varied your language and tried not to repeat yourself all the way through. Excellent. Yeah. And a little bit of knowledge of the subject is helpful, but I think you would get this if you're working on your language skills anyway, not just your IELTS skills. And it's a much healthier approach

attitude and it's a lot more enjoyable personally to work on your language skills and then start developing your exam skills but of course it's difficult to

I don't know to get into that mindset if you've got your exam coming up in 10 days you know it's then in that case you really want to be focusing on your exam skills so number 10 have you used a range of grammar vocabulary and complex structures so just to put you on the spot again Daphne um

I'm going to read you the overall overview for this answer, which shows quite a lot of these. So this shows some of what Ben mentioned here, a range of grammar and complex structures. So here we go. Overall, the trends in each case are upward, with music choice being more popular than Pop Parade for the most of the period, while clicks on the music choice site fell over the first 10 days

following, sorry, first 10 days, the sites followed similar patterns on days seven to nine. So if I just break that up a little bit for you. So I'm talking about music choice being more popular rather than say music choice is more popular. I'm using a participle there, being more popular than, so nice comparative structure, a pop parade for most of the period while, so I'm using that lovely connecting word while,

clicks on the music site fell over the first 10 days. So I'm just trying to get in there some, rather than just saying this went up, that went down, I'm just trying to use some nice grammar and vocabulary and complex, this idea of complex structures using some of these linking words as well. Excellent example there. And by the way, if you've downloaded the official app,

that we have you'll be able to get the transcript and in this transcript we have included the picture and the model essay that we're using while while going through this checklist also on the website as well if you search for this tutorial you'll be able to see the graph and the

and the summary that we've written and also we've really have broken it down and we've highlighted the useful language we've given some commentary or added some commentary there about what was done correctly what was done incorrectly and it'll be useful just as guidance to help you improve number 11 have you used the correct tense and verb forms

So this connects back, yes, these are really common mistakes here. This connects back to doing your planning and really just thinking carefully at the beginning before you start to write. Is this a movement over time? Are we moving from, this one is moving over a period of two weeks.

Or is it just a static picture? So do I know if it's 2016 or 2000, whatever? Which tense am I going to be writing in? So this is a little bit tricky here because it does move over a period of days. But because it's 15 days, I'm assuming that it's in the past tense. This is 15 days that happened. It's not every single 15 days. If it was every single 15 days, I'd be using a present tense. Here I'm going to use the past.

past tense so I'm going to be consistent with that I'm not going to jump around and use a few future tenses just because I'm not really paying attention so the correct tense is very important and obviously connected to that is a correct verb form you need to make sure your past symbols are absolutely accurate you're not mixing up your present perfect and your past symbols if

If you're using a passive, which I have done here, or this modern answer does, talks about the sites were visited, I need to make absolutely sure that I'm confident on the passive. Really nice to use passive in these answers sometimes. It mixes it up a bit and it will score you marks for your grammar. Excellent point there. Excellent.

Yeah, I won't go into that in any more detail. Daphne's covered it very, very thoroughly. So number 12, have you used appropriate linking devices such as adverbs and conjunctions?

Right, so you are not going to write on the one hand, on the other hand. That would be, as Ben was saying earlier, that's a leaking of the task two language into the task one. You need to have these phrases in your mind and I can't recommend these strongly enough. They're nice high level and it will really help you with your coherence. So write down these words while. So while the trend is.

for Pop Parade was downwards in the middle of the period or in the second week, the period of the movement in music choice was significantly higher. So while

Whereas is another really good one as well. So whereas music choice visitors fell between day three and five, music visitors to Pop Parade increased rapidly over that period of time. So whereas is a contrasting conjunction.

Also, just very simply, in contrast, in comparison. Those all link your sentences nicely together, Ben, don't they? Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. And they're relatively more straightforward to use as well and to build your confidence as well. And also in the online course that we have for Academic Task 1,

we strongly suggest just as a rule that the student includes a certain small list of words and verb forms and grammar structures just to guarantee

that the rubric is explained fully. I'm not going to go into it in more detail, but if you look at the online course for Academic Task 1, it just makes it so much more straightforward and easier to get started. It really does. Because I think sometimes you can start off thinking, oh, help, where do I go with this? But if you know you have to include these phrases...

then that's giving you the coherence. And as you said, Ben, gives you the confidence that you can do it. Exactly, exactly. And I think a lot of students do struggle with regards to confidence, especially when it comes to choosing the information and selecting what to write about. But as we said, it is important

It can be made straightforward. And if you've got a structure, it's even easier. So number 13, have you checked your writing for mistakes? Do you know a good site that does that? A good service, Daphne?

Oh that's me, I'm the service about that. Please everybody check your answer if it says 2017 in the question don't write me saying this graph illustrates the number of visitors to Music Fight in 2018

Really look at the question that would put the examiner in a rage. Yeah. And check. I mean, I know you're under pressure. I know it's easy to make these mistakes and maybe you're not thinking straight, but just check that sort of thing. So check.

that you are not making any silly errors in what year you're doing. Check that also your verb grammar and the verb noun agreement is a really big thing. And at this level, you should not be making those mistakes. Absolutely. And just one

Two points that, number one, if you do want to get feedback, then you can just visit us at ieltspodcast.com. We have this service where we can review your essay. We can tell you where you're going wrong, what you're doing right. And getting this kind of feedback will help you improve much, much more.

quicker and a final point that I've mentioned in previous tutorials is that look for the mistakes that you've made in previous reports in previous essay writing and this will help you just speed up your own personal essay correction skills which you need to develop anyway if you're if you're looking to score high in this exam so number 14 the penultimate one

Have you completed the task according to the rubric? So going back to this famous rubric, have you summarized the information? Have you selected the right information? Have you reported the main features? Not everything. Have you reported the main features and have you made comparisons where relevant? If you haven't, you need to quickly add in another sentence and make sure you do.

Absolutely good point. And just going back to the actual rubric, summarizing the information there and a key skill for being able to summarize is to group the data. Grouping the data is a skill that we strongly encourage L3s.

all our students to develop and we've got special skills and techniques in the online course we don't have time to mention them today but they definitely help you in the when you're when it comes to choosing the right information to include now point 15 is a little bit

Although the official IELTS website does not mention 150 words and in the criteria it doesn't mention to write at least 150 words, I have downloaded official papers which do say write at least 150 words.

I don't think, well, you would get punished if you probably write less than that because you're not being able to fulfill the task. So I wouldn't interpret that as a kind of a guide that at the bare minimum you want to be doing 150 tasks.

But generally, I'd aim for higher than that. What's your opinion on this, Stephanie? Yeah, I agree. I think this is really confusing because I know in some course books and some practice books, it says at least 150. So I think this is in people's heads. Maybe this is an expectation or an estimate of what you can do in those 20 minutes. Maybe it's more linked to time. But I'm with you, Ben. I mean, I'm much more comfortable with answers that are around 180. Mm-hmm.

I think beyond that, it's probably superfluous. That means it's too much. You won't have time. And I think you've probably said what you need to say in that amount. But I would aim for between 120 and 180 in your practice tasks just to build that confidence. Absolutely. Absolutely.

okay so that's the end we don't need to do a summary because um we've yeah it'll be too long we've got and we've just gone through them all it's it's a lot of checking sorry everybody um with planning and checking you hardly have any time do you um but you get you get the gist you get the idea of what we're saying and it's all pretty logical um

And we just want to make sure that your answer is as good as it possibly can be. Exactly. Ah, and just one final point. Never trust anyone with graph paper because they're always plotting something. Sorry. Oh, please, students, stop Ben from this. It's terrible. Yeah.

I'm sorry. This is why I was looking forward to recording this, to doing this podcast. I wanted to share. I'm going to be giggling all day now, your silly jokes. Yeah, I need to share my expertise on this one. No, but just to finish on a more serious note, that if you are struggling, like I say in most tutorials, that you're not alone.

you can reach out to us at iofpodcast.com and we would be more than happy to help you to look at your essay to give you the guidance to help you improve faster give you that feedback that helps you improve

And yeah, remember, you can come to Alex's podcast, sign up, and we send you a whole ebook of material that helps you with more guidance in there, with advice, with sample essays, with vocabulary lists and collocations and all of that.

and just keep working and you will pass the exam it's just a matter of time it's not a matter of tests it's a matter of time and basically effective powerful preparation which is what we aim for here at IELTS podcast so Daphne do you have anything left to say before we finish?

Well, as long as you don't tell me any more jokes, Ben. Oh, no, no, no. I absolutely agree with everything you said. We are here on your side with a huge amount of resources. We are correcting your essays. We're giving you feedback. We're really helping you improve essay after essay to give you the confidence you need to do this exam and get it done. Awesome. Okay, thank you very much for listening and good luck with your exam. Thanks for listening to ieltspodcast.com.