IELTS Writing Part One- Similarities and Differences

Similarities and differences between IELTS Academic Writing Task One tasks

Use the table below to help you discuss similarities and differences between different kinds of IELTS Writing Task One tasks.

Use these ideas to continue your discussion, summarising any long ones and putting any you think aren’t suitable in the “no kinds of task” or “avoid if possible” boxes

• Brainstorm
• Spend 5 minutes planning
• Compare
• Contrast
• Describe all of the information given
• Describe changes
• Mainly/ often present tenses
• Describe positions
• Select and put the most important information first
• Split the information into two main paragraphs and describe them in the second sentence of the introduction
• Start the main paragraphs with expressions meaning “First” and “Second”
• Start your introduction with a very general description of the diagram (= rephrasing the question)
• Summarise
• Think of what you see as data rather than as a picture
• Use one tense all the way through
• Use (lots of/ mostly) passive forms/ passive voice (“be + PP”)
• Write a conclusion giving the reasons for the data being that way
• Write approximately 150 words
• Write as many words as you can in 20 minutes
• Write exactly 150 words

Brainstorm useful phrases for doing the ones which you should do.

Compare your ideas with those on the next page. NOT means unsuitable language.

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Suggested useful language for the good ideas

1. Compare – “Comparing the…”, “(far/ much) …er/ more/ less…”, “(not) as…as…”, “similar/ almost the same”
2. Contrast “…,whereas…”, “In contrast,…”, “(almost) the opposite” “While…,…”, “… shows a rather/ very different pattern/ trend.”, “We can contrast this with…”, “… is (a/ the) (major) exception…”, “However,…”NOT “On the contrary” X NOT “On the other hand” X
3. Describe changes – “crash”, “rocket”, “rebound”, “peak”, “fluctuate”, “flatten out”, etc
4. Describe positions – “the upper…”, “the top right…”, “to the northeast”, “in the southwest”
5. Select and describe the most important information first – “The first thing you notice…”, “The most noticeable… is…”, “The biggest/ most noticeable/ most important difference/ similarity between the lines/ graphs is…”,
6. Split the information into two main paragraphs and describe them in the second sentence of the introduction – “I will describe… and then…”/ “First, I will .. and after that I will…”, In the first paragraph I will… and in the following paragraph I will…”, “These two sources will be described in turn below”, “The following two paragraphs will describe both of these in turn”, “The following paragraph will… and then I will move on to…”
7. Start your introduction with a very general description of the graph, table, etc. - “The (line) graph/ bar chart (= bar graph)/ pie chart/ map/ table/ diagram…”, “… shows/ represents/ compares/ illustrates…”, “information/ data/ figures”
8. Summarise – “Overall,…”, “The main trend…”, “In general,…”, “The thing that stands out (most) is…”
9. Think of what you see as data rather than as a picture – “The data/ numbers/ figures…”