IELTS Writing Academic Task 1 is the bread and butter of IELTS teachers because of the unique challenges it poses.
This month’s model essay describes a table showing the percentage of Britons interested in certain sports.
The essay follows the following format:
1st paragraph: paraphrases the question as an introduction and gives an overview of the data
2nd paragraph: reports the data contained in the pie chart
There should be no conclusion. Two paragraphs are all you need for an IELTS Task 1 – it is best to keep things simple!
The Question
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The table below shows the results of surveys of people in the UK, carried out in three different decades. It shows the percentages of people who said they were interested in certain sports.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
You should write at least 150 words.
The Answer
The table illustrates the proportion of people living in the UK who followed six different sports at three points in time over the two decades to 2010. Overall, there was no discernible trend in the popularity of most sports. Rugby, however, steadily rose in popularity, while judo was the only sport that became less popular over time.
Football was the most popular sport throughout the period shown, accounting for 50-60% of respondents. Judo was consistently the least followed sport, nominated by 9% of those surveyed in 1990, falling steadily in the years to 2000 and dropping to just 4% by 2010. In 1990, just over a tenth of the UK population chose rugby, cricket, and swimming as their favourite sport, while around a quarter of respondents reported enjoying golf the most. In 2000, rugby viewership had risen substantially, to 20% of those surveyed, compared to that of golf, cricket and swimming, which remained largely flat. By 2010, interest in rugby had increased still further to 24%, while slightly fewer people were following golf and swimming than a decade previously. There was a modest rise in the number of cricket followers, to 14%, over the same period.
What Next?
The only way to master an IELTS Writing Task 1 is to practise writing as many as you can – and a variety of types.
It is also important to get professional feedback to make sure you have answered a question correctly. Why not write your own answer to this question and purchase one of our Writing Correction Packages.
You could also learn more by purchasing one of our video courses on this page or purchasing our Academic Task 1 eBook.
More Links
See how an examiner marks a Task 1