Many IELTS test candidates fail to get the score they need because of mistakes they make in their IELTS Academic Task 1 essay.
Task 1 is notoriously difficult to master – and one of the biggest reasons for this is that there are so many different types to prepare for.
Below you will find a practice IELTS test essay that analyses the data provided in two pie charts. At English With An Expert, our tutors are all experienced examiners and we know exactly how to improve people’s IELTS scores. This article looks at IELTS Writing Academic Task 1 and offers a snippet of a kind of IELTS mock test for you to check your progress and ability.
IELTS writing can be tricky to get right, and we can even look at helping you realise your mistakes with our IELTS correction service to identify your weaknesses and work to improve them.
The essay follows the following format:
Introduction: paraphrasing the statement given with the task
1st Body Paragraph: describing the data in the first pie chart
2nd Body Paragraph: describing the data in the second pie chart
Final Paragraph: we don’t write a conclusion for Task 1 – but we can put the overview in this position, which has the flavour of a conclusion
The Practice IELTS Question
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The pie charts below show the reasons given for shopping online and in-store.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
You should write at least 150 words.
A Good Example Answer For IELTS Writing Task 1
The two pie charts illustrate the reasons given for choosing to shop online and to shop in-store.
The most commonly cited reason for shopping online, accounting for around a third of responses, was to save time. A slightly smaller number of people do so in order to avoid queues. Around a fifth of respondents said 24/7 availability was why they shop online, while the lowest proportion of respondents, 14%, cited greater variety.
A similar number, however, cited that same reason as their motivation to shop in-store. Savings on delivery costs represented just 8% of peoples’ reasons to visit a store in person, while being able to touch an item accounted for a significantly higher number, 40%, of respondents’ motivations for buying in-store. Around a third, meanwhile, said talking to a salesperson was the most important factor in their choosing to shop in-store.
Overall, seven reasons were given for choosing to shop online or in a physical shop; only one reason – a greater variety – was the same.
What You Can Do Next To Improve Your IELTS Writing Score?
Write your own answer to this question and receive professional graded feedback by purchasing one of our Writing Correction Packages.
If you would like to learn more, you can purchase a video course about IELTS General Task 1 essays, by visiting this page.
Or purchase our Academic Task 1 eBook, which gives you many more model essays with detailed explanations and exercises.
More Links To Helpful IELTS Writing Task Resources
See how an examiner marks a Task 1