IELTS Academic Task 1: How many paragraphs to write?

ScottsEnglish

Can you quickly organise your IELTS Academic Task 1 answer?  

A lot of test takers are not sure how many paragraphs they should write in Academic Task 1.

When you look at a graph, you should be able to quickly decide how many paragraphs to write and how your answer will be organised.

The structure that we teach for IELTS Academic Task 1 looks like this:

First paragraph: Introduction

• This is the easiest part of your answer because the words are already written for you - all you need to do is paraphrase them .

Paragraphs 2, 3, 4: Body paragraphs

• The number of paragraphs vary and this is where students can spend too long deciding.

Paragraph 5: The summary paragraph

• This paragraph always begins with the words, In summary...

1. Look at the following graph.  
2. How many paragraphs would you write for your answer?
3. Write your answer in the comments box below.

Scott's Answer:

This answer would have 4 paragraphs:
¶1: Introduction (paraphrase of the words in the box)
¶2: Males & Females in part-time education
¶3: Males and females in full-time education
¶4: A summary statement (a general, high-level comment about the whole graph) 

For more information about this topic, go here.

lonelyrabah

the diagram present the number of men and women studying in britian  either full time or part time in different three periods

clearly shown from the graph that number of men having part time education is much more than women.In 1970/71 the number of men was maximium at 1000 while the number is less in 1980/81,1990/91 ranging about 700-800 men.on the other hand the number of femal with full time education is very less comapred to men.less than 200  women had ful time education in 1970/71 .this number gradually increased over years where in 1980/81 almost 200 women got ful time education and more than 200 in 1990/91.

on the other hand female showed gradual increase in both part tiem and full time education.around 750 femal went into part time education in 1970/71 this number increased much to reach maximium on 1990/91 where almost 1200 enrolled in part time education.however full time education did not have big figures.obviousely in 1970/71 less than 100 lady startedfull time education and this number gradually stepped up till 1990/91 where just more than 200 took full time education.

In summary,part time education is higher than full time education among men and women mostly due to other obligations.

ScottsEnglish

Hi Lonelyrabah.  Thanks for attempting to answer the question!  We agree with the number of paragraphs you wrote: 4 is good.

Some comments about your writing:

1. Good use of paragraphs . 
2. Always use a capital letter to begin a sentence and for a proper noun (eg: Britain).
3. Make sure you always copy the correct spelling from words written in the question (eg: female, full-time)
4. Have a look here for more information on how to begin your answer.

All the best!