© 2014 Expert English Page 1

Script – Task 1 3-step plan

Note: The script may have some differences with the audio. Any differences will be infrequent and minor.

Instructor:

You may have searched for IELTS writing tips and practice on the internet or in books.

There is a LOT of stuff out there!

There is a lot of advice about Task 1 – you must do this, don’t do that, examiners are

looking for this, if you do that you will be penalized. You must write in an academic style,

you must use paragraphs, you have to have an introduction. Oh my god!

Some of it is true, some completely false, and some things just don’t matter.

Then you have the 10 steps for success, the 5-step plan, the seven golden rules and a lot of

other stuff which may be great to help you write an essay for school but is not directly

relevant to IELTS Task 1.

That’s why I am going to show you a simple 3-step plan for preparing to write Task 1

which makes sure you answer the question, that you include everything important and that

you don’t waste time! And it takes no longer than 5 minutes.

The goals for this video are:

- Understand the importance of planning your answer.

- Learn how to understand the question.

- Learn about my 3-step plan for Task 1 (SNO)

Slide 1

One of these statements is false! Can you pick which one?

1. The ‘overview’ is a summary of the key information.

2. You must explain the reasons for the information given.

3. If you miss any key information you will not get a Band 7 for Task

Achievement.

Pause the video for a moment, write down your answer and later in the video we

will check to see if you were right! So write down number 1, 2 or 3. Which one

is false?

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Slide 2

You might remember that the official descriptors for Band 7 in Task

Achievement look like this:

The key points to note here are:

- ‘Covers the requirements of the task’ – in other words, you do exactly what the

question asks you to do. No more and no less.

- The second important point is ‘presents a clear overview…’ – this means that

you need to write a summary of the key information. Be careful here…. many

test-takers think that ‘overview’ means repeating the information in the

question. It does not! It means summarizing the key information. We will see

how to do this in a moment.

- ‘clearly presents and highlights key features…’ – in other words, you have to

include all the important points from the information provided.

OK, so how do you make sure to do these very important things?

Slide 3

The answer is the ‘Academic Writing Task 1 3-step plan’

1. Study the information carefully.

2. Write notes on the main features.

3. Decide on the ‘overview’.

I will now show you exactly how to use the 3-step plan.

First, number 1: Study the information carefully.

Slide 4

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Here is a sample question like the questions you will find in Task 1. The

question will look something like this. Notice that this part about the time and

this part about the words are always printed. Also notice that this instruction

below the question is always the same. So you can just quickly scan all of that

and move on to study the question.

Slide 5

The important part is the question itself and of course the graphics that go with

it. So, you need to carefully and quickly read and understand the information

given.

First the question itself –

The graphs below show the average consumption of coffee for men and women

in several countries in 1990 and 2010. Summarise the information by selecting

and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

So we can see several key points about the graphs here:

They are about average consumption of coffee

They are about men and women

where?- in several countries

When?- in 1990 and 2010

Looking at the graphs we can see one is about average consumption of coffee in

1990 and the other in 2010. We notice that the five countries are the same in

both graphs. We note that each country has a separate column for men and

women. We see that the numbers on the vertical axis are ‘number of cups per

week’. We realize that the second graph has generally higher columns than the

first graph and that the top number is 7 rather than 6. So the difference between

the two graphs is the numbers, the numbers of cups of coffee per week.

Remember that you can use your pen or pencil and write all over the question

paper in the exam and it’s no problem!

Slide 6

Let’s move on to the second step in the 3-step plan, which is:

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Number 2: Write notes on the main features

Slide 7

Here is where we need to really focus on the graphs and make sure we

understand exactly what they are showing. In this case, we are comparing two

graphs from different years about the same countries, so it makes sense to

compare the two sets of data. As you find information, you make notes, like

this:

Every country drinks more coffee.

People in Britain drink double 1990 to 2010.

France and Italy increased but only 1 cup per week.

Japanese coffee drinking doubled +.

China almost zero in 1990 - increased sharply - still low.

Slight difference men and women in all countries, men drinking more.

Slide 8

Now we will move on to the third step in the 3-step plan, which is:

Number 3: Decide on the overview.

Slide 9

Many students think that the overview is something like: ‘the two graphs show

changes in coffee drinking habits among men and women in five countries

between 1990 and 2010. This is NOT correct! This just repeats the information

given in the question and will NOT get you a Band 7 for Task Achievement!

You can include that introduction of you want to, but it is not the ‘overview’.

The overview is a summary of the overall trends. The main difference we can

see between the two graphs is that every country drinks more coffee in 2010.

This increase in coffee drinking is especially noticeable in Britain, Japan and

China.

So the overview could be something like this:

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The overall trend is higher coffee consumption in 2010 compared to 1990, with

big increases in Asian countries and Britain.

Slide 10

So that’s the 3-step plan. When you have finished, your question paper will

have a lot of writing and markings, but that is great. It is the outline or

‘skeleton’ for writing the report. The plan should take 3 to 5 minutes, no longer

than 5. It is time well-spent, because it ensures that you feel confident to write

about the graphs and cover the main features adequately.

Slide 11

You can see a model answer for this question in….

‘Extras’ and that is top right of your Udemy screen, this symbol here.

The file is called:

Task 1 model answer ‘Coffee’

Read it and you will see what a high level answer might look like.

Just to make sure you know where to find it: you need to click on this icon and

then you will see ‘downloadable material’ here. Just click and you can

download the file and print it if you want.

Slide 12

All right, which one of these did you say was false?

The first one is true.

The last one is true.

It’s number two. False! You certainly should not write any reasons for the

information. Task 1 is all about facts and only the facts that are presented on the

question paper. Don’t give your opinion, don’t speculate, don’t find reasons for

the data. Just report the data given, nothing more.

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Instructor:

I’ll let you in on a secret – you have just learned about the key to writing a high-scoring

response! It’s very important to follow the plan.

Anyway, let’s go back to the goals. Did you understand how important it is to plan? Did

you understand how to read the question? Did you begin to understand how to implement

the 3-step plan for Task 1, SNO? If you feel pretty confident that you did, terrific! If it is

still unclear, go back and watch again.

The next lesson is practising using the 3-step plan on another question, and then in the next

video, you will see how I do it.

Slide 13

So, now it is your turn to practise the 3-step plan!

You are going to use the 3-step plan to prepare another Task 1 question.

Slide 14

Don’t forget the 3-step plan.

Here’s a nice way to remember it.

Study.... notes .... overview

S N O snow! Study.... notes .... overview is SNO

Remember this picture of a snowy place and think SNO

Study.... notes .... overview

Learn it now and you will never forget it!

Slide 15

You can look at the question on your screen and take notes but a much better

idea is to download the file. Then you can print it out and write on the question

sheet. That way you can simulate exam conditions.

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Anyway, you work on that. In the real exam you will not take longer than 5

minutes, but if it is your first time doing this, you could take a little longer.

Slide 16

And when you are finished, watch the next video and I will show you how I

applied the 3-step plan to this same question, so you can see how well you did.

OK! Have fun!