IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: The Twenty-Minute Report

The twenty minutes

Spent in this order. The slots are the point: the overview is written second, while you are still fresh, and the last three minutes are not spare.

0:00 – 0:30
Ritual
Four lines on paper. No sentences yet.
0:30 – 3:00
Read the figure
Labels, units, both axes, the key. Every arrow that leaves the diagram.
3:00 – 5:00
Introduction and overview
One sentence each, written while you are still fresh.
5:00 – 17:00
Two body paragraphs
Group one, then group two. Put related evidence in the same sentence rather than writing one sentence per number, stage or feature — this is where most of the twenty minutes go.
17:00 – 20:00
Check
Figures, tenses, plurals, word count.

The ritual — thirty seconds, four lines

On paper, before a single sentence. Only the third question changes with the family; the other three never change.

What tense?
Read the labels, not the chart type. Dates, “now”, “planned”, “projected”.
Which family?
Dynamic, static, process or map. One question: does the figure encode change over time, a snapshot, stages, or place?
What does that family give me?
Dynamic gives direction and turning points; static gives rank and gaps; process gives phases, a start and an end; map gives what was added, removed or changed.
What is the overall story, and what defines it?
One or two features, not a list. On a graph or a table that is usually the biggest movers or the widest gaps; on a process it is often just input, transformation and outputs. This is what the overview says. If you cannot say it yet, read the figure again — do not start writing.

Pick the family, switch on its language

The family decides the reporting pattern, the verbs and the body plan. It does not decide the tense — the labels do.

Dynamic — something changed

Spot it by: Two or more points in time, on an axis or in the labels.

Tense cue: A dated past period takes the past simple. A projected year takes a future form. Mixed frames take the present perfect for the part that is still running.
Signature language: rose sharply · climbed to · peaked at · levelled off · fell to · more than halved · fluctuated · overtook · over the same period
Useful default grouping: First paragraph: the big movers — start, end, peak.
Second paragraph: the rest, and the exceptions.
Use only the figures needed to prove the comparison.
Use this only when it reflects the figure; otherwise group by the strongest meaningful comparison. Two lines that behave identically may group better by trend than by size.
The trap: Listing every value in order. Group by behaviour — up, down, flat — then quote the figures that prove the grouping.
Overview skeleton: Overall, [what most items did] over the period, with [the biggest mover] rising fastest and [the exception] the only one to fall.

Static — one moment, compared

Spot it by: One point in time, or none at all. A survey, a single year, a ranking.

Tense cue: A past dated snapshot normally takes the past simple; a snapshot of a projected year takes an appropriate future form. No date at all takes the present simple. Nothing rose or fell either way — but the family only gives you the reporting pattern; the labels give you the tense.
Signature language: accounted for · made up · by far the largest · a quarter of · twice as many as · the smallest group · whereas · by contrast · ranked first
Useful default grouping: First paragraph: the top tier — the leaders, and what separates them.
Second paragraph: the bottom tier, and any oddity.
Compare inside a group; do not walk down the list.
Use only the figures needed to prove the comparison.
Use this only when it reflects the figure; otherwise group by the strongest meaningful comparison. A wide table often groups better by category than by tier.
The trap: Trend verbs on a snapshot. “Increased” on a single survey invents a time dimension, which is a Task Achievement error rather than a vocabulary one.
Overview skeleton: Overall, [X] [is / was / will be] by far the largest [category], while [the rest] [account / accounted / will account] for only a small share.

Process — stages, not numbers

Spot it by: Boxes and arrows, no axes. Settings such as 5°C or two hours are parameters, not dates.

Tense cue: No time marker means the present simple. Steps that a person or a machine performs are often passive, because who does them rarely matters (“is heated”); natural stages are often active (“air rises, cools”). The voice is chosen step by step, never by the word “process”.
Signature language: first · once · subsequently · after which · at the following stage · is maintained at · the resulting … is · the cycle then repeats
Useful default grouping: Group the stages into two phases, one per paragraph.
Each paragraph: what enters, what is done to it, what leaves.
Settings live here, never in the overview — and keep related steps in one sentence rather than writing one sentence per step.
The trap: “No overview, because there is no trend.” There is one: summarise the overall transformation or cycle, including the main input and output and any defining structural feature — a loop, or a major change of state. A stage count is optional detail, never a target.
Overview skeleton: Overall, the process turns [input] into [output], [the defining feature — a loop back to the start, a change of state]. [The second output, if the figure has one.]

Map — place, and what changed there

Spot it by: Two plans, or one plan with dated stages. The legend dates give the order of events.

Tense cue: A past layout normally takes the past simple; the layout as it stands now can take the present simple; a change that continues into the present can take the present perfect. “Planned” or “proposed” points to a future form, even with no year on the page. Use the passive only where the feature receives the action — “map” is not a reflex for “passive”. On a 1950-to-now plan, “in 1950 a playground stood on the site”, “there is now a car park” and “the playground has been replaced by a car park” are all correct.
Signature language: to the north of · on the site of · stood beside · now occupies · was demolished · was replaced by · has been converted into · was extended · remained unchanged
Useful default grouping: Group by area, or by type of change — do not walk round clockwise.
Every sentence says what changed, and where.
Dated items give the sequence: check each claim against it.
The trap: Naming features without change verbs. Also claiming something stood beside a road or a railway that the legend says arrived later.
Overview skeleton: Overall, [the area] [was / has been / will be] transformed from [old use] into [new use], with most of the change [in one part of the site]. [An unchanged landmark, but only if it helps orientation.]

The tense comes from the labels

One decision, made in the first thirty seconds and then never revisited. The chart type is not evidence. No year on the page does not mean the present simple: a map marked “proposed” is future, and hours on an axis are a measurement rather than a calendar.

Time markers on a figure and the tense each one asks for
What the labels show	Tense
No time marker; a current or general state	Present simple
A general relationship on a measured axis	Present simple
A finished past date or period	Past simple
Started in the past and still running now	Present perfect
Planned, proposed or projected	A future form

Three grammar locks

A long subject keeps its singular head noun
- the variety of courses has increased — not have
- this graph shows — not show
Irregular forms, learned as three parts
- rise → rose → risen — never “rised”
- fall → fell → fallen
The present perfect never takes a closed date
- in 1999 there was an increase — not has been
- since 2015 the figure has risen — correct, the period is still open

The overview is the cheapest band in the exam

One short paragraph: the overall story and the one or two features that define it. Figures normally stay in the body. Write it second.

It carries

The overall story

What most items did, the biggest mover, or the one big transformation — the one or two features that define the figure. A reader should know the story without reading on.

It leaves out

Opinions, and usually figures

Figures normally belong in the body; use one in the overview only when it is genuinely needed. Opinions never belong — no “the most important stage”: a figure encodes sequence and size, never importance.

It must not drop

A whole figure or output

Four pie charts, two tables, a second arrow: cover them all by grouping the shared pattern, not by mentioning each in turn.

Band 6 asks only that a relevant overview is attempted; band 7 asks for a clear one. A script has to fully fit a level’s positive features, so a report with no overview at all cannot fully fit band 6 on Task Achievement — whatever the rest of it does.

Public IELTS Writing Task 1 band descriptors, Academic, updated May 2023.

Bodies: compress, do not narrate

One sentence per stage reads like a list and eats the twenty minutes. Grouping related evidence into one sentence is a compression and coherence habit worth training — by relationship, not by counting words or clauses into a quota. The two sentences below are mine, from a timed process report written on 16 September 2026; they are a demonstration of that, not a rule about how many things a sentence may hold.

Ungrouped: one sentence per stage

The first major process is mixing water and milk together then continue to mix while cooling the liquid at the temperature of 5 C in 2 hours.

28 words, one stage, three grammar errors. Seven sentences were needed for five stages.

Grouped: stages that belong together

Water and milk are mixed together, and the mixture is stirred continuously while it is cooled at 5°C for two hours.

21 words, two stages, and the whisk icon reported. Four sentences cover all five stages.

Three joins that carry a relationship

and … then…are mixed, and the mixture is then cooled at 5°C.
after whichSalt is added, after which the liquid is fermented.
before / untilIt is boiled for eight hours before the liquid is cooled.

Report only what is encoded

The figure shows steam leaving the tank. It never says why it is there, and it never ranks its own stages.

Yesboiled at 100°C for eight hours, allowing steam to escape
Noboiled in order to kill bacteria and develop flavour
Nothe most important stage is fermentation

Word budget

The task sets a minimum of 150 words. The 160-to-180 budget below is a training buffer rather than a rule: it leaves room to delete a weak sentence at minute 18 and still clear the minimum. A short answer is not docked automatically — it simply tends not to supply enough evidence to reach the higher bands.

Words and sentences budgeted for each part of a 160-word report
Part	Sentences	Words
Introduction	1	15
Overview	1–2	33
Body 1	3	62
Body 2	2–3	50
Total	7 to 9	160

Short? Go back to the figure and report something left out — a second output, an icon, a state change. Never open a sentence about how clear the diagram is.

Padding an examiner reads instantly

It is clear from the diagram that…
As can be seen, there are a number of…
In conclusion, the process is very… — Task 1 has no conclusion.

My six locks — measured, not guessed

Every line below is something I wrote on 15 or 16 September 2026, with the correction beside it and the rule it broke. They are here because they are mine rather than a list of common mistakes, and they are what I check in the last three minutes.

I wrote
is being transform · will boiled · ungoing
It should be
is transformed · is boiled · undergoes
Every be, being or been takes a participle. Three instances across two pieces, which makes it a habit rather than a slip.
I wrote
in 35 C in 6 hours
It should be
at 35°C for six hours
At + temperature, for + duration. Written three times in one paragraph, so it costs three errors rather than one.
I wrote
the liquid is added with salt
It should be
salt is added to the liquid
The passive subject is the thing being added. Ask what the verb is actually done to, then make that the subject.
I wrote
…to let steam going out of the liquid, this process is called Evaporation.
It should be
…allowing steam to escape. This stage is called evaporation.
A comma cannot join two sentences. A full stop or a joining word. The capital letter on a stage name is a second, cheaper error in the same line.
I wrote
transform liquid to soft cheese as a thick liquid
It should be
turns water and milk into soft cheese; the liquid thickens on the way
A state named in the key is not the product. Source fidelity: before writing a noun, check that the figure really encodes it.
I wrote
an overview naming one output
It should be
soft cheese and waste water
Two arrows leave the figure, so two outputs belong in the overview. This is the line between an overview that is attempted and one that is clear.

When two sources disagree

Task 1 advice is everywhere and most of it cites nothing. These four sources do different jobs, so the question is rarely which one wins — it is which one the question belongs to. Anything that decides a band belongs to the descriptors.

Sources of Task 1 advice and the job each one does
Source	What it is for
The official public band descriptors	Scoring authority. What a band means; nothing overrides it.
Official guidance, and sample scripts with published examiner comments	Interpretation and calibration. What the descriptors look like applied to a real script, and what separates a band 7 from a band 6.
A teacher’s own materials — workbook, lesson notes, marked corrections	Operating method and drills. How to turn the rubric into something you can practise on a Tuesday evening.
AI writing tools	Synthesis and review. Useful for alternatives, second opinions and spotting what you left out; verify any consequential claim against the sources above.

Why the last row says verify. Measured on 16 September 2026: a chatbot’s model answer for the same process diagram I had just written had no separate overview at all, and split one stage away from its own temperature setting. Take a model answer’s vocabulary if it is good; keep your own structure — and never read one before you have written the same prompt yourself.

Rules that do not bend

While practising

Type it, with the spell checker off. The exam computer has neither.
Run the ritual before writing, every time. It costs thirty seconds.
No model answer before you submit. Read the sample afterwards, and only for the prompt you have just written.
After each piece: fix one thing, rewrite one paragraph, stop.

What “done” looks like

The ritual runs without looking at the paper.
The family is chosen correctly four times out of four.
One finished report exists for each of the four families.
After that, Task 1 lives inside full sixty-minute runs; a standalone one only to repair a weak family.

Written in September 2026 from my own timed practice and the public IELTS band descriptors for Task 1 Academic (May 2023). Band references describe the descriptors; nothing on this page is an official score, and this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by any IELTS partner.

The Twenty-Minute Report